The Durian
The Durian tree (for an account of whose famous fruit the classical description
in Wallace’s Malay Archipelago may be referred to) is a semi-wild fruit-tree,
whose stem frequently rises to the height of some eighty or ninety feet before the
branches are met with. It is generally planted in groves, which are often to be
found in the jungle when all other traces of former human habitation have
completely disappeared, though even then its fruit, if tradition says true, is as
keenly fought over by the denizens of the forest (monkeys, bears, and tigers) as
ever it was by their temporary dispossessors. Interspersed among the Durian
trees will be found numerous varieties of orchard trees of a less imperial height,
amongst which may be named the Rambutan,^139 Rambei,^140 Lansat,^141
Duku,^142 Mangostin,^143 and many others. A small grove of these trees, which
was claimed by the late Sultan ʿAbdul Samad of Selangor, grew within about a
mile of my bungalow at Jugra, and I was informed that in years gone by a
curious ceremony (called Mĕnyemah durian) was practised in order to make the
trees more productive. On a specially selected day, it was said, the village would
assemble at this grove, and (no doubt with the usual accompaniment of the
burning of incense and scattering of rice) the most barren of the Durian trees
would be singled out from the rest. One of the local Pawangs would then take a
hatchet (bĕliong) and deliver several shrewd blows upon the trunk of the tree,
saying:—
“Will you now bear fruit or not?