from large bamboos, so that each may be nearly flat and about three inches wide, and these are firmly tied down with rattan to the joists beneath. When well made, this is a delightful floor to walk upon barefooted, the rounded surfaces of the bamboo being very smooth and agreeable to the feet, while at the same time affording a firm hold. But, what is more important, they form, with a mat over them, an excellent bed, the elasticity of the bamboo and its rounded surface being far superior to a more rigid and a flatter floor. Here we at once find a use for bamboo which cannot be supplied so well by another material without a vast amount of labour, palms and other substitutes requiring much cutting and smoothing, and not being equally good when finished.

4. When, however, a flat, close floor is required, excellent boards are made by splitting open large bamboos on one side only, and flattening them out so as to form slabs eighteen inches wide and six feet long, with which some Dyaks floor their houses. These, with constant rubbing of the feet and the smoke of years, become dark and polished, like walnut or old oak, so that their real material can hardly be recognised.

5. What labour is here saved to a savage whose only tools are an axe and a knife, and who, if he wants boards, must hew them out of the solid trunk of a tree, and must give days and weeks of labour to obtain a surface as smooth and beautiful as the

bamboo thus treated affords him! Again, if a temporary house is wanted, either by the native in his plantation or by the traveller in the forest,

nothing is so convenient as the bamboo, with which a house can be constructed with a quarter of the labour and time required if other materials are used.

6. The hill Dyaks in the interior of Sarawak make paths for long distances from village to village, and to their cultivated grounds, in the course of which they have to cross many gullies and ravines, and even rivers; or sometimes, to avoid a long circuit, to carry the path along the face of a precipice. In all these cases the bridges they construct are of bamboo, and so admirably adapted is the material for this purpose, that it seems doubtful whether they ever would have attempted such works if they had not possessed it.

7. The Dyak bridge is simple but well designed. It consists merely of stout bamboos crossing each other at the roadway like the letter X, and rising a few feet above it. At the crossing they are firmly bound together, and to a large bamboo which lies upon them and forms the only pathway, with a slender and often very shaky one to serve as a handrail. When a river is to be crossed, an overhanging tree is chosen, from which the bridge is partly suspended and partly supported by diagonal struts from the banks, so as to avoid placing posts in the stream itself, which would be liable to be carried away by floods. In carrying a path along the face of a precipice, trees and roots are made use of for suspension; struts arise from suitable notches or crevices in the rocks, and, if these are not sufficient, immense bamboos fifty or sixty feet long are fixed on the banks or on the branch of a tree below.

8. These bridges are traversed daily by men and women carrying heavy loads, so that any insecurity is soon discovered, and, as the materials are close at hand, immediately repaired. When a path goes over very steep ground, and becomes slippery in very wet or very dry

weather, the bamboo is used in another way. Pieces are cut about a yard long, and opposite notches being made at each end, holes are formed through which pegs are driven, and firm and convenient steps are thus formed with the greatest ease and celerity. It is true that much of this will decay in one or two seasons, but it can be so quickly replaced as to make it more economical than using a more durable wood.

Bor'-ne-o, a large island off the south

east coast of Asia.

Dy'-aks, a race who live in Borneo. ap-pre'-ci-ate, to have a just opinion

of.

tem'-por-ar-y, only for a time.
con-struct'-ed, made.

Sar-a-wak, a country on the west
coast of Borneo.

cir'-cuit, journey round about.

cal'-a-bash, the dried shell of a sus-pend'-ed, hung.

gourd-like fruit.

fa-cil'-i-ty, ease.

di-ag-on-al, passing through from

one corner to another.

rat'-tan, a kind of palm with a tall struts, wooden supports.

smooth stem.

e-las-tic-i-ty, springiness.

trav'-ersed, walked over.
cel-er'-i-ty, quickness.

sub'-sti-tutes, things used in place e-con-om'-i-cal, thrifty. of something else.

EXERCISES.-1. Make nouns from the following adjectives: Scarce, abundant, regular, elastic, constant, convenient, immense, opposite, suitable.

2. Name the adjectives from which these nouns are formed: Superiority, rapidity, sufficiency, durability, freedom, severity, diligence, magnificence.

3. Make adjectives from the following verbs: Abound, compare, admire, produce, agree, excel, suffice, oppose, subvert.

4. Make sentences of your own, and use in each sentence one or more of the following words: Suspend, temporary, construct, traverse.

BAMBOO—I I.

1. One of the most striking uses to which bamboo is applied by the Dyaks, is to assist them in climbing lofty trees. One day I shot a mias, which caught in a fork of the tree and remained fixed. As I was very anxious to get it, I tried to persuade two young

Dyaks who were with me to cut down the tree, which was tall, perfectly straight, and smooth-barked, and without a branch for fifty or sixty feet. To my surprise, they said they would prefer climbing up it, but it would be a good deal of trouble, and, after a little talking together, they said they would try. They first went to a clump of bamboo that stood near, and cut down one of the largest stems. From this they chopped off a short piece, and splitting it, made a couple of stout pegs, about a foot long, and sharp at one end. Then cutting a thick piece of wood for a mallet, they drove one of the pegs into the tree and hung their weight upon it.

2. It held, and this seemed to satisfy them, for they immediately began making a quantity of pegs of the same kind, while I looked on with great interest, wondering how they could possibly ascend such a lofty tree by merely driving pegs in it, the failure of any one of which at a good height would certainly cause their death. When about two dozen pegs were made, one of them began cutting some very long and slender bamboo from another clump, and also prepared some cord from the bark of a small tree.

3. They now drove in a peg very firmly at about three feet from the ground, and, bringing one of the long bamboos, stood it upright close to the tree, and bound it firmly to the first two pegs, by means of the bark cord, and small notches near the head of each peg. One of the Dyaks now stood on the first peg and drove in a third, about level with his face, to which he tied the bamboo in the same way, and then mounted another step, standing on one foot, and