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Show v Steamy Borneo Is a 'Story Book9 Land Allied invasion of Borneo has reopened re-opened the world's third largest island, is-land, after Greenland and New 1 Guinea. It is a "story book" territory terri-tory lying between the Japanesa homeland and the main, nerve cen ters of the Netherlands Indies, sayi. the National Geographic Society. 1 Borneo, straddled by the equator, is the typical tropical land dreamed about by stay-at-home readers ol travel stories, fictional and true. In many sections rankly growing vines lace trees together from ground to top. Rare and beautiful orchids thrive in the shadows. Spikelike thorns tear at clothing and flesh, and paths can be kept open only by continual con-tinual hacking with heavy swordlike knives. The steaming heat is oppressive. op-pressive. Twenty-foot pythons glide along the ground and among the branches; shrieking, agile little gibbons gib-bons and lumbering orangutans swing through the trees; crocodiles infest streams. Flying Frogs, Midget Deer. Numerous other wild animals include in-clude tiny, foot-high mouse deer, honey bears, wild pigs, rhinos, and elephants. Among Borneo's queer creatures are the flying foxes which are bats and the flying frogs, w;hich have w'ebbed feet of extreme width that serve as parachutes when they make mighty leaps. Borneo's air is filled with the shrill ear-piercing sounds of myriads of insects. Mute butterflies show their vivid colors against the varied greens of the jungle. Scorpions and "sting flies" make life unhappy for the island's residents, who must also face the ravages of wood-devouring termites. Many a European wife has removed a cupboard to find it had no back, or seen her beds and chairs fall apart from the hidden invasions of these ant pests. Headhunting in Jungles. It is estimated that Borneo has a population of around three million, of whom before the war only about 3,500 were Europeans. Native peoples known as Dyaks make up the majority of the inhabitants, with additional groups of Javanese, Chinese, Chi-nese, Arabs, and so-called Malays, the latter comprising not only true Malays, but those of other races professing the Mohammedan faith. An interesting feature of native life in Borneo is the community dwelling, or "long house," built on stilts and often decorated with human hu-man skulls. Under one roof, a whole village, with dozens of families, may be accommodated. Deep in the interior, in-terior, tattooed and much ornamented ornament-ed savages, recalling the circus advertisements ad-vertisements . of the "Wild Man of Borneo," still practice headhunting and strange rites and feasts in honor hon-or of the dead. |