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D DOD1
8EPJS
o 23
J.
TWO YEARS IN 3FHE JUNGLE
THE EXPERIENCES OF A HUNTER
AND NATURALIST
IN INDIA, CEILON, THE MALAY PENINSULA AND BOENEO
HJT
WILLIAM T. HOEFADAY
OHUDV VAXXDRtaagr, IT. & NATIONAL
B WE WABD'S Ni.TOaAL 8IEN01
WfflH MAPB AMD ^LUSTRATIONS
"Thoro te a ploannro in thft pattilosn woofls,
Tiiere iw a rapture lu tlw louoiy sUore,"
TENTH EDITION
TORE:
OHABLES SORIBNER'S SOBTS,
1927
18*5, IMS. w
SONS
Mind in At wti Stum of
Mf 000!) WIF1
JOSEPHINft
fft?MW!l limit WHEN RKEK AND tTJOHM
HAH MVK.U UKKN TIIK I T NHI!INK OF Mf Ufl
THIS BOCiK
I AWKCTIONATfriLV
PREFACE
As a matter of simple justice to myself, I must inform th reader
that tho journey of which this book is m record was one of action
rather than observation, and opportunities for study were few and
far between. Owing to the circumstances under which the trip
was carried out, all my waking hours were oooupied in a ceaseless
warfare for specimens, and my only regret comes when I think
what 4 * it might have been/' for me at least, had I not been obliged
to shoot, preserve, care for and pack up nearly every specimen with
my own hands. From first to last I had no other assistance than
such a could bo rendered by ignorant and maladroit natire ser-
YantH, 2von in the preparation of these pages the demon of Work
has still pursued mo, and tho task has bean accomplished only by
the aid of ** midnight oil/* when wearied by the labors of the day.
What follows m offered merely m a faithful pen-picture of what
may be and done by almost any healthy young man in two
years of upB and downs in the East Indies.
Ho, at loa&t, who IOVUR the groen woods and rippling waters, and
hoH felt tho xnytitic spell of life in "a vast wilderness/* will appre
ciate thct record of my experiences, I IOTO nature and all her work,
but one clay in an East Indian jungle, among strange men and
beasts, in worth more to mo than a year among dry and musty
" study specimens.** Tito groan foront, the airy mountain, the plain,
tho river, and tho sen-shore are to me a perpetual delight, and the
purnuit, for a good purpose, of the living creatures that inhabit them
acids an element of buoyant oxeitemant to the enjoyment of natural
ciaery which at boat can be but feebly portrayed in
vl
IB the the rrsu W in in
of a nature in miuutiu*, 1 Iifivti avoided into
hittoty details, but have endeavored to t&Mfittfi tlit
striking features of the countrum vaulted, and the wore ficitn-
worthj animals and m**n eneounterwl in thwr homes.
An tho which follow will pnwntly reveal, in in
ft personal*! might fitrjifrfioEl'-iTTtiw in
wluoh tlii wader ii tui a fricihl into tlin
while they mako the trip tog^ihor. Tim not flit
public! in gouard, but The iUmdcr, individually. To 1
y a>aficleatially of courtWt that nu n duty to in thi
turn of 1 have labored to all of
aid to everything
an to fticts and figiireii It is to at!
too highly, and I fought hard to out of my
and xaonkoy wlio Iscl no right to a in ii
1 consider it the higheut duty of a tniveEur to
in t!i6 statement of facts. A namttivo of a journey i not ft
in which tho writer may put clown as wiy tiling **
faa?0 boon mm***
To a groat many kind friondg in tho Indies my t
due for aid, comfort, and advice ; but I will not eonnign tlifelr
and the acknowledgment of my gratitude to the ohitmirity of t
preface, and each will be found in its own in tlit story. But
for the Mends 1 made as I went along, and Urn kindly
manifestecl in my welfare and happiness I would hav** fc*lt lil *
rogue cjlephaiifc solitary, nncarod for, aad iiurnt by Ib*
otber members of the social herd,
Curiously enough, snarly all ray Indian friend*
lish, and to my American reader I would wy t you an
IkgHak kareUer treat Mm kindly for my
, D. d
CONTENTS.
PART I
INDIA,
CHAPTER L
TIB JQUBHBY TO INDIA*
*M|
Objwtiof thwTrlp, Boyott<l to Irriwwl -The CfttfBwjwr Ooltaa-
tkm*."Tht yfurjwtii iIu<ittaL llin Brltiah Muiattm.lftom
In Komtt,... Art Nature, --(JoHwtittg at Naplei Tht
Kflototiiral Station, Alexandria,- Thi Nik Dulta, Caira A
Pkiiif to tli I Vtrlfiwl Fwi'Ht " Thu Author rids a Camel Egyp
tian t*lk - -Throuflh tlii Huw (taaal,-A Day at J4dafcu Ptt-
tiil Hirtnigiira Ttn Tomb of 8v*.~~Tto Eld Sta, A
OHAITCBB 1L
BOMBAY,
Duty m 0tliA (1) Ooiul-Th Arrant Qtwstlon^Tlie
(Imiiil Market, Ftcnwa - Prult, PtaU, -Mv Birdit The
FlwlHjii'fiti^ii fitrwiOim An Jjitwwting Crowd. VUolai
-Tim BulbKrk lfwJt<iry. Th Hcmilit Antmal Al!?e,-Th
Victoria wit Attort Kuwum, -floft-heartod fllndooi. Th Hoa-
pital te AnJinali,-A Htrango HigUt-A Clood Her rttt -Bepart-
wi (or Allahabad ..... + .*,,...*....*<* ..... *.....*
CHAPTER III
FROM BOMBAY TO ETAWAH.
Fhyifcil of th* Country. -Soardty of Awlmal LIf0. A Bamn
ttMajor Item A Boat Trip up & Jumniu A Mik of
viii .
3P&CI1
Bftthws. I>*ftd II indno, Plenty of Hlrda kit no Oaviata, - 1U-
the Flrnt Day. My Boat ami t*r.- -A Day in th> Baxaar,^An
lastaaet of Cartu ,.........,...
CHAPTEIt l\ r *
OAVIAL KHOOT1NG ON THE
Afioii on tint Jtmina, I'liamrti^r of tin* Kiv*r. 'l>IiTiM!!!i* k ii *if
dllti Hhooting. 'Tln Fatal Sjnt rri4|^vt*s ( Th Fiiu l^'^iiui.*^
thn>u^h IHwr Shunt inv nnt Native Titni*iity. An Hm
,*-HwiiiiiiHii^ nfftr a Wimml*-)! <avi.il. llKitti f 4i Num*
br One," Another nt ill Larger - How t> Hk* ! Irli^iii^ I
tttorH,' (Savial F,^^ - A Moill i*rt*w, -I*luvky Eiirir with
Wounded Ctnvial A Strtm^l** at <'!t*t Q ar* ir. Otir l*Sa of
Opetatioiw.-A Ootxl BifeKtUttiK liuviatu ai . . ,
OHAFTEE V,
THE OANC'IETW CKOOOD1LK*
A Jolly Hfn. -.-Hatbti Tmtdrnttw for th< Oavial Eating flu*
ThJnmn Hwarminut with GaviatH.--<A ** Mf^iing,**
of an Knormoua Hji*>r!imu MaxiiiHiin ii* Atlait4, Tls
Flaw In Nature, - Halilla and ( Imnurtcroi f thi* H|tirki,
on lh C!ri>twllliaiia
! Uavial not a Man-itatt*r.' A
-Voeal Powers, ....... . .... ____ .....,..,,
CHAPTER VI
ANIMAL LIFE ALONU THK JUMNA-
Boating on the Jumna, A I*on# Prayer, -Th* Karitf <Vm*, -Qni*f
Antics, The Jablrn. NMn rf !li* Sfavpn^iT VtiUur**,* l**a*
.-- A Jungl <*at Htirpri;*tl - Th* JiirUalh' ^* i rpiial*, Tur*
, The* (<,iiK'fir !*^r|oiH* Nativi* ViUa^*H* Tin* IVopU*, -
tvH. I*rl*!jilrt and FM*^, A N f ;itiv* fiiil - t'w
ttfttlou a mtr< Kon<u An Adjutant hhwt. - 1 Smaihytt f*> the Itifrr,
CHAlTKIt TIL
RAVINES BBBE ANB BLACK IWrK HlfNTINO,
r>f th f'owntry. Major ft*^ I'limji . A I*t"
I'ItablibUttuait TUu Jumna ila?ItB, Ti
Sl A Bay 1 ! Sport Fifteen Gazelles and a Nil-Gai. Tht
Bmin Atttulopi* or ** Black Buck." Animal Pests Another Hunt
with Major UOHH. - liiten^tliig Kp(rt. A Narrow Escape. A
fttorn C%MH at Mitl-day. Eight Aut^lop^K (tathrr<l In, A Holi
day at Agra,- -Tim Taj M^hal, of <mr8. Taj-struck Travollars.
The Trei*i of th North- Wnt Province*. .*.*.......
OIIAI>TEB VIII.
BF.NARBH, OALOUTTA, AND MADRAS.
Tomplo. Hac*nl Antmalg, T!t F*kir. Th Hindooi
i HAi Wwhi^|wrs, ..... A Bwistlal JlHgion. From Baimres to
Calcutta. '-The Hot H*wwm. " runkalm and Tattles, n Depart
ure for Mmlras,- *Th Hoogly Eivr, Bailor Anatomists. Th
j ItiiatiiwLMadnw, A Huaport without a Harbor. Two
>f Drouxht A FiMnin-Htriolcn City. A Paternal Oororn-
t, Th Mftilrw Musmmi.-- Another Lauguagd and MX other
011Ai*TEE IX.
TO! NB1WMBEBY HIIXB.
**I!ln Mountain*. "-"A Natural Kd*n,Wiyical Apoi-Tht
(kKnoor - Itoautj and Orandcur. OUmWngupto Varadiw.
Ootaeatnunrl,-- "I*rtulttt of the llillft. Thti Worst Hotel in
Incline -A limit hi th u l)ictall Mimntaitt^" Above the
Cltmdii,- -Tim Tiu!a. -A Itomarkablo r*opl<. - Thc4r Negative
Qtlitit, -riMfntiu^nal rjainM,-Tlio "Tftulaul" and the
''rauli-ld. 1 '- Fhyniqtii! <f tlw Tmb, - nrH.-- Polyandry, or
Plurality of Husband*. *>"!itrothal, Mwrlagf*. and Divorce. fa-
fintioi<}. -Thit TciU Hut. Th Muntl. Th Toda lluffalo,
Litttii (Imw but Kplttndld Hiurj A (llmid Hoone. Att Empty
B^ but no Ungnti...,. ...... ........... .............. 91-101
CilAFTEIt X.
TEE WAINAA!) FOEBST.
|L Hunting Trip to Huaumaliay. -Monkoy Shooting.
Th# MnatMmt Native iu IndU, -Otwtafbm, AuOid Hypocrite.
Rwcorti of On I>ay' Hunting, I'kptirt Tr*i'.kr. Bion. A
tang <:hw,-.I>ath of a Hambur Htag.- -A H^rd of Wild BU-
Ati Attack by an Amattnir, on Foot tnl Aloiw,~*lo
Fftilur. Ircnt iu th Jungle A Hambur Killed by $
ftA Prf4ifnn*nt,-ISI'f^t*nf by a Ltidk? {"taw*,
Tim Author** Matu* a rthik&rw I Math of a lluli ?Uwn. -
l*fiir f*i limit tj* IiwSiiiff i fV2f'))r*>#"rvaitun ia
Miikt*y,-Jiili? f *wr, " Native **^itl ni *,'<* %'?, "'-Ilttnra t4
Ootj, - A <toM Samaritan. A Mf.J<l ^ .' rhyr-i^iatt. Mr, <!
D*waou.l)i i |>artur. . . . . ..... * ..... ,,..,..,,,,,.,,.
CHAPTER XI.
THE ANXMALU!
* k
f tb
, Tlni)1il, An
OAow ami faithful Fri^nfl ...4lirrt*T f tin* f - KP
of Hut A IVrtnit O^uinwl, - -My
-
.,....., t ,...., ll . lp ., 4 . 1(
CHAFTEE XIL
**A Lodgi la a Vart Wtt4ttram"-~< Ktbuil4ing with
at Iitit C*Ii&r^tr el El^pltwii Ilttiitltig,-clii4 Iml
0! Hitting th llr*ftt,"~<-rat)ial
<}*hjid(|tt of tlit Kbjtliit-Trckiii|c iijt
H*rd. Wloom Sotmtk, - Hurroundttd by (Haute Th* AtUrk
and Flight of the !!<tr(l.~"Grat Alnincliiintii of Ln
-The Chwrgi^ of & Dangr0na Animal -^FooUufi; armuiri *
Babj Elephant. ChatK* of *a Infuriatod Pwmaiw. A <lrand but
t. Ktplling tJt Gha<w ....*.. .,,,..., fc . - . .
CHAPTER XIII
MONKEYS, BBAR8, AN!)
Black Imgur,-Monk*y Aliootinff. A Kttrtllag C?rj, -
Baoountor with Thru Bmrs, A Ktera C?Iif,-r>fIi of Ktim*
A Woful "Hp f tw!xti|>aiiil!!|i. f *~-8tir|rist)
o.Tht Old Boar DIM.-- HaMto of tlw Kp(tim A Tjfitol
Bttephant Hunt Huiiteti Hunted Wotidtfftii Manmtir ring 0!
th Elephants. A Stealthy tlotroaiA I)oublo*barrt*]lud Attaok.
and So&rcit j ol Food .,.,,.. ........... . . ...... , ...... . , fc . * I43-1SI
COKTEHTO. xi
CHAPTER XIV.
A T10IE HUNT.
PAGS
*~ The Game-killer. The Cattle-lifter. The Ma-eater.
Xteigxi of Turret. Eight Hundred Victims Annually. -Modes of
Tigr-hunting, Howdah Shooting. Maohan Shooting. Shoot
ing ou FootAn Impromptu Tiger-hunt.- The Trail A Light
" Battery. "The Game Overhauled. A Good Shot Death of
a Superb 'Uiame-kiiler," DixmmtiUmfi and Weight. A Proud
Moment. Struggle to Preserve the Skin ............. .,.,,,,* 15&400
OHAFTEE XT.
AN
of a Large Herd. Baath of a Tusker*
Forbidden Ground, A Booret. Th MulcertOath. AChaxigt
iht! Bofti. *-Th Tritoas of our Guilt Moral Aapoct of the Affair*
Tht Hpott<d Dr, A Pretty Picture. The Indian Elk or Sam-
bur, Bftcl C'tm* of Froteotifti Coloring, Serenaded by Sambiir.
Tlit 4t Briiiiii"firir bird." Tre Bats. The Muntjao. Delicious
VwJtoon.Tlw N^ilghrry Goat Wild Hogs. , , ......... , . , 151-171
CHAPTER XVI.
OT1 SBOONB YBAE OF THB MADRAS FAMmH
In th Joo^le,- -Temporary Abstnoe from the Hills. A
Btart ing Wail The Hpeotru of Famine* Famine-stricken Na-
and Kffwte of the Famine. The Eeiiaf Oampat
A Eriiw of the Hungry. The Qovirnmint and the
Monty I)oit."~- Mortality. 4I Be ye Warned wd
Ftdl >* Ind of thi Brought ......... .,,. ................... IM-ttt
CHAPTER XTH.
THI FOBTEf OF LIFil BISOK SHOOTma.
to the Hilk '-Benighted in the Jangle. Native Meanness*
I}0myjwiaay f the u Gentleman'* God."- -A J<jwel of a Servant,
Pyonpttots. " Ffr again. Haas* Pale Ale. Glorioua Weather,
Wim FortilTht Fottry of Life in the Foreai Our Mode of
Hmnteg.-A Bison Hnnt Death of a Soiltwy Bull A Noblt
Animal,- ChBracUm and Halutti of the HpcuueH. - Another Hunt
acli
In HIP a* mi Atstiwmib*. Mr.
Ki^>itiit^ wiila a Wt^H'It'fl !l-,i]L ,\ <*. ,** X'.,iW A
*lV|i**al KiifctH4i ^i-ttrtanan ,! hu JJait'^v, -'How IP i'm^m? a
fur M
CHAPTER XYlll
A HBimURfiB ELEPHANT UlttJT.
A Run of 111 liifk Tlw(1Iiiii 4 ' -Strain".! Krlti*n with an nff^ht
-~ Ilii* Tnrw >f tlw Tiilf,- Mv 1,ir4 t^rti \n < *l4 ? i:4l filler, -
t< Kill A Tu,kr, M<v> tu Suiu*m, I Mrt^r%Y4(*
Hunt - A !lmi Shot. (>;im;TMur (rt'iisi 1 - \ IU4 A4-
I>lirIfsrh f Hrtrwit,' Mulr^r PhiJ^M^hv, %
and Tia^nomo l*litwa - I>r j|wrHt* iliara^iiT M! iiw* iluiwl**, - Lurk
at Last- 41i AttAt4c.*~An AximK Miiwtit, Vjcinry.^Th**
Tiwknr, A *SnI! wit fln Mulr^n.' Skinning a M^AII*|-
Foot Klf*ji!itiit, Tim MmltiK f>|Mriiii*li,-'r*aiiip Hi^ f w44
of Bttllfi,* Burrtmmtad lj WIIil ili*afii*- <*-tt)nct |* a .
lMHi,A Tki*r alwtt" An Awi4i'iililtfk tuMuii*
s A Mwlctr Row^*K^vor aftln Matlnj in AI|I, ,,,,*,
OHAPTEE XIX.
TOD OF THE ANlMAUjAI
Work m\ tlw
and Bttrgkr.Mj Mulwr* go on a Hirikt!,- >
Hand. 'Bringing thu lln to T**rm. A Bi<HIi*^ji
plttt Victory, Another Tigtrttlwut,- Tr'tmwt of th
Skin* Th March ut to Htintfam. -Tho Hinw^ Tht Lrtoi of
aj Hunting Oang. Dnwimt from tltci Hill* in aKtorni.-
Loik. Fvr Again. Oocid-lij to the Aii!m!lalH,.-lly
of Mammals ............. ..... ..... ...... ..*.*/..,..,.,,,
OIIAFTKE
THB INDIAN BLKPIIAHT,
UographioalI)!trilmtion. Indian ami African Hpwi
Th<j Ceylon Bluphant Th (Japturti of Wild Kl*.|hanea, -
tog In Captivity. G0rtation of th Kiophant.'- Duration f I4f**,
-Growth and Height 8l*o of Twk.*</'Iawio of Kli$thanu, -
the** Table of Value*, Jn^lltiottiai C^aparity and Ti'itijmr, *
Hephanti at Work in aTimburForwit. -Fwuiiiw Fiicphantit, < k nt
of Keeping, 4< Miist" or Temporary Inaanity- . ^l^m* 1 * KIi
phaato. How an Blephaut Killtf A lt, Bwiiiimljig f* ( | Wf * r <f
Bkphants. ...,,..,.. ...... , ....... . ..... ........ ..... .,.
xiii
PAMT IL
CHAPTER XXL
,.., COLOMBO.
FA0
Madras to Colombo. -Fari'woli in Junglt* Fevor. The Queen of the
Tropit. Th KhuOialcHo. Tho Native Hhops, Exorbitant
Duty em Mttthylatod Spirits, An Appeal, and Its Hwtult Public
0pinimi,-"A i'ruttttl *li<wiHlatiou For the u Odd Man, "-The
H*a Vi*w HoM. Natix't'it an <'oUtgtorfi~ 4 Morning*** Work.-
How to ri*an and Pns*rvf Kuhiai, T}tU*atlwr!ngB of <ma Day.
Tlu Fluh Market "--Th* (Colombo Muwuni and Its l>irtor.
Native Taxid^riuinttf.- NTtunl of Kuro|x*au I^oparateurx in tho
Itttliwa* -Ati Obliging Finn ....... ..... .......... ,...,.
CHAPTER XXIL
THR NOETHiaiN PEO?IN01,
Trip to tTaffim, --Tli l*aumbi* PaHtta#o.~-Ja{i'ua.~- Coral Gathering*
Th B*atlr of Living Coral.*- Shallow Wat*ir, A Harvest of
<'*nrtilaglit*nis FiahcfM, /4 l /Vif^ri'/,~'Largt! Hay. A Ilanctaome
Shark, -'A Har ami Curlmtfi Klith.'-/^*;//;///(?6r^
t)OHori!Hui. H<*!i Trtl ( ,H, 'Qut*Mtiottahlf* Valu of Natlvo
HUrt for Mullaitiviu- -Jaffna to Ptnnt IN'dro, The mont North tm
Point (f < Vyltu,Natlvt (JuKwulm'HB aKahh-^llio Slowont Balling-
Orafi oa lUworU ........ .....*.....,...*...,.,.. ..... ..*,..
OI1AITKR XX11L
An tFttwIwkiomn % f tll&g 8lto. Dirt and DJfloomfort. CrooodiU
Hunting,-- <Jaiiibftliin and Ijproy among Crocodiles. Flying
FoamA Big !iaul.'-A llfroury. -Hot Jun#l. Death of Mr.
L*ijbj HunntrokH.- MammalH. -A Livw Mauis and its Doings.
On Bhort Eatioiw, >-'K!xapt)rating Fail are to Eo*iiy< Hupplfos.
tlungitr.^-A <Uoomy Proponltiou Fttrangoiy Kefuted. A
Bv**ragfi, - Journal of a Trip Into the Interior. Moa-
k<tyshftcithig.- Character of tlw Jungle*. ToHeph Emewon,
tttephant Kk4ltonH.-8oIf-htiri*d t-'ro^. Two Hundred Moa
kiiy in Four Hours, Thir Klwtisw in thTree-top8.-*Deer.
Ovwtand Jounwy to Jaffna Elephant Pass. Betum to Oo-
lombo ,....,,.........., ......... . ........ ...... ...... ,.
XANBY AND POINT I)B
tie*
Interior of Ceylon, A Ena up to 1C ami y. Native Plow* and
Plowing, ~The Mountain*, Kantly. --An Owrfiw*I T*)wn,-
Summary otiVyUm Collections >-*Thi* Royal Mall * 4 *mfk."< CJov-
rnmental KoeitntHeStifts. - Tlw KM trt l*al!i (^harminx rnant
Setii^rj. - - A C*huroh Eptemli*. Ttt**itoUfV"-'i*iiit *!* ^ll*. - N^p-
iumt 1 ! Otrden**- (Jcylon (}**w. CliMiUfatiati ff !>t?ii'ri, Htutiy
of a Bootmdrei, in BlAck id Wliltw.liIwaioiMl cut iJiwoawid* *
,..,. v . ....,*. ..*.,.. *,^...
PA11T III
CHAPTER XXV.
s, Btrutt 8oni.Thtt Bailors* QuwtAr*^ WIl|>!iitl
City. Ohi&w Sliop 4ttd HoiUM.
Th Ottww of th Kttt ln<Iit. The
Tmvaltem A Modtl Milliottalrt, Th# Climate of
, Market for Live Atttaudii. A Vinit to Mr,
Till*. OarIf.A Tigtrtsli Orwig-Utatt, -Ca
Ing... ,...,.*,*.*. ..... .......,. ........................
OHAPTEB XXVI.
ON TH SBLANaOEE B1A-C0AOT,
irar ftncl TowB.A KliKlrnd Splrli-*
VbrittoJerom on the Hw-oot to (Jolleoi-^HAinbtm nwk, A
Blthj Cbinee Village, A foul Btream. *-Crooodi2w.
a Twelve-foot Crocodile with Hook aud J*fiit,- Thi* '
Harrest of Saurian* ifa!a,*-Crcwodll0 in the Bea.
Bhrimp-tating Monkeji. An Iguana- The Hloweai
Bftootd* Bemarkable FUihei* Catching /l?rpI/M/
Tentur in Mud* Varioui Vartubrttiw, - Centipedes and their
Doings* Doctoring & BajMtung Fisherman. Mala/ Character.
anr
CHAPTER XXVII
HtJNTINO IN THE INTERIOE OF 8BLAN00BB.
Trip to tlw Interior. Head to Kwala Lumpor.- -Th*
**Th0 Captalu ('luswia,"" -A Bonania in OUampagn*.
Batu. -A Foolish Kat, Our Honso, Fowling ou i)utrlMs$ A
Jacoon Hout nd Family. -'-Ktnu'tnblAuoo to tht D/*ki, Aa
Inproitiptu Klttphftnt Hunt, Attack in 4 ftw&tnp.-'-'Itofcth of*
Toung Tiwknr, PUgu of Flii.- Anothor KlepUant Hunt. A
Clow Hh*v Wid a LudirrottB IVrforniatK?* 1 . -DinooTwrjr attd Ebc*
plontion of Thrw* Fine CHV*.""P*th<iral (?ftro,-- Mammals. *
Visit to a Tin Mhi, -Ohln* *ww* MalajA, PolllIoal Oondi
tionof flflUngorfl. - HtatitiH, -8nnkR,-"Uood*by toKkttg Mr*
Bobrt OampbU my Good iltniua .................... .,..,.
PAST IK
BORNEO.
OHAPTEE XXVIIL
SARAWAK, PAHT AND WIBSBNT,
Position and Aim of Borneo, -"BxplorAtkms, From
$lng*por* to Barawk,""Thi* Fiwwt (Jit.y In Borneo. "^Historical
Sketoli of Hftmwuk Territory.-- Blr Jamrw Brook.- -Anarahyand
OpprtiiionCJiwion of tho Territory.' - Orrkr out of ('ho,
Btolulion of n Moilitl Govornnu*nt. 'A Wino and (lood Itajah.-
Juitio*) in Btrtwak aticl th Uuitml Stattii. Frint Prosptrity.
A LMon far Ftiiitic&l Economisti. , , , . , ...... ,.*.,,.*.,*....
OHAPTEE XXIX.
FEOM SARAWAK TO Till 8AB0m
i*r Kuehiug. Orooodiles in th Wwawak. A I)ngrou
Fit, -Wstr of Bxtrmintlon. -From Hartwuk to tho Badong,
TEe SSmujasi Villnge.-*-A Htint for an Orang-utan. -In tht
Swamp. On th
lift
AMOXO THK OtlANtMTAXft.
up tint Wmujan, Bt>at-rw>f* "-Anwn# *h* llVft't hunter* - A
Dynk LfMi^'hwtii* -'-Mtmk**y.- - Kir-rti, A Nfy lit on a Tnifttml
Bir*r.~- -Mini 1 XHto." Mi**, Timn " I Math f tht- t'jwf MM,
Axwthtir KiiUtd. rtirw l'i\\* t -" Thr*** Mia< in o* !*ay ! fl -
Work, Swmp Wadliig, F^liwi^ tiuk. 4 \ir4sa! 11*-
at a !>y*k HOUM. ...,..,*...,.... ..... . . ..... ......
CHAPTER XXXI
BOINOE IN THE OBANG4ITAN
Vnprfttlon of Oraug Bklnt ttl ftklttiis - 'Return *lowa th fllma*
jam. Thrt Orstag Klilwt- -A T w otil*li*wtift infant. ^
from Native Htmturs, HeTitu Orag in <>* I toy, -
^athirlttgB,-- A IkUh^warrud Hro,*- Hie Hr* in th'
Another Trip up thoHimujfttt,^ DrturlM: n !jitrr!
Tb Bj&k at Ws Wont- -Ditmth of *i !!^ <>n;n^, " th
."" A Eif E! 8p^cimn.- -Two rapt If on . .... , . , .
CHAPTEK XXX It
AftOUNI) HIMt T JAX.
, Two Orang Killml at Si
an Orng. A Harvwt of Matinnals, A I>rjmt,nlin of
from the Bibujtti. An IiiTltiug Iuvitftlim."--TlM'
Brogr^s of th Baby Orig An Intonmting !Vt -
HiWti and Kmotioti,*-A TtibE-lnliIng I1!if Third
ttp tih Bimujan, Snake Owrrj. A Voyage In th Dark, .,.,,
OHAPTEB XXXHI
OOLLBOTING AT PAHANO LAKE
A Hunt on 0uaong l*opook. Alxntt Huntor. A llaiiilwtnw Dytk,
AEoeptiou by Torchlight Morn Orftng-ttUim . How an
Slttps,' PyoboBoifl Monky8.""Liriw|f f<w*w* fttuff
ARtmnrkaMeNow, Luckl^twOibhon hunting,
tog Hunting, --Mud and Thorn-PirtiinHjui*
frlx-wattr TurtUi wild Fiihts, llatuni to t!w Sadong, ,.,.,..
OOHTEHT8,
ABOUT THE OHANO-UTAK.
Distribution of th Orang-utan.-- Its AffinUii*. "External Apparane*.
Bmarkahto Facial Oniamnt < tv- -Color of Wktn. - Hair,
%, Mod* of Fighting,- l'unHty." -Food. .Unsocial Habta.
Young at Birth, - N*Ung HaMtH,- Womotiv* !'ownt. --la-
Ability to Walk or Htand Krt>tt. UnigUt g f AdultH.-- Gantrai
ii aad A%^frw,~ Individual
CJHAPTKE XXXV.
A WITH TUB t>VAKR
to th Bil$ujau.-.1l4u Elwr, A M
, Prokli Mowki^s and Flying Lmuttm I!*ad of
Navigation,-".. Hwaap-wiidhig, (Htr J(vurutv*H Rnd, A
Lodge In a ?Mt Wiltlwiuwi.-.Fiwji Huntittg-grounili. Hour0of
th KiYor.- Hunting <fihbn. Lively Sport, (Hbtioiw* Re-
markabio Mod of Frogws*. A Mla . -A Hn!<u'iwfttl II mil
Afftmtion and (?onrag of a Malo <Hbhcn.^HIpiwiwn' of tht
Babj Orftttg ia Wat*r.-A Livt* Tarir... Mom tabbonsRhot
Argui Fliiiaaaiitt, 'IIjA Modu of Knarlng, A !)*atily J^ig-
torap. -AaiiifU?!liagi!, . -A Htngiufimmt llinl, . .( htriou Hodwit.
Visit to IiMwhaiig.-..A \ f !Ilft of Hiaa.httntwi..-Trui)hiiof
A Fint Dyak pimn ____ . .................. .
(1UAFTEE XXXVL
A MONTH WITH TUB
Modl Making, >> -Poor Hhooting-Wootn. -*lkd Ammunition.
A Big iluttniM.'- Wild Hony. -Humat^liko Bmothmii of th
Baby Oran#.Mjr Ouidttttgo on a Htrlkw, Hying (JiblKmii. Bollii
aad BiittiirfliiA --lliiar and Muntjac. - IMidoun Vnion.- -tm
Tiao'ii Om4*tt Bird.- -Dyak Hiafilfwrum in Trad**.- Gatiwrlxig
antto. L4M Tiaft V>lim\m a Tapcing Tn.-..A P^Hioui Fat. -All
Km pts Loit A Tormh-Hght Hoaroh iu tin) Hwainip, Another
ttrn to tht Kabng.- -Th T,at Orange -The Wi|)ft
, A diwigiirous Rquall - Nwttatf Habits of th Orooodll*.
t> th Hadoug .....**......,..,....,,,.,.,......
Of
FA**,
Civilisation *n Extarmiuator of Savaw* Etc**,- -StaMity of tlif !>yaka,
-Tlie Hurl if al f lliit I'ltlrU lh 1>|J**1 Inak, I i >mr Orrnt
Trills. 77i" %*** - Thttir Strength &u>l IHMritnitiHii < Trttm
Utaainwi Milanau.- -Crural r'liwai'turirtir* MtwliaHi'a'. SkJtl.
Moduli of Warfare, - ' AfffW*wwi, --raimi)SiMin rif fwfain
Sofe'trltes -TttiIii|<, --Itlp4 if FUif# Sutf. - ..... Unman
-"Hif*i, - Tiif tttil /*yiAw. J)irtHbwti>. -Tair* 0f
Tniiililm Flglitliig Qtialitii*.'- 1*hyii'iii. 1)rp and
Or*mf*iif -A Turlfius <'owt Wi'ipotw, -II"Tlit ran-
galLHoeial t!l<, Strkt Morality Kr!!giciii -
ttea of CwiSAttgiiliiffoiii "Mafrlag* r^riony t --llm-
ity-T)ip*l of tint !^a4.*-A E<*lte of HiimlmtUm *-Ila of
Btiprome IliiSttgwid Ftttuw^Btsto. T, 'M
of Forasfir Clilnwui lnfliieiiAn Ailvwifwi Trlba, I*oiUim,
Dn>ttR 1 H<mim. Skill In Afrrimtlture,
y. XndipHikA<>nt but Pwmtnt T h Murufo 'I>rs
HfuM*c Tk Kadjant, -4?omparaUt
of UM IToittGrmt Bjk Tribts, ....... ......... ............*.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THl BBA BTAK8,
Habitat Ntimbar. 8ttVtrlb8, Tlutlr
Women, T!ht!r 0rw and Oruamnt. --The Mow. Tlwtlt
Wapotti.-"War BoateFlgliting (Jualitifg.- H**wi4iikitig and
Iftftd-huatiag, A Mania for Murder. -Hui* and I!oiiii4If
of th Bia Oyakn.-*- -CJommtAnal tUrmony - I>aily Octnt^atum*.*
Atiwmttts. Muftio*makiug. ~ Ft*antK (intimaiUy !>runkn
new. High Hocial Intuition of Wnmm.-'Thi> l>wtrii of Fair
PUy. Strict ObNrvano(i of tlwi Elglits of rroporty, - A of
3>ibt-?4j6, Morality without ItoHgitm, Ittfrwjti<7 of 4'rim*.
Dyak IH^MIAS. Modt) of tturia!, -Thit Ftrttm* of tho Ilao,
Oaa dirlitianity Binefit th Dyakit .............. ,,.,...... 4W>-475
CHAPTER XXXIX.
TRIP "0P TKR SARAWAK,
j/. -Mr* A. H. Everett. Tim OhintR Oold wa!tliigi a4
Batu Caret and Orvfo^ nar PtktL Walk to 'IVgora. -Th*
Minei of the Borneo Compaxty.^-Homaatio Boat Hid
CONTENTS.
YJ
dowa tint Rtast, Trip toBer&mbo Mountain. Byafe Bridg-w,
Village of IVninjftu.- -Thw EajaU'g Cottage. Magnificent View.
B*tn,rft to Kuching."-Karuvrllto Horneo.*- Singapore onemor.
- Knd of the Kxptniitiott." Untronp^ct. -Couoiuftion. ,,..,,.,
APPEKDIX.
Outfit for Colictor, ..*...*...., .*...,....*** 401
Boip for Making Ars*i<i Boap ,.* 40i
to Bkitt a QuadrujHtd, Mui Vrepar* fhe Skin for Motmting. , # . . . 40S
of Llf* ib Br!tiE IndU bj Wild I^auiU and S*rpnt , 49S
Statistical Tmbki of Human Livt-.s, Ci.ttl, Mad Dunguroua A^isa*als
...*......., 494
*......... *.* 4U5
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
THE Ero or otm TWER HUNT, . Jfam&ptoe.
AMONG THE GAVIAWI, ...... .Tofao$fog$ 4A
ME. Tl!OBALl> AND HI8 FoEBHT BUNGALOW, " 123
Mr CAM? AT TBLLKWL, * .,....." 131
CBAKOK or A FEMALE ELEPHANT, .,.," 141
DEATH OF A TUHKBR, . , . , " . . . w 1^.
HBBD OF Axis DKR IN BAMBOO FOREST, ^ 167
TK INDIAN BISON, OR GAUR, ,...,,*' 188
SKINNING AM EWPHANT, .,..*," 208
CATCHING A CROCODILE WITH HOOK AHJ> Lm, . - 8(B
MALAT HOWEB ON THE SARAWAK HIVIE, * 4 '3-88
ErncRioR OF A HEA DTAK LONG-HOWB, M 3S
iNTBttlOR OF A BlA DlAK LoN<J-HOU, f| 357
WADING AFTSE A WOUNDED ORANG-OTAN, u 361
A FKIMT m TH TRE-TOP, w 875
POJMMUW OF A I'ROaOSCIU MoNKET, U 395
KTAW WARBIOB, ........" 447
Qsotrp OF SA DTAKS, , " 480
A SBA DTAI * . " 461
MAPS
BBOTSI 'IroiA, * ,**..*., At^ndofwlym*
BOBKIO, Ef EHOCiiAFiic AND GNAti. Ofpotit* page 333
TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE
'WITH EIFLE AND KNIFE,
PART L INDIA.
OHAPTEE I
JOUENIY TO INDIA,
3bj4lt of th^Trlp, Boycotted iu Ireland. The Challenger Collections. -~The
Liverpool Mueum. --The British Museum. From Paris to Borne. Art
YWSUI Nature.--" Collecting at Naples.- The Zoological Btati on. Alexan
dria, The Nile Delta, --Cairo. A Pitmio to the Petrified Forest. The
Author ridttfl a Canuil -"-Egyptian Fossils, Through the Suez Canal. A
Day at Joddmh. Pilgrim* and Htrangers. The Tomb of BTe. The Bed
Sta* A Pleasant V0jfagn, Bombay,
mu$*t* always bc*live I was born under a lucky star as a com-
pmntion for not Imving been boni rick My greatest piece of
good luok camo.to mo m 1B76, when I was equipped for field work
in natural history and sent to tlie East Indies on a two years' hunt
ing and collecting tour. True, 1 bad spent two years in Professor
WanVn famous establishment at Rochester, hard at work learning
the art of taxidermy, and all the methods employed in zoological
collecting. 1 had also made two trial trips as a collector in tropi-
oJ America, no that taking all together, I had served a regular ap-
prontioetthip under skilled instructors.
Of course my trial trips were considered successful, else would
1 besn elected thereafter to remain at home in quiet comfort
4* it ww, fortune smiled upon ma, ?ery broadly I thought* and ia
t
YKA1M IX Jt'WlLX,
t, two tltn wan i
ml to liifliik
Wan it by names iiiHtitutian of foaming or noetaty that
1 out? No, iiulml ; tlnrt* in not OIM* in thin % otmtry or
othw that wr had the ontirpritw t*> twt on foot wu'h an un
dertaking inn! burk it up to the* hitter end with tlw liri'i^nnrj hard
A privatti individual thon, it ? If wjw, untl who IH*
Henry A. Ward would havo had tln> pluck to w<nd colUu*tor on ft
tour around HIP world, to fiiriiisli him Atiiplo fun*In fur
during neiirlj thr*oyoar* work, tint! \mj him a ^o*d Hillary Iiri4li:f
Yet thin lavinh oxjH^nditure proved a g^rnl inTitmftiil, and
yiitldiid morn nmH<uun iuut<friu% in ft Itciti^r ntuto <f pr<'#*rviitiotn,
than fould IIP purclisisi'tl with thre timi^ th uiuount of
tfptititled on thft trip. Thin novri oxj>eK,Utinn rrndi^nud
by tho (lemantls of vitriotii <*iwitifse mmumiiH im rrofciwtctr
WarFs ctstabliHhxnont, for Indian fonu which w* re not to In*
obtained without Handing a <?olh'ctor to gather tht?m in tin 1 f4il,
Behold me, then, on lx>ard the stoamnlup //O/<I*H,
swiftly, but not too wwiflly, 1 conf^BH, acronn the Aliaiifii*, in ciiui-
pauy with ProfoHKor Ward hinmolf, wlumo companxonNhip 1 fcci
enjoy as far au the lied HIM, My outfit of firixirnm untl untmuni-
tion, knives, tools, prrHorvatmm, collc*<*1ittg ciwrs^ and fitiup
page was both coxuplete an* I compact, and I oonHid<ri'd it wry
nearly perfect My iimtnxctionH we* re anything l>uf rigid, iiud I
had really a roving c,omnnKHum to vinit. India, Oylon, tho Malay
PeninBula, and Ilorneo, m c|\itwfc of miunxxiiila in pnrticuhur, mid vor-
tebrnteti of all kinds in p<njeral. It wa psirticularly to xny
that qutulrupods of iJl BpinuuH, from tlus ilt'phant difwn%viuril y
needed moHt of all, and that my natural prt'fi'runw for fliti
aacl atedy of nuwnmala in Uwir haunt H WUH ft* b<+ iiidiilgncl
without limit. 1 wnn directed fHpi^ijillv to wwure and,
etoim of elephants, Indiaix bison and elk, nrai i i^-iitiiit%
of all Bpcci<s, two or thrtw tigers if pra^iieabic,
speeic^ of crocodile procuxiiblu. The* avifiiuna of that
was then being very thoroughly stmlid by A. 0. Huxiie, E*t|.*
aad his co-laborer, and I could well afford to tki to
him tad his army of collector*.
In duo time we landed at Loudondftity, and to me ww
ihd pleasant taiik of visiting tho Giimt'H Causoway, near Port
to procttre seyeral of its basalt cotawnB for Professor Wanfs c abi*
net TMfi great geological wonder i the moifc intertslisg
THE JOURNEY TO IKDIA. 3
of the picturesque north coast of Ireland, and to my mind It really
is, as the local guidon assure the visitor again and again, " wan uv
the foremunt sights uv the known wurrukL" After securing and
shipping five large columns, I went to Belfast, and from thence
about twenty miles farther, to the head of Loch Neagh, where I
skeletonised four old donkeys, and very nearly had my scalp taien
by a mob of wild Irishmen, who came at me with long-handled
spadea They objected to the proceedings on the ground that
tho ** pore basteH had been jist murthored fur me, so they had/*
and in the toiuloniOBS of their hearts they were spoiling for an ex
cuse to pound mo and my two butcher boys to a jelly. I was boy
cotted for an entire day in a cabin, by a mob of nearly a hundred
men, women, females, and children, who like
4i A legion of foul fiend*
Kuvironod me, and howl'd iu xuiiie ears,"
while I exercised all the arts of diplomacy I knew to keep the
crowd on & peac<i footing until the arrival of British reinforcements
from a police Btation. I wish I could narrate the whole episode, to
show what the fentive Home Euler is capable of on his native bog ;
but it in too long a story, and a rehearsal of what I endured from
those howling bog-trotters would make me lose my temper en
tirely. I am happy to nay 1 came off with whole bones mine, I
mean, not the donkcy' -for they were a complete wreck after an
adventure ten timoH mow dangerous than any I experienced with
the head-hunterB of Borneo, or any other East Indian nativea
After joining Prof easor "Ward at Glasgow we went to Edinburgh,
where we visited tho collections of tho Chalknger expedition, or
** much of them as were stored at No. 1 Park Place* Aside
from the marine invertebrates, the amount collected seems small
almost to insignificance, in comparison with the cost, the equip
ment and personnel of the expedition, and the distance it traversed
Tho higher fornw of animal life received but scant attention, wad
tho rettltB obtained are interesting to a few scientific specialists
only. Aside from the deep-sea sounding and dredging, I, for one,
am puzzled to know how such an expedition could go BO far and
accomplish 00 little. Tho collections of vertebrates would be no
credit, even if shown as the work of a private individual, to
sny nothing of such an expedition sent out by a great nation.
At Manchester we visited the Owens College Museum, whence I
went on to Sheffield and had made to order, after my own pattern^
4 TWO IK
of They of the
by fi & Co,, a
At Liverpool wft vuiited the Dfrby Museum, which w IHJ
of what public muneum ought to be. It In readily that no
has uparcd to mako it porfwt in quality of both
and fixtures, and on<* only regrets that Dr. Moore nut
unlimited funcb at his diHpOBiil for tho indefinite inoreKt of the
quantity* The mot hods of inntallation happily combine allnictlte-
of diftpl&y with economy of apace.
Alter that camo London and Jf nmseiunB of all kimla TIw city
is but a fast, inhoHpitnbk* wildenwHrt of bru?k, gloomy but not
ancient but not attraetive, rel6f 4 icitl from uttft
only by its wonderful muMmum and giilli*rii* of urt^ a! itn
of soology and botany. Not even in the jungle* of India, with only
half ft dozen native follower^ did I feel no utterly lonely aa in the
of London's immensity, mirrounded by nearly four
human speaking my own language
The British Museum is undoubtedly the of any
of its kind in existence* and always will be. It til
BEittsmms just m tho Gmii Afotfmi surpawts in /*a and
capacity all oilier ships, Thore IB not now, and ilicm will !it
e?sn in boastful, progroBBivo Amorica^ anothor munoum which
ven be coxnparod with it a to ttixo and sctianMtlc
Englislimen hate a prido in thk inntitution which wnelifii to the
bottom of their pockets, and thin, with the dispeiwl of
all over the world, has made it what it is. British jyrt
paid good salaries, from which they can and do afford to
mhiabl collections in foreign lands for the British Huwum. 8b
long an our consuls arc limited to the paltry w-
mw, for a year at a time, by the of Cowgri f f hty be
very foolish to spend a dollar for the benefit of any Aiiiiritmn mil-
mnm ; though they might* at a trifling ex|Hiai^ eond to
ifce Smitlxsonittn InHtitution which would make a nm^nific^ut ma-
0eum in a year. Mort than thin, the British Mtuwum ti allowitd to
buy what it waats and cannot get by pra&entatkm, hut thu
of our Ooftgr0s MJs to provide for the purchase of n tng!a
by the National Museum, What a glorioug achiuiu) for
a national institution!
To a stranger, the extent arid compfotenftflu of tho Brif ih
seittiMo collections are truly atttoaihing, b ii *
THB JOURNKY TO INDIA,. $
scientific sharp, the chances are lie cannot name a living species of
any except the lowest forms of animal life which cannot be found
represented 'there in Homo form. It may be a skin, a mounted
specimen, a skeleton, a skull, a preparation in alcohol, or perhaps
only a pair of horns ; anylunv, it will bo there, somewhere, although
it may not be on exhibition by any means. Of many species there
are dozens of specimens of various ft{Jf<% from various localities, all
valuable as showing the variations in sizo, color, and texture of cor-
ering. The best of it all in, that this wonderful storehouse of
science is opc*n on equal terms to all, and, bo you ever so humble a
student, an assistant it* always at your service to hunt tip and show
you at once the specimens you desire to examine. Even before I
hail intimated a desire for a closer examination of the tortoises on
exhibition* a vigilant attendant noticed my interest in the group
and immediately came forward, with an offar to unlock the
and take out any specimens 1 wiwhcnl to examine closely. When 1
protested that I did not wish to give him so much trouble, h re-
plied that ha waw there for that very purpose- No introduction,
no unwinding ,of red tape was necessary ; that I had been found
studying those specimens as well as I could through the glass was
enough. Again, when I wished to BOO a particular crocodile skull
described by Gray as Mdhiia Ame.rmum, Dr. Gunthor immediately
sant an assistant with mo, who want into tlw basement with a lan
tern and found it directly* When I wished to soe Saba'e figure
and description of " the American crocodile," published 80 many
years ago, the distinguished keeper of zoology sent another assist
ant to lie library* who found the volume ancl the plate for ma at
once. Thin, and much more, was done to assist the inquiries of a
mere nobody*
It in in this great institution that the naturalist will find the type
specimen** of ao many thousand pcie% and the array of objaetn
from which those oitremely valuable but far too costly contribu
tions to sKsienee, known as the British Museum Catalogues, have
Been made up, Each catalogue is in reality a handbook of classi*
fieation, but the troubk is, the volumes are BO expensive as to be
btyoml the reach of the average impecunious student who would
gladly inform himself from them* What a boon to poor natuiftlista
it would bj if thane catalogue** and monographs were published
mitl iBiuecl upon the same generous plan as that pursued by tht
Government of the United States in the iwue of similar works*
We have not as yet a British Museum, but we have a Government
8 TWO TBABS IN THE JCTNGLE.
which bountifully piwides for the publication and fre distribution
of complete and systematic information bearing upon all brunches
of Amerieaa natural history, The reports of the Geological Survey,
the Burma of Ethnology, the MiiweUiuit'ous Publications, tlm re
ports of the Commissioner of Pish ami Fisheries, the Bulletins of
th National Museum, and nearly all the publicatioxm of the Smith*
soakn Institution are all sent f rm m air ant! postage paid to
iag applicants, This liberality on tha part of the
smpm-aUeled in the history of B&tions, has given to neiimee in
America such an impetus as could not ht?e been acquired in lens
tlwya a century by any other meana
After six weeks of London, Paris came and went like a beautiful
dream, leaving confused memories of dean buildings! pretty parks
and gardens full of nude marble figures, monumental columns and
arches ; acres of fine paintings by masters old and new ; gorgeously
gUcted mid frescoed ceilings ; rooms full of trtistieally mounted
bdatSj "stuffed animals," and beautiful birds ; long rows of human
skeletons ; naked Hottentots in wax ; and museums of e?trything
under the sun*
On Christmas day we crossed the Alps into ** sunny Italy," and
landed in the lap of winter at Turin* " Sunny Italy * indeed, with
a foot of snow on the ground ! Together, Professor Ward and I did
h natural history museums of Turin, Milan, Florence, Pisa* and
Borne, and, surreptitiously, I did the art galleries alone*
Borne is a paradise for art, but a desert for natural history. Tht
Eternal City turns out paintings by tho square mile, and regiment*
of women and men in marble, but she cannofc stuff an animal so
that it is fit to be seen. She has the Vatican and Si Peter's, but
she has not the least idea about cleaning and mounting skeletons
properly. There is one scientific man in Borne, the professor of
natural history who has charge of the University Museum ; but I
am sure he must feel very lonesome there. The naturalist is too
heavily handicapped in Borne. It requires the untrammelled genius
of the western world to produce a real mermaid, a Cardiff giant,
gorillas eight feet high, made of buffalo skins, and a forty-font
whale made of bull hides sewn together. Borne ought certainly to
jfHXxfeoe the most artistic taxidermists in the world, considering
how mmeh artistic talent there is running to seed all o?er Italy ;
btifc Borne does not care a whit for nature unless it is reproduced
in paint or marble.
At Naples we spent eight delightful days, m spite of
THE JOUENEY TO IN0IA. 7
and bad smells, in the course of which we made two excursions to
Vesuvius and collected a ton of lava specimens, and also visited
Pompeii to see the place, and scoop up a bagful of the fine pumice-
stone which still covers a large portion of the city. Men are just
as great fools as other animals. There are half a dozen populous
villages nearer to the treacherous old volcano than this which was
buried out of Bight, and human memory too, in a few hours' time ;
and the vineyards reach as far up the mountain as the lava will al
low. Familiarity has bred contempt, and the people take it for
granted that the great ash-pile will never again get up such high
jinks with pumice-stone, sand, ashes, and hot water, as broke up
the circus that fine day in Pcppeii, in the year 79,
While in Naples we epen&fieveral days among the oyster-stalls on
the quay, buying quantities of shells, star-fishes, and ecMnoderma
of many species from the Mediterranean, It really seems as if the
Italians eat every living animal they can catch in the sea excepting
the corals and sponges. In addition to the common edible fishes*
the poor people devour sharks, rays, octopods, echinoderms, squids,
crustaeeanB, and shell-flail of all sorts, By way of experiment, we
tried a few of the outr'e dishes which are daily cooked and served up
in tli oyster-stalls, Fried shark was very good, and so was shell
fish soup, but the festive echinoderm was rather tasteless and de
lusive. We tried to eat some stewed octopus, but it was tough as
india-rubber and salt as the ocean, and after five minutes' steady
chewing we gave it back to the caterer to be sold again for the
benefit of the poor.
Naples ha no public market, but there is a certain wide street
in which, as in Albany, fish, flesh, and fowl are gathered together
every morning, and every man with aught to sell stands up and
howls at the top of Ms voice until whatever he has is sold. The
infernal din, the dirt and bad smells, were enough to appall sensi
tive nerves ; but every morning we used to go in and take our
chances amid the motley rabble of buyers and beggars. In this
way we secured many fine Bpecimens of Octopus vulgaris^ and vari^
oua <mtUe*f shes, mursanas, lobsters, crabs, shell-fish, eta, which we
preserved in spirits,
Of course we vi&ited the famous zoological station, founded and
conducted by Dr. Dohrn, for the systematic study of marine in
vertebrate life under the best possible advantages. The basement
story of the pretty building* which stands at one end of a grassy
esplanade, close to the shore, is devoted to an aquarium for thi
8 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
benefit of tlie general public, and is bountifully filled with interest
ing marine animals of many kinds, such as cephalopoda, medusae
in all their delicate and filmy beauty, live corals, sponges, sharks,
rays, crabs, lobsters, fishes, and turtles in great variety and pro
fusion. A walk through the aquarium is like taking a stroll
under the sea and becoming personally acquainted with its inhab
itants. The water supply comes directly from the bay, and the
denizens of the commodious tanks seem quite at home in the pretty
bits of sea-bottom that have been transferred hither for them.
The upper story of the station is, to the gaping crowd, a sealed
book, and "shall fools rush in where angels fear to tread?" By
no means ; hence I did not attempt to penetrate the inner temple
where Dr. Dohrn and his investigators have their "tables," and
prosecute their divings after the unfathomable, and graspings for
the unknowable.
But all too soon the time came for us to move on ; and, in
obedience to the summons, we shipped home sixteen cases of speci
mens and sailed for Egypt
At sunrise of the fifth day out, a long, low stretch of barren
and all along the south betokened our approach to the land of
deserts. At eight o'clock Pompey's pillar loomed up from its hill
top behind the city, graceful, prominent, and sharply outlined
against the clear eastern sky, and we steamed around the end of
the breakwater into the harbor of Alexandria. This city is the
gateway to all Egypt, and we found its harbor filled with the ships
of many nations, among which we counted nineteen large steamers.
To my mind, there is absolutely nothing attractive about Alex
andria, and but for the European quarter, the Place des Consuls,
the city would be intolerable, even for a day. The only good
things that can be said about it are, that the city is of great com
mercial importance to Egypt, and is the starting-point for Cairo.
We visited Pompey's pillar and the Khedive's gardens, but to reach
them we had to drive through such filthy streets, and past so many
dens 6f wretchedness, that the charm of sight-seeing was utterly
lost. We saw sights we had in no wise bargained for. It seems to
me that Alexandria is the dirtiest city I ever saw, and it certainly
smells worse than Naples. No wonder that fevers are prevalent, or
that the plague always breaks out here prior to its appearance in
any other part of Egypt.
The ride from Alexandria to Cairo, one hundred and thirty-one
miles by rail, is full of interest. Leaving behind us the slums erf
JOtTElSrET TO INDIA. 9
the city, we sped quietly along the eastern shore of Lake Mareotis
for several miles, then turned off to cross the flat and fertile delta
of the Nile. Although it was mid-winter, the fields were green
with young crops of wheat, save those which had been newly
ploughed ; and for a great part of the journey, the landscapes re
minded me strongly of the level green prairies of Northern Illinois
near the southern shore of Lake Michigan.
For a number of miles the railway runs along the bank of an
irrigation canal, the space between the two being used as a public
highway. As the railway traveller flies along, he is treated to an
endless moving panorama of turbaned men, women, and children,
riding donkeys or plodding along on foot ; groups of laborers,
idlers, beggars, and strings of laden camels. And so we rattled dn,
past the green fields ; across muddy canals ; across the iron viaduct
over the Eosetta branch of the Nile ; past mud villages, with their
miserable peasant inhabitants squatting on the sunny side of their
huts, fighting the flies ; past ruined villages mere round hillocks
of mud across the splendid iron tubular bridge at Benha, over
the Damietta branch of the Nile ; across bits of desert, wider or
narrower ; in sight of the Pyramids ; in sight of Cairo ; through
clouds of sand and dust, and at last -into the grand old city itself.
We took up quarters at the Grand New Hotel, and immediately
began to gather in specimens. But it wouldn't do, and we might
have known it before going there. The high-toned guests of the
hotel wondered too much and looked too much scandalized when we
began to buy ibex skulls, stuffed mastigures, polypterus, and other
queer animals, and carry them upstairs to our rooms. A naturalist
who intends to accomplish anything has no business to stop at a
grand hotel, where he must stand upon ceremony and do nothing
remarkable. He must put up at the small hotels, where, being a
guest who pays cash for everything, the landlord will be his wann
est friend and abettor in whatever he undertakes, will give him
every accommodation the house affords, and allow him to turn its
best room into a taxidermist's shop if necessary. Being compelled
to realize this' we moved to the H6tel de TEurope, where the land
lord gave us all the rooms on the lower floor, and in those we bar
gained with natives, sorted and packed specimens, sawed and ham
mered at our boxes, and were happy.
In this day of modern improvements and European innovations
upon the ways and means of the oriental races, there are two Cairos,
the old arid the new. The latter ia the foreign or, more properly,
10 TWO YEARS IIS" THE JUNGLE.
European quarter, and is characterized "by broad streets, fine, airy
buildings, parks and gardens, grand hotels and a theatre, stylish
carriages and gas-lamps, in all of which it is eminently Parisian.
All this is agreeable, but uninteresting, and we turn back to the
wonders and delights of the old city. Here, at least, the nineteenth
century has wrought no change, and we take pleasure in thinking
that the city is to-day very like what it was when the Pyramids
were new, when England was inhabited by savages, and America
was unknown. It may not be so, but still we like to believe that
these are the same cramped and crooked streets, the same latticed
windows and overhanging upper stories, the same bazaars and
work-shops and wells that were here when the brethren of Joseph
came down, as envoys extraordinary, to practise the arts of di
plomacy in the court of Pharaoh.
, Of course we saw the sights as we went along, the beautiful
mosque of Mehemet Ali, built of oriental alabaster the prettiest
building material in the .world ; the mosque of Sultan Hassan ; the
citadel, and the place where the Mamaluke leaped his horse over
the wall ; Joseph's well, cut 260 feet deep through solid rock
which is much better for the posterity of " Joseph " (the* Sultan
Saladin I) than a bronze equestrian statue or a monument could
possibly be. The Turkish bazaar is very like a church fair, inas
much as you get less there for your money than anywhere else,
but it is worth a visit 'all the same. The Museum of Egyptian An
tiquities at Boulac was full of interest and mummies, but I fear
the Egyptian collection in the British Museum surpasses it The
Khedive has lately put a stop to the exportation of antiquities from
Egypt, and now not a single article can be shipped without an
order from him.
Our pleasantest excursion from Cairo was to the Petrified For
est, south of the city, for specimens of petrified wood and other
fossils. Cook does not take his tourists out that way, and for once
we were not harassed by crowds of beggars for "backsheesh," or -
sellers of Brummagem antiquities.
Having made all preparations the previous day, we mounted
our donkeys very early one morning and set out. Our cavalcade
consisted of Professor Ward, Mr. Farman, the U. S. Consul Gene
ral, myself, our dragoman, Mr. Farman's chuprassie, all upon
donkeys, and three brown-skinned, barefooted little Arabs, clad in
long blue drilling shifts, to whip up. The sun was just rising as
we rode out at the famous Bab-el-Nasr gate, and there, near the
THE JOURNEY TO INDIA. 11
tents of the Bedouins, was an old Arab with a camel waiting to join
us. We had engaged them the day before, but were nevertheless
surprised at finding them both there and ready to start. The plan
was for me to ride the camel out to the Forest, where we would
load it with specimens of petrified wood to be brought back ; so I
dismounted from my donkey and prepared to embark upon the
ship of the desert.
The Bedouin made him kneel, which he did under protest, with
much guttural swearing, not loud but deep ; but when I prepared
to mount, he bawled aloud in remonstrance against a " Christian
infidel dog " getting upon his back, which was sacred to the follow
ers of the Prophet. But his objections were overruled by the court ;
the stirrup-straps were adjusted over the front horn of the saw-
buck I was to ride upon, and I mounted.
"Now look out," said Mr. Farman.
Immediately the camel began to heave up behind and sink
earthward in front, just like an Arab when he prostrates himself and
touches the ground with his forehead while saying his prayers. It
seemed as though my camel was going to stand on his head, and
but for the timely warning I should have pitched gracefully over
his bows into the sand. But I clung to the rack, and presently the
ship began to right itself. The next thing I knew, the affair was
high in the air, with its leg-joints partially straightened out ; the
Bedouin took hold of the halter and we were oft
How strange and romantic the scene. How soft and pure and
balmy the fresh morning air. How pleasing the landscape ; and
yet how barren. Not a single green thing in sight, yet somehow
it seems more like a freshly ploughed field than a desert. Here amd
there are the same umbrella-like Bedouin tents that we have seen
pictured in the geography on the page opposite the map of Africa,
ever since we began to remember, and close to each tent is the very
same camel. The wandering Arabs pitch their tents just outside
the gates of the city, and feel quite at home, for the desert comes
quite up to the walls.
Over to the left there stand a number of low, dome-like struct
ures, and *we do not need to be told that they are the tombs
of the caliphs who have mercy ! A trotting camel is enough
to stampede the reflections of a mirror. The donkeys walk
faster than our camel, so we have fallen behind, and must trot
to catch up. While we walked, camel-riding went well enough,
for the old fellow went very easily and softly forward, and it is not
12 TWO TEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
so very disagreeable to be heaved forward with a jerk, stopped
suddenly, and thus bent nearly double at every step. One's
stomach soon learns to accommodate itself to the circumstances,
and after half an hour or so one's lumbar vertebrae get into
pretty good working order. But when we fall far behind, which
we do quite often, then the Arab begins to run, the camel starts
to trot, and I drop all side issues to devote all my energies to the
task of holding myself together.
We passed the limestone cliffs and quarries of the Mokattent
Hills, wound along up a little valley for several miles, and finally
turned off eastward into the desert. The surface was very uneven,
and thickly strewn with black and porous fragmentary limestone,
which very closely resembled the pieces of lava we collected upon
the sides of Vesuvius. About ten o'clock we reached the Petrified
p ores t a hilly, sandy desert, strewn with petrified tree-trunks
and countless fragments of wood. In many places we found trunks
twenty, thirty, and even forty feet in length, and often a foot and
a half in diameter. The large trunks were always broken in a
number of places, squarely, as if they had been sawn. A few
stood perpendicularly in the sand, with only their upper ends visi
ble. Fragments of all sizes lay scattered thickly all about, show
ing petrified knots, bark, decayed places, small branches, and
roots.
What a grand picnic that was ! We gathered up petrified
rood, found a great number of fossil oyster-shells, similar to 0-
ft-ea deltaidea, wandered about, and enjoyed ourselves generally.
It was a glorious day, and for once in Egypt we enjoyed peace,
balmy peace. It was free and roomy and quiet out there, for we
had a whole desert all to ourselves. At noon we sat down upon a
little sand hiH, just at the edge of a great sandy basin that was
once a lake, to rest and enjoy our luncheon. A cloth was spread
upon the clean brown sand, and from the lunch-basket Mahomet
produced two bottles of claret and one of water, oranges, dates,
sandwiches, and other substantial
Why do not more artists paint such glorious pictures as the
one that lay before us then, instead of the tame and hackneyed
scenes of lakelet, meadow, hill and dale so universally depicted?
On either hand the view was bounded by lofty sand ridges, or
limestone cliflfe, but before us stretched the warm brown desert in
gently rolling hills of sand, sloping gradually down toward the
Nile. Cairo lay half hidden behind the Mokattem Hills, its grace-
THE JOURNEY TO INDIA.
-) ful minarets and mosque-domes shining brightly in the morning
sun. Above the city, where there were no hills to hide it from our
<r view, we could see the sluggish Nile, and trace its winding course
through the narrow, level valley of fertile fields that stretched
-HLike a ribbon of green velvet between the two great deserts.
A Beyond Cairo, at the edge of the green valley, the Pyramids loomed
' up far above the horizon, mysterious and majestic mountains of
tone, while far beyond them stretched a vast but lifeless ocean
4 sea of desolate sand, reaching from the Nile to the far-off shore of
Q the Atlantic. *
On our way home from the Petrified Forest with a camel-load
of specimens, we stopped at the limestone quarry a mile from the
j city, to look for fossils in the piles of rock that had recently been
jj] quarried from the cliff. In a couple of hours' vigorous scrambling
and hammering, we secured a fine assortment of fossils, including
about thirty good specimens of a pretty little fossil crab, bearing,
as none but a stone crab could, the appalling name of Lobocarcinus
Ptiulo-Wurteniburgensis, a number of large Nautili, and several
species of Voluta> Turritella and Cerithium. The most interesting
find was a rib of a Sirenian.
Egypt is one of the grandest countries in the world for an anti-
uarian, but one of the poorest for a naturalist. The JPolypterus
ganoid fish valuable to science because of its close resemblance
Osteolepis, a fossil fish of the Devonian) is found in the Nile,
but it is exceedingly rare. Crocodiles ((7. vulgaris) are also found
the Nile, but so far above Cairo that we decided not to hunt
-A them. A trip up the Nile by rail, four hundred and fifty -seven
* miles to the mummy pits at Manfalout, revealed the fact that the
>*pits had been fairly gleaned of the mummied crocodiles, ibises,
L^eats, and human beings they once contained. The result of this
tedious three days' trip was but two mummied crocodiles, a skull,
and an armful of mummied arms, legs, and heads of ancient Egyp
tians.
An Arab brought us an earthen jar, said to contain a mummied
ibis, for which he asked the modest sum of 1. The mouth of the
I /njar was tightly closed with cement, and the Arab would not allow us
llfto open it, so Professor Ward, who had seen Arabs before, declined
with thanks. We met an old Bedouin who had just come across
*the desert from the peninsula of Sinai, and had carried on one of
his camels, all that weary distance, seven heads of Egyptian ibex
(Gapra Nubiam), all of which, were quickly added to our collection
14 TWO YEARS IK THE JUNGLE.
fit a price highly satisfactory to both parties. The skin remained
upon each skull, dry and hard, and had perfectly protected all
parts of the bony structure from injury. Not a bad idea for the
preparation of small skulls that are destined to be banged about
on camel- back.
We procured specimens of the polypterus (P. bichir), the spiny-
tailed mastigure of the desert ( Uromastix spinipes), one specimen
of the Egyptian wild-cat (Felis chaus), and about three camel-loads
of petrified wood, fossils of many kinds, blocks of Egyptian granite
and oriental alabaster to be sawed up into cabinet specimens.
Near the beautiful mosque of Mehemet Ali lay a number of blocks
of alabaster like those of which the mosque has been built, " stones
which the builders rejected." After the exercise "of considerable
diplomacy, General Stone, the Khedive's Chief-of-Staff, to whom
Prof. "Ward had letters, obtained the vice-regal permission for us
to cart through the gates of the citadel one slab of alabaster for
ourselves, and another which he consigned to the care of Prof.
Ward for the Smithsonian Institution. General Stone also ob
tained the Khedive's permission for our two mummy coffins and
their contents to be exported from the country without let or hin
drance.
Even at the Pyramids, last of all suitable places for a naturalist,
we found specimens valuable to science. The Pyramids are built
entirely of nummulitic limestone blocks, a.nd the passages are lined
with limestone brought from the Mokattem Hills east of Cairo,
eight miles away. This limestone is full of nummulites, little flat
echinoderms, which, as the blocks upon the surface slowly disinte
grate through exposure, are set free and roll down to the base of
the Pyramids, where they are picked up by the Arabs and sold to
travellers.
Another interesting fossil which we also obtained at the Pyra
mids was a larger echinoderm, Clypeaster Ghizaenm, from the
limestone (a lower strata than the nummulitic), which is the foun
dation upon which the Pyramids rest. The Arabs dig these fossils
out of deep holes in the sand.
As a sort of penance for two delightful weeks in Cairo and vi-
ciaity, I was exiled to Port Said for a few days to look after our
heavy luggage, which had been shipped there, and to watch for KB
outward steamer.
Port Said (pronounced Side), named after Said Pasha, under
whose patronage the Suez Canal was commenced in 1859, is the
THE JOURNEY TO IKDIA. 15
port at the Mediterranean entrance of the canal, a very important,
but very dreary, dirty, and uninviting modern town, built upon the
sand and infested by Arabs and fleas. But deliverance came at
last. I embarked one night upon the Austrian-Lloyd steamer
Memfi, and when I awoke at sunrise the next morning, Port Said ,
lay far behind us and we were steaming slowly through the great
canal Some one had told me that this passage was an " uninter
esting and monotonous voyage through a big ditch," but I do not
believe he ever saw the canal. After leaving Port Said, the channel
is cut through Lake Menzaleh, a vast but shallow lagoon, swarming
with wild fowl. From that, a cutting through a low, sandy plain
leads into another lagoon, called Ballah Lake, which is also tra
versed by the canal. From Ballah Lake to Lake Timsah the canal
is cut through the plateau of El Guisr, the highest ground on the*
route. The banks grow higher and higher, and the channel nar
rower, until we suddenly emerge upon Lake Timsah (Crocodile
Lake), nearly midway between the two seas. On the western bank
of the lake stands Ismailia, a pretty little town, a garden in the
desert, with substantial houses, fine streets, shady avenues, green
gardens, and all the institutions of business and religion pertaining
to a modern town.
Crossing the lake, we entered another cutting several miles in
length, full of curves and gares, or sidings where ships can meet
and pass each other. After steaming slowly all the afternoon
through the desert, we anchored just before sunset in the deepest
part of the Great Bitter Lake. What an odd sensation it is to
cross a desert in a steamship ! Never have I seen water look so
smiling and delicious as do these clear blue lakes in the midst of a
scorching and lifeless expanse of brown sand. As the sun set, the
full moon rose, lighting up a broad, golden track across the gfagay
surface of the lake, the stars came out until we had one shining
firmament above and another in the lake below, the evening air
was balmy and pure, and, as if to crown all these delights, the bell
rang for supper.
The Suez Canal is 86 miles in entire length, 21 of which are
through the three larger lakes. It is 26 feet deep in mid-channel,
and the bed is 72 feet wide. At the surface, the width varies from
350 to 196 feet, according to the'books, but in the narrowest cut
tings, the surface width looked more like 96 than 196 feet. Vessels
are not to steam faster than five and one-third miles per hour in the
canal The toll charged by the company is thirteen francs per foot
16 TWO YEABS IN THE JUNGLE.
of draught for laden vessels, ten francs per foot when in ballast.
The total cost of the canal was eighteen and a quarter million
pounds sterling, to say nothing of the millions of pounds worth of
"forced labor" or, in plain English, slave labor of the most deadly
sort supplied by Ismail Pasha.
The next morning we ran the gauntlet of buoys and beacons
which mark the channel across the Bitter Lakes, and continued our
winding course through the desert. The canal makes a great
many very sharp curves, and it is a delicate task io take a large
steamer through without a mistake. About noon, we saw, across
the desert, a number of ships ; the desert gradually sank away into
the sea, and at one o'clock P.M., just thirty-one hours from Port
Said, we anchored in the harbor of Suez. Professor Ward came on
board directly, with nearly a bushel of fresh echinoderms, and
after a stay of two hours, we weighed anchor and started down the
Gulf of Suez.
Half way down the Red Sea, on the Arabian shore, lies Jeddah,
the nearest port to Mecca, and therefore the landing place for the
throng of Mohammedan pilgrims constantly coming from all parts
of Northern Africa and Southern Asia to visit the tomb of the
Prophet. We were to call there for a deck-load of returning pil
grims bound to Bombay, and just forty-eight hours from Suez, the
town lay before us, compact, angular and gray, bounded on three
sides by the desolate barrenness characteristic of the Arabian pen
insula. Taking a position with as much precision as a man going
to leap over a bar, we slowly and cautiously threaded our wa7
through a break in the coral barrier reef which forms the harbor.
It was close nipping sometimes, and once or twice we had to
stop and go astern before we could pass the end of a reef ; but the
swarthy Arab pilot we had brought from Suez took our ship
through without accident How large sailing ships manage to get
through is more than a landsman can see, but they do it somehow,
for we saw several riding at anchor inside the reefs, which is the
only harbor there is at Jeddah. There were in port a dozen or
more large steamers like our own, and a whole fleet of sailing ves
sels, most of which had come laden with pilgrims, and were wait
ing to bear back their living freight.
We had a day to spend on shore, and made the most of it.
Upon landing we found that the substantial portion of the town
is built of fossil coral and coralline limestone. Great masses of
brain coral, Meandrince and Astreoporce, have been quarried from the
THE JOURNEY TO INDIA. 17
raised beaches, trimmed up as ordinary building stone, and used
in the construction of houses. Blocks of limestone full of very
perfect Madrepores were common, and sometimes we found four
or five species of coral in a single wall Owing to the purely cor
alline nature of the building material, the houses of Jeddah are of
dazzling whiteness when fairly viewed. In the suburbs, the houses
are mere huts of reeds and brushwood.
Taken altogether, Jeddah is a fine little city. The houses are
built quite solidly, in a peculiar style of architecture, half Moor
ish, half Saracenic, which is both unique and beautiful. Each
upper window is a square latticed casement of brown wood, pro
jecting from one to two feet beyond the wall. The city is entirely
surrounded, on the landward side, by a high wall, and, owing to its
close proximity to Mecca, and the presence of so many pilgrims, it
is a perfect little hot-bed of fanaticism, ready for a religious (!) dis
turbance upon very short notice. One occurred in 1858, during
which the meek and lowly followers of the Prophet massacred all
the white Christians in the place, including the British and French
consuls. In return for this, the British Government, with its
usual promptness, taught them the gospel of peace by bombard
ing the place. That lesson has had its effect, and until it is for
gotten, every white man in Jeddah will be safe. And yet I fancy
it must be very much like living in a powder magazine to hold a
consulship there.
In the cemetery, a quarter of a mile northeast of the city, is
the celebrated tomb of Eve. Whether the dust of the great moth
er of mankind really reposes there or not, no man can say : but
all true Mohammedans believe that such is the case, and reverence
the spot accordingly. In fact, they hold it as very sacred indeed,
but the guardian angels of the tomb are not proof against the se
ductive power of backsheesh, and for about fifteen piastres each, we
were cheerfully admitted to all the rights and privileges of the place.
If Eve was, when living, as long as this tomb, then she was in
deed a woman fit to start a world with. Her tomb is about two
hundred and twenty feet long, but very narrow, enclosed by a white
washed stone wall. Across the centre stands a small building, in
which is a shrine, and under this is supposed to lie the dust of
Adam's wife, the first woman, who came direct from the hand of the
Creator. It gives one's head a turn to think of it
There is one thing about the tomb, which is both strange and
pitiful. At the southern end of the enclosure is a sort of tower,
2
18 TWO YEAK8 IK THE JUNGLE.
low and square, in each side of which, is a large window. To the
iron bars of these windows were tied hundreds, perhaps even thou
sands, of small strips of cotton cloth, one upon another, so that not
an atom of iron was visible in either of the three windows.
Each of those little ragged strips, none of them large enough
to tie up a cut finger, had been tied there by some barren Mo
hammedan woman who had made a pilgrimage to the shrine, and
performed this act of faith, praying and believing that the great
first Mother would have pity for her distress, and render her fruit
ful Think of the years of wretched longing for maternity that
were represented by those fluttering bits of cloth.
Jeddah has only three gates, except those facing the sea, and
having gone out at the northern gate to reach the cemetery, we
concluded to keep on around the wall, and so make a complete
circuit of the city.
At the eastern side of the town we came to the famous Mecca
gate, through which one hundred and twenty thousand pilgrims
.pass every year on their way to Mecca, the Mohammedan Jerusa
lem, sixty-two miles inland. It used to be death for a Christian
to pass through this gate, just as it would even now be death
for a Christian to attempt to enter Mecca. Only two English
men have ever been inside the walls of that city. Captain Burton
was the first, and he went with a large party of pilgrims, so thor
oughly disguised in feature, speech and habit, that his true char
acter was not suspected. The other was Hadji Brown, of Bom
bay, who professed full conversion to the Mohammedan faith,
and made the pilgrimage in 1876. In my opinion, getting into
Mecca and safely out again is a mere question of backsheesh. The
man who bids high enough will be granted the freedom of the city,
and it is a wonder that Cook is not even now paying an annual
subsidy to the Pasha, and taking his tourists there. The Mecca gate
(at Jeddah), is open to all comers now, and we passed inside just
for the sake of enjoying what used to be a forbidden privilege.
Professor Ward had arranged to stop at Jeddah, and did so,
having in early life formed the habit of doing what he sets out to
do. He spent a few days there, then took the Egyptian steamer to
Suakin and Massowah, busily collecting at every opportunity, and
shortly returned to Europe and home to America with a goodly
lot of Ked Sea invertebrates and fishes. And so I was left to go
on alone to the East Indies, and work out my own salvation with
fear and trembling. The Memfi took aboard one hundred and
THE JOUBNEY TO INDIA. 19
eleven pilgrims Hadjis as deck passengers for Bombay, and the
next morning we continued our course down the Red Sea.
There were only three saloon passengers besides myself, an
officer of the Indian army with his wife and child, returning from
furlough to their station at Kohat, in the Punjab, close to the
Khyber Pass. In Colonelthen Captain Boss of the 1st Sikh In
fantry, I met a man whose mind waa a store-house, full of valuable
information, who patiently endured a tedious amount of question
ing, and whose friendship and advice afterward proved of great
service to "me. He entered heartily into the details of my plans for
India, and even condescended to teach me enough Hindostanee to
enable me to inquire whether there were " any large gavials near
here ? " " how far away ? " " who can take me in a boat ? " and
so on. My meeting with Colonel Boss was indeed most fortunate, as
events proved, and as I look back upon it, I do not see how I could
possibly have accomplished what I did, without his assistance.
In the course of many delightful conversations with Mrs. Boss,
each of which was to me a mental treat, she rendered me ,an im
portant and lasting service. She diagnosed so cleverly a malady
which had often attacked me" the blues "and prescribed a
remedy so skilfully that I never have suffered from it since that day.
For the benefit of fellow-sufferers I will state both. Diagnosis :
" The blues " are caused by envy and selfishness. Bemedy :
When attacked, go to work vigorously to promote the happiness of
those around you, and thereby forget yourself.
The third day after leaving Jeddah we passed through the
strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, which is the Arabic for " gate of tears," a
name applied to these straits on account of the many wrecks that
have occurred here of vessels trying to get in or out of the Bed
Sea. At the point where the strait is narrowest the island of Perim
stands mirj-way between Arabia and Africa, a sentry-box with a
British soldier in it. Of course England occupies Perim and holds
the key to the Bed Sea, just as she holds the keys to all the impor
tant points between Downing Street and Canton. This little bit of
barrenness was made, like Gibraltar, Aden, and Hong Kong, espe-
<$ially for England. At the narrowest point, the strait of Bab-el-
Mandeb is but fifteen miles wide, and the navigable channel on
either side of Perim is near the island and very narrow. The
Arabian coast, which is in sight all day, is mountainous, rocky, and
entirely barren, save for an occasional palm-tree along the shore.
After getting through the strait, we called at Aden. The
30 TWO TBABS IK THE JUNGLE.
Mohammedans believe that this burnt-up place was once the Gar
den of Eden, but we know that it is about sixty degrees F. from
that now. It has been Tery truly spoken of as a cinder, for it is
composed of rugged black mountains of lava, piled high up, with
out a single tree, bush, or blade of grass visible to the naked eye.
It was once a cluster of volcanoes that poured lava down their
steep sides into the sea, but now they are extinct, and the town of
Aden is located in the crater of the largest It is surrounded
by high walls and ridges of lava, and has but two outlets, the road
to the west, and a tunnel, a mile and a quarter long, to the north.
Aden is said to be the hottest place in the world, and yet it boasts
21,500 inhabitants.
The first Parsee (fire-worshipper) I ever saw was a wealthy and
apparently respectable merchant, but when the chance offered he
could not resist the temptation to tell me a lie and cheat me out of
a rupee, just as a hackman would do. At Steamer Point I stepped
into the store of Messrs. Swindlejee & Co., and after making a lit
tle purchase, handed a sovereign in payment. I asked how much a
sovereign was worth in rupees, and he assured me only ten. Trust
ing to his honor as a respectable merchant I made no further in
quiry, and he gave me my change on the basis of ten rupees. As
soon as I left the place I was fairly beset by a mob of ragged little
Arab money changers who had got wind of the transaction and
wanted to give me ten and a half rupees for all the sovereigns I
had. During the day I had occasion to change several, for each of
which I received eleven rupees without any trouble. I shall never
forget my introduction to the Parsees.
I obtained a fine lot of ostrich eggs, and a few fine feathers also
which had been brought across the Gulf of Aden from the African
'coast, but, finding nothing else there worth taking, the Memft
weighed anchor and proceeded on her course across the Arabian Sea.
Taken altogether, I think that voyage from Port Said to Bom
bay was the most agreeable I ever made. It was the poetry of life
at sea, a sort of lotus-eaters' voyage. The sea was smooth, the
weather was clear and balmy, the officers were as kind and court
eous as officers could possibly be, and my fellow-passengers in the
cabin seemed to have been selected especially for me. The ship was
clean, rx>omy, and comfortable, and the devotions of the deck-load
of Hadjis afforded a pleasing diversion. But it had to end at last
We sighted the Bombay light just before midnight of January
16th, and three hours after were at anchor in the harbor.
CHAPTER H
BOMBAY.
Duty on Outfit. A Model (!) Consul. The Servant Question, The Grand
Market Flowers. Fruit. Fish. Live Birds. The First Specimen.
Street Cars. An Interesting Crowd. Vehicles. The Bullock Hackery.
The Homeliest Animal Alive. The Victoria and Albert Museum. Soft
hearted Hindoos. The Hospital for Animals. A Strange Sight. A Good
Servant. Departure for Allahabad.
AND now we have come to India, the land of princes and paupers,
of creeds and castes, of savage men and still more savage beasts.
The sun rose upon what was, to me, a new world, full of strange
sights, and sounds, and people. We were at anchor in tbe middle
of a "bay several miles long, on one side of which lay the flat city,
stretching far along the shore ; in the distant east the sun was just
rising above the high brown hills of the Western Ghauts, while to
the south lay a perfect archipelago of mountainous islands, large
and small. A single look over the ship's side into the murky water,
told me that I need not expect to find any shells, corals, or star
fishes at Bombay, for they do not live upon a muddy bottom.
The bay was fairly alive with small native boats, in one of which
I immediately went ashore to look for suitable lodgings. Almost in
the shadow of Watson's Hotel, a splendid iron structure of five
stories, the finest hotel between Cairo and San Francisco, I found
Doughtey's Hotel, a little nest of a place that would hardly have
made a kitchen for Watson's ; but I found in it what no one can in
a big, stylish hotel freedom, the privilege of taking " mine ease in
mine inn."
When I went to the steamer to bring away my baggage, I found
that the custom-house officers had swooped down upon us and
that ten per cent, duty was demanded on most of my outfit. Feel
ing that I was, in every sense, a traveller, merely passing through
India with all my personal effects, and that my belongings were
designed for scientific work, I thought that a proper represents*
22 TWO TEAKS IK THE JTJNOLE.
tion to the collector of customs would secure the passage of my
outfit free of duty. A naturalist, unless he is a millionaire or has
one at his back, cannot afford to look lightly upon a matter involv
ing forty to fifty rupees. So I went to the United States Consul,
and asked that he make a statement of the facts in the case to the
collector of customs. Mr. Farnham may be of more use to the
United States than a wooden man would be, but he certainly wasn't
to me. He simply declined to trouble himself about the matter in
the least and, with not more than a dozen words, went back to his
" long-sleeved " chair and his newspaper. I was so completely
snubbed that I determined to give our consuls a wide berth there
after, and meekly paid the duty demanded.*
In the yard of the custom-house I saw about three hundred
elephant tusks lying in a pile, awaiting shipment to England. I
was greatly surprised at the shortness of them all.
Knowing that I could remain but a comparatively short time in
India, I realized that I could not afford to spend time in learning
the languages of the different Presidencies. I resolved therefore
to depend entirely upon interpreters ; and my first care was to
find a servant who could speak a little English. I wanted some one
who would act as my shadow every time I went out, and who could
also assist me at whatever work I should undertake. The Hindoo
servant is a nuisance, for he can only eat in a certain way, at a certain
time, and do but one kind of work ; and the Mohammedan is not
easily induced to travel. I wanted a man who would be willing to
do any kind of work that I myself would do, and I found a little
fellow from Goa who proved to be the very man. He was a native
Christian, and therefore not hampered by caste prejudice ; he
dressed neatly in European style, wore a nobby, high black hat, a
moustache and side whiskers, and was as black as night. He did
not know more than fifty words of English, but he was quick to
understand and prompt to execute my wishes. I took him at first
on trial, with the understanding that if we suited each other, I
would take him to Northern India with me.
With my new servant, Carlo, at my heels, I started out to visit
the market, which is always good collecting ground in a new locality.
Bombay is the only city in the East Indies blessed with street cars,
and being well managed and liberally patronized by all classes, they
* In justice to the service I should add that I soon reconsidered this de
termination, for I found our con&uls at Calcutta, Columbo, and Singapore, ap
tremely obliging and serviceable.
BOMBAY. 23
are a complete success. The distances would seem very great
without them. Taking a car at Watson's Hotel, we rolled smoothly
along a broad, shady street at the side of a spacious esplanade, at
the farther end of which stand the splendid new buildings of the
University, High Court, Secretariat, and Post Office. A ride of
about a mile and a half brought us to the Grand Market, which
was to me the most interesting sight of the city. Standing so as
to form a triangle, are three buildings, long and wide, with roofs
of corrugated iron supported upon iron pillars, and in the centre
of the triangle is a fine fountain with flowering shrubs and trees.
The best American housewife cannot show a pantry cleaner or
more perfectly arranged than this vast market. Fifty-six thousand
square feet of space are divided into sections for the sale of flowers,
fruits, vegetables, grains, spices, fish, and meats, and these are sub
divided into hundreds of stalls where native men and women squat
upon the sloping platform and serve the passers-by.
In the flower market was a scene that would have made the
reputation of any artist who could fairly depict it. Seated upon
the raised platform, and surrounded by great heaps of fresh-bl'own
roses, marigolds, jessamines, and brilliant tropical flowers of many
kinds, was a group of dark-skinned Hindoo men and women tying
the blossoms up into bouquets and long garlands while they laughed
and chatted. The huge, snow-white turbans and loose jackets of
the men, the raven-black hair of the women, the massive silver
ornaments around their arms, ankles, and toes, and their gaudily
colored robes in the midst of such brilliant flowers, made up a pict
ure which, if seen once, could never be forgotten. The air was
heavy with sweet perfume.
The vast space occupied by the fruits and vegetables seemed
more like the display at an agricultural fair than a simple market
for the sale of daily food. There were piles of oranges, bananas,
grapes both purple and white pomegranates, pummeloes, and
many other kinds entirely new to me.
But what interested me most was the fish market. Besides a
fine assortment of common edible species, such as are most abundant
in the Arabian Sea, there were a number of sharks, shark-rays (Rhino-
bati), and skates, which were of special interest. My first visit oc
curred so late in the morning that the kinds I wanted had all been
chopped up, and I found that, in order to catch large rays or rhyno-
bates before they were cut up, I would have to be on hand before
daybreak.
24 TWO YEARS IK THE JUNGLE.
To a Hindoo, beef is an abomination, and the ever-patient au
thorities have located the beef market in a building off at one side,
the doors of which are shut by screens, so that good Brahmins may
not be offended by even the sight of holy heifers which have been
sacrificed to the wants of Englishmen and Mohammedans. In the
garden adjoining the market are men who have live birds for sale
cranes, quails, pheasants, mainahs, jays, doves, etc.
Eager to secure at least one valuable specimen the first day,
" for luck," I found that the crane-seller had a dead saras (Grus
antigone) in his possession, and upon finding it to be a specimen
both large and old, I bought it of him, after a good deal of hag
gling, for two rupees. Its plumage was soiled and ragged, but it
made a fine skeleton.
How strange it seems to ride upon a modern street-car as it
rolls on its way through the narrow, crooked, and crowded streets
of the native bazaar. It seems like the true car of Progress, pushing
its way through the throng of caste prejudices, ancient customs,
and silly traditions, inviting all to meet upon a common level.
This nineteenth century street-car looks as strangely out of place
here in the narrow streets of the native town as would a train of
camels plodding along Broadway. The driver whistles and shouts
and the crowd quickly opens a passage for us.
And what a strange, fantastic crowd it is, to be sure ! Most no
ticeable of all are the Parsees (from Persia), tall, lank, and intel
lectual in appearance, clad in long black satin ulsters and oil-skin
hats that always remind one of the cone and crater of Vesuvius.
I am sure I never saw a Parsee on the street who did not carry from
one to half a dozen books. There were Portuguese half-castes
neatly dressed in white ; long-bearded Jews in red fezzes and long
robes ; Catholic priests ; Arabs ; tall Mohammedans under huge
turbans of white or green ; fierce-looking Mahrattas in turbans of
red ; and Hindoos of a hundred types and castes with shaven heads
and caste-marks on their foreheads. The low-caste Hindoo women
are gorgeously attired in short jackets and mysterious winding-
sheets of red, white, black, green, and yellow ; while nearly every
shining black arm and ankle boasts from one to half a dozen silver
bangles or bracelets. There are rings and rivets of gold, brass,
or silver through their noses and ears, huge silver rings upon their
toes, and betel-nut in every mouth. There are children in the
crowd, too, mostly Parsee boys, cunningly bedecked in little jack
ets, trowsers, and caps of silk and satin of the most gorgeou*
BOMBAY. 25
colors, and glistening with gold and silver embroidery. Each gaudy
little chap carries himself with the air of a peacock or a prince, and
were we small boys once more, we should turn green with envy of
their splendid clothes.
In the broader streets, vehicles of various kinds go rattling by
us, carrying passengers usually, for the coolies carry most of the
freight. Here we meet for the first time the gharry, which prevails
throughout all the large cities of the East Indies. This necessary
evil consists of a small, closed carriage with shutters in the sides,
a double roof, four wheels no two of which are of the same dia
meter, a miserable pony, and a most rascally driver. There
must be something pernicious in the society of a horse and a four-
wheeled carriage. Either gharry-driving will corrupt the morals of
the best native, or else none but the most rascally take to it, for
they are all as grasping and unscrupulous as the hackmen of New
York City, or Niagara Falls. There seems to be a sort of free-
mason^y of meanness among all the hack-drivers in the world, for,
as a class, I do not know of any other public servants who are such
extortionate liars and professional bullies. If the gharry-wallah of
India only had the pluck to be a bully, he would be ten times
worse than he is, and life would indeed be a burden to a stranger
in India.
But the oddest vehicle is the bullock-hackery. This is a light
cart, or rather a high platform, enclosed at the back and sides,
with a roof so low that it can only accommodate a man sitting
qross-legged, like a Turk. Four big, fat, and sleek Hindoo mer
chants will crowd into this go-cart, the semi-naked driver doubles
himself up on t& tongue in front, the little bullocks strike into a
sharp trot or gallop which they can keep up comfortably for a mile
or two, and away they go. The way they get over the ground is
surprising, not in the least resembling the slow, creeping gait of
our ponderous American oxen, one of which could easily drag off
hackery, bullocks and all. These bullocks, which are used through
out India and Ceylon instead of draught-horses, are the sacred cat
tle of India, the zebus (Bos Indicus), with straight horns, humped
shoulders, and almost invariably either wholly white or black.
They are light, fleet, and hardy, and easily perform work which in
this Indian climate would quickly kill the best horses in the world.
The Indian buffalo (Bos bubolu&) is also used in Northern -India
for heavy work, and in my opinion it is the homeliest quadruped
that ever breathed. It is simply a huge skeleton covered with a
26 TWO TEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
bluish-black, and almost hairless indi&r-rubber-like skin ; the
bones stand up Mgh and sharp like obelisks, and the feet are huge,
clumsy, and wide-spreading. The buffalo loves mud and moist
ground, and nature has provided these broad splay feet to prevent
the animal from sinking too deeply in the mire. He carries his
head precisely like a camel, low down, with nose thrust far for
ward ; and his horns, which join his skull exactly on a level with
his eye, sweep downward and backward as they diverge, until they
reach back to the shoulders and beyond. The horns are broad,
flat, wrinkled, and jet black, and to look at the whole head one
would say that the beast was created with especial reference to
running rapidly through very thick brush. This animal so inter
ested me that I went to the market at four o'clock in the morning,
just when the butcher-train came in from Bandora, bought five
large heads, and after breakfast, Carlo and I cleaned them with our
knives in the back-yard of the hotel. Two of them afterward went
to English museums like coals carried to Newcastle.
I visited the Victoria and Albert Museum, in the Victoria Gar
dens, expecting to find there a collection illustrating the fauna of
the Bombay Presidency, from which I could learn where to go or
send for certain animals which I desired to obtain. The Museum
consists of a very fine building containing an admirable statue of
the Prince Consort and another of the Queen, two stuffed animals,
half a dozen skulls, some minerals and seeds, and that is about all.
The Museum seems to have been built for the statues, rather than
the statues for the Museum. I had been joyfully anticipating the
sight of the splendid tigers I would find there in various shapes,
but I was not prepared for the sight which really awaited me. It
was a hu^e tiger made of papier-much6 and gorgeously painted, in
the act of rending a native to death. The man lay under the tiger
holding a long knife in the brute's stomach, perfectly unconcerned,
while his eyes were fixed upon the visitor with a really jolly "what
do-you-think-of-that ? " expression.
Why Bombay, the largest city in India, should take so much less
interest in scientific matters than cities in the other Presidencies,
I do not know, unless it is that she is wholly absorbed in cotton.
It is certainly a poor place for a naturalist, and all the time I felt
lonesome and out of place.
At the hotel I met one day an educated native who spoke Eng*
lish perfectly, and whom I immediately proceeded to question
about the localities where I might find certain animals, particularly
BOMBAY. 27
crocodiles, since lie was acquainted with Kurrachee and the sacred
crocodiles of Mugger Peer. He was talking at a great rate, and I
was busily jotting down notes, when he suddenly stopped and
asked, "Sir, why do you require to know about these animals?"
" Why, I wish to find them." " Why do you require to find them ?
Do you wish to shoot them, to Ml them?" "Exactly, for their
skins and skeletons." "Ah," sai(3 - ne > dropping my map, "then I
cannot inform you where any animals are ; I do not wish any thing
to be killed, and if I tell you where you can find any animals I shaft
do a great wrong."
" Did you never kill an animal ? " said I.
" Never sir, never ; not purposely, it would be a great sin for
me."
He then went on to tell me of a certain caste of Hindoos, the
members of which are so conscientious about taking the life of any
living thing that they always eat before sunset to avoid making a
light which might be the death of some moth or gnat. They do
not kill even mosquitoes, fleas, or lice, and if a man finds a louse
upon himself, he either allows it to feed comfortably, or else he
puts it carefully upon his next neighbor. What a paradise for in
sects their homes must be !
This morbid Hindoo prejudice against taking life has developed
in the Jain sect into an institution which is perhaps the only one
of its kind in existence. I refer to the hospital for animals, not far
from the Mombadevi Temple. In a spacious enclosure, divided
into yards, sheds, stables, kennels, cages, etc., are gathered to
gether hundreds of diseased, worn out or starving horses, bullocks,
cows, sheep, cats, and monkeys ; cranes, crows, chickens, ducks,
and parrots in short, a perfect zoological garden of the most woe
begone description. Domestic animals that have been trained oui
by heartless owners to perish miserably of starvation and disease ;
wild birds whose wings or legs have been broken by sportsmen;
kittens, "left in the road," to die of starvation, just as tender
hearted Christian people serve them in America, are all gathered
up by the agents of this Jain institution, and cared for in every
possible way. Many animals, whose festering sores, broken legs,
and incurable diseases make life a burden to them, need far more
to have their miseries ended by a speedy, painless death, than to
have their sufferings prolonged a single day, even with the best
intentions. As I looked at some of those miserable animals which
were slowly dying by inches and suffering intensely, I thought oi
28 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE.
the railway engineer I once saw, who, caught and crushed beneath
his wrecked locomotive, with the scalding water pouring in a
stream over his wretched body, screamed in agony and implored
his friends to shoot him through the head. But no ; spades were
procured, he was dug out, lingered for hours, and the papers
calmly stated that he died in great agony ! Alas ! humanity has
not yet been educated up to the point which teaches that it is as
great an act of duty and kindness to end the miseries of a hopeless
ly burned, boiled, or mangled man by a speedy and painless death,
as it is to mercifully put an end to the sufferings of a dumb brute.
Were my best friend to implore me to end his hopeless sufferings,
1 would do it and take the consequences. And I believe the time
will come when mankind, as a class, will be as merciful to man as
the more humane of us are to lower animals.
There are few marine animals to be found in the vicinity of
Bombay, except the fishes in the Grand Market, and thither I made
a pilgrimage every morning. The most interesting specimen I
procured there was a large blue ray (firygon sephen), weighing 80
pounds, with a body measuring 2 feet 8 inches in length, by 4 feet
2 inches in width, of which I prepared the skeleton. JRhinobaii are
common, but it is a difficult matter to secure one entire, for the
moment one of these, or a shark, is landed in a market-stall, its fins
aixd tail are cut off to be dried and shipped to China, where the
Chinese eat them in soups and consider them a great delicacy. By
dint of perseverance I secured one fine specimen (E. djedden&is), 5
feet i inches in length, the skin of which I preserved dry with salt.
By the end of a week I had proved to my satisfaction that Bom
bay was no place for me, and determined to go to Allahabad for
gavials and other things. My new servant was in doubt about the
advisability of going so far away, until one day he caught sight
of my guns, ammunition, and camp-outfit, when he suddenly
announced, "I no care, sir, I go Allahabad. I like see new
country, I like go shoot. I no care how I come back Bombay."
I had told him that I could not pay his way back to Bombay after
only two months on the Jumna, but that I would take him to Cal
cutta with me if he would go. He suddenly became possessed of
a desire for travel and adventure (it overcomes the best of men
sometimes), and we quickly concluded a bargain. I agreed to pay
his expenses and give him 15 rupees per month, for which h& was
to interpret, cook, skin crocodiles, and do anything that might need
to be done. I had 'found in the bazaars that he was as shrewd aa
BOMBAY. 29
any native at a bargain, and had not the least modesty to hamper him
when dealing with a tricky or exorbitant huckster. Natives usu
ally make it a rule to charge a white man from fifty to a hundred
per cent more than any one else, and but for vigorous bullying on
the part of Carlo, I could seldom have got an article at its proper
price. Luckily for me, Carlo, being a native Christian, felt no
sympathy whatever with Hindoos or Mohammedans, and I very
often had hard work to repress my laughter when he would start
in to brow-beat a bazaar man and bring down his prices to what
they ought to be.
I trusted Carlo with an advance of 9 rupees for his outfit, in
spite of advice to the contrary from the very man who recom
mended him to me, who feared he would "jump the bounty;" but
the little fellow was honest, and very grateful to me for trusting
him against advice. He afterward repaid me for it in many ways.
Before I left Bombay, Colonel Boss very kindly gave me two
letters of introduction, one to a brother, a barrister, in Allahabad,
and the other to another brother, Major* J. C. Boss, of the Boyal
Engineers, quartered at Etawah, in an excellent hunting district
These letters proved to be of the greatest service to me, although
I have since wondered how Colonel Boss dared give them to a
stranger. Excepting those two letters, I landed in India without a
single scrap of introductory paper to anybody, save a letter of credit,
and I prided myself upon my independence. I said I had money,
and would not need any letters of introduction. Before Ipng I
found that every such letter is worth a thousand times its weight in
gold.
After a week in Bombay we shipped a large case of specimens
to Calcutta* and bought our tickets for Allahabad. By going third
class I did what an independent white man rarely does in India,
and astonished both Europeans and natives. I am not sure that I
would do it again, but for once the experience was worth the dis
comfort The charges upon excess baggage are very high, and
mine cost 44 rupees. Two Englishmen, travelling by the same
train toward Lahore, paid 128 rupees for excess luggage. But
think of riding from Bombay to Allahabad, 845 miles, for 16 rupee*
13 annas, or about $7.50 !
* Then Captain.
CHAPTEE III.
BOMBAY TO ETAWAH.
Physical Aspect of the Country. Scarcity of Animal Life. A Barren Region.
Major Ross. A Boat Trip up the Jumna. A Mile of Bathers. Dead
Hindoo. Plenty of Birds, but no Gavials. Beturn and go to Etawah,
The Dak Bungalow. Two Specimens the First Day. My Boat and Crew.
A Day in the Bazaar. An Instance of Caste.
THE sun was just setting as our long train crossed the bridge from
Bombay island to the mainland, and began toiling up the Western
Ghauts. These are the Andes of India, and extend close along the
coast from Cape Coinorin to Bombay and vanish in the Central
Desert. We crossed that chain during the night, the next day we
crept over the Satpura Range at a snail's pace, and were then fairly
upon the great Indian plateau which extends north to the Eajpoo-
tana desert and east to Calcutta. But where are the luxuriant
tropical forests, the waving palms, and the crowds of people one
naturally expects to see? Not here, certainly. Where the country
is not cut up by ravines, it stretches out on every side, level as a
billiard-table, dry, parched, and thirsty-looking, and, except in the
vicinity of Kundwah, utterly destitute of any thing like forests or
jungle. There the dry, hot plains are covered with a scattering
growth of scrubby trees, and it was quite a surprise to learn that
this brushy tract is dignified by the title of forest and duly oflScered
by the Government. North of this are the famous tiger districts of
Indore, Bhopal, and Gwalior.
There are no fences, no houses, nor villages worth mentioning,
no swamps, lagoons, nor ponds in this region, and the only living
objects are a few herds of buffalo and zebu. Except for the scat
tered fields of young wheat and a few straggling trees, the land
scape is gray and monotonous in the extreme. But it is the diy
season now, there are no rains, and we see the country at its worst.
With the burst of the southwest monsoon in May, these parched
and barren plains will blossom like a garden, and the intense dry
FROM BOMBAY TO ETAWAH. 31
heat will be replaced by the Turkish-bath atmosphere of the wet
season.
During the first day's ride we saw not a single wild animal, nor
even a bird of any size, but' in one district we saw many " machans "
platforms of poles erected in the fields, upon which the owners
sit to scare away the deer and wild pigs which come to feed upon
the growing crops.
In the same compartment of the railway carriage as myself were
three old Hindoo merchants, gray-bearded, dignified, and respect
able, who evidently were natives of the better sort. Breakfast time
came, we were still many hot and dusty miles from a refreshment sta
tion, and from the depths of some of their bundles, the old gentle
men, who had evidently travelled before, evolved a supply of cooked
food. It consisted simply of a large bowl of " dal," like stiff pea-
soup, and a pile of " chapatties," small, leathery, unleavened pan
cakes, made of flour. With my usual indifference as to the wants of
my inner man, I had neglected to provide myself with a luncheon
to fall back upon, and while I was busily thinking of the nice warm
breakfast I should have in two or three hours more, one of the old
native gentlemen suddenly thrust his fingers into the bowl of
cooked " dal " (they had no spoons, forks, or knives), scooped up a
good, generous handful, plastered it over a little pile of " chapat
ties," and, with a benevolent beam over his spectacles, handed it
to me. I was completely taken aback for an instant, for the old
gentleman's hands were as grimy as my own, but I accepted the
food with my politest bow and ate it down with every appearance
of gratitude. I would have eaten it had it been, ten times as dirty
as it undoubtedly was. It was an act as friendly as any man could
perform, and I was pleased to find such a feeling of pure charity
and benevolence in a native.
About noon we stopped at Khundwa for breakfast. There was
a clean and commodious wash-room, a table well filled with choice
eatables, ice-water in abundance, and plenty of time. What a
comfort a sharp appetite is upon such an occasion !
Nearly every station upon the line of the G. I P. Railway has its
beds of flowers, and vines running up its walls, and occasionally a
switch-tender has trained flowering vines over his little house until
it has become a perfect bower, fit for a fairy queen.
As we approach the Ganges the plain becomes green and fertile
and dotted over with trees and villages. There are ponds and pools
of water along the railway, in which herons, storks, and ibises are
32 TWO YEABS IK THE
cautiously wading, and the earth no longer has that dry
parched appearance observed from Bombay to near Jubbulpore.
After riding through two cold nights and one hot and dusty day,
the morning of the second day finds us crossing the great iron via*
duct over the Jumna into Allahabad. This is a grand structure,
2,870 feet long, with the bottoms of its piers sixty feet below the
"bottom of the river. English, every inch of it, or, in other words,
built to stand forever.
Allahabad, the "city of God," also called by the irreverent,
" FaMrabad," or " city of beggars," stands at the confluence of the
Ganges and the Jumna, both of which rivers rise in the Himalayas
in the same latitude and flow southeastward, almost parallel to each
other, to their point of meeting here. The gavial, or Gangetic
crocodile (Gavialis Gangeticus), inhabits both these rivers and their
tributaries, and my task was to find where they were most plentiful
and grew to the largest size. ' Professor Ward had tried in vain to
buy skins and skeletons of this crocodile, had made most tempting
offers to Indian naturalists without success, and at last decided that
I should go to the Ganges, spend about six weeks time, and get
about twenty-five specimens. At last, after a journey of 10,500
miles, nearly half-way round the world, I found myself in the gav
ial region, and ready to begin collecting in earnest. Sight-seeing
was at an end, and what remained was hard work.
Upon presenting my letter to Mr. Boss, I was fortunate enough
to meet Major Koss also, who had come down from Etawah for a
few days, both of whom received me with the utmost cordiality,
and we three sat down directly to a council of war in reference to
my movements. It was decided that the Jumna was a better river
for gavials than the Ganges, and that I should try in the former
above the city. If that venture failed me, i.e., if I found no large
gavials, which was all I asked, then I should pack up and go on to
Etawah, a civil and military station 206 miles up the Jumna, near
which Major Ross had for some time been engaged in surveying
upon the Ganges Canal and its branches.
When a naturalist goes hunting for any particular and impor
tant animal, he is quite in the hands of those who undertake to give
him reliable information. A long series of disappointments grow
ing out of exaggerated information, has taught me how to gauge
the value of a friend's advice as accurately as a hydrometer marks
the strength of alcohol The universal tendency of people in the
game districts of both North and South America is to exaggerate
PBOM BOMBAY TO ETAWAH. 38
f earfully. One man told me, " If you go to New Elver, you will
get any quantity of birds, a whole boat-load of birds' heggs, and
'gators (alligators) by the million ! " I went, and found a great
iany alligators, that was all. In Trinidad, a wealthy and respect
able English merchant soberly informed me that " at Punta Pied-
ra, twenty miles above Bolivar, in the Orinoco, you will find manatee
in millions, sir ; get all you want in one day ! " "Lord, how this
world is given to lying " about wild animals. As a rule, game
grows plentiful directly as the distance from it increases, and vice
versa. A collector in search of a certain animal must be guided by
the information that is given him, and it was a blessed relief to
find a manr who gave as careful estimates and opinions as Major
Ross. I felt from the first that he never exaggerated or overesti
mated in the least, that his information was always strictly accur
ate, and there was an abundance of it. He informed me that
large gavials were numerous immediately below Etawah, that ravine
deer were plentiful in the ravines, and black buck upon the up-
Vnds, and that, if I shot reasonably well, I could probably kill every
day one or two specimens of either species I chose to follow up.
Keeping this fine prospect in reserve, I engaged a small boat
and three boatmen, laid La a stock of provisions, and the next
morning we were oft Starting from the railway bridge, the boat
men poled our little craft along the shore, which was crowded
with natives, in the water and out, busily bathing or washing their
clothes a whole mile of bathers. Cleanliness, or rather, bathing,
is the only feature of a Hindoo's religion which is not objection
able. Ifc makes an excellent plank in any religious platform, espe
cially in a hot climate, and I have often wished that the negroes of
the West Indies, who have enough of religion and to spare, had
made the bathing obligation an article in their creed. Just think
what a grand thing it would be for white folks if a Barbadoes or
Demerara negro's religion could beguile him into washing himself
once a day.
We passed a number of clumsy river boats moored to the shore,
and one man in the water, who was neither washing himself nor his
clothes. He was dead He floated there upon the water, naked,
bloated, and hideous, with only a few patches of his brown Hindoo
epidermis remaining upon his body, which was otherwise perfectly
white. Men and women were bathing within ten yards of this dis
gusting object, perfectly indifferent, and one man was actually
fishing within two yards of it. I aske<J one of the boatmen :
*
34 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
"Is this water good to drink? "
He replied ;
" Yes, sir ; see, the people drink it," and he pointed to & woman
who was filling an earthen jar. Perched upon the edge of the high
bank was a huge vulture ( Otogyps calvus), with his eyes fixed upon
the corpse in the water, but the bathers were so near it he did not
venture farther just then. When I first saw the bird from below,
I decided to have him for a specimen, but when I found what he
had been feeding upon, and was waiting to feed upon again, I con
cluded my collection would be complete without him.
After getting clear of the bathers and the boats, two long and
light grass lines were made fast to the top of our stumpy little
mast, and two of the boatmen went ahead along the bank, towing
us canal-boat fashion, while the third man steered. The boat was
short, but broad, heavy, and clumsy, and could not be rowed
against a strong current. It had a roomy deck, with a thatch roof
over it, and was altogether a very comfortable little craft. As the
men slowly towed the boat along, we cooked, ate, skinned birds,
and loaded cartridges under the awning, while the boatmen kept a
sharp lookout ahead for any thing which needed to be shot.
This little trip was full of interest and enjoyment, but so far as
gavials were concerned it was a failure. We went five days' jour
ney up the river, found no gavials at all, save very small ones, not
worth the trouble of shooting, and when the natives told us there
were no gavials " two miles farther up," we knew the case was
hopeless, We collected a number of large birds, however, among
whichyffere specimens of the black vulture (Otogyps calvus), brown
vulture (Gyps Bengalensis), the sea eagle (Halicetus alUcilla\ the
black-backed goose (Sarkidwrms melanonotus), bar-headed goose
(Anser Indicus), the Oasarca rutila, and several fine specimens
of the curious Indian skimmer (Ehynchops albicollis). At our
farthest point, where the river is full of huge boulders, I shot an
otter that was resting upon the top of a large rock out in the
stream. The animal rolled off the rock into the water, was quickly
borne away by the swift current, and before we could get near it
had sunk out of sight By digging rifle-pits in the sand, and lying
in them until I was almost roasted, I managed to kill two small
gavials ; but it was unprofitable work, and after having given the
place a fair trial, we returned to Allahabad-
Leaving all our specimens and a portion of our heavy luggage
at the hotel, we lost no time in starting for Etawah. It is the rule
FROM BOMBAY TO ETATTAH. 35
in India to make all railway journeys in the night, if possible, to
avoid the oppressive heat of the day. Leaving Allahabad at 11 P.M.,
we rolled up in our double blanket and slept comfortably until we
reached Cawnpore, at 5 A.M.
As we neared our destination, we watched the landscape with
greedy interest, and the prospect was perfectly satisfactory. The
country was a dead level, dry and baked hard, covered with fields
of wheat, barley, and dal, with here and there thorny acacias, and
little mud villages nestling in clumps of green and shady mango
or banyan trees. "We saw eight pairs of saras cranes stalking ma
jestically over the open fields, large numbers of ibises, small cranes,
herons, and plovers wading in the pools of water along the railway,
and a small fox (Vulpes Bengdensis) , standing a hundred yards
away, looking at the rushing train with a stare of curiosity.
At half-past eight we reached Etawah, an insignificant civil
station, with a population of twenty-seven thousand natives (a
town of that size is nothing in India), and eight Europeans, the
headquarters of the Lower Ganges Canal Department, containing,
besides a dak bungalow, a church, school, jail, and a court presided
over by a single assistant magistrate, who is the sole representa
tive of English power that is allotted to this host of natives. Major
Boss and his wife were then twenty miles east of Etawah, tenting
and surveying the line of a new irrigation canal, so I took up quar
ters at the dak bungalow, until I could get a boat ready upon the
river.
The dak bungalow is a government institution, common through
out India and Ceylon, which is simply indispensable to the very-
existence of European travellers. In Southern India it is called a
traveller's bungalow, and in Ceylon it becomes a rest house, but
its plans and purposes are just the same. A traveller in India
cannot start, out boldly across the country as we do in America,
travel until nightfall, and then demand shelter, food, and fire for a
consideration at any farm-house or settler's cabin he may happen
upon. Ninety-nine out of a hundred Indian natives would see a
white man perish by the roadside before they would take him
into any of their houses, even for a night, simply because he has
no caste, and therefore is not quite so good as a dog. The travel
ler across country, in India, must reach a dak bungalow or camp
in the open fields, for only the largest cities have hotels.
The dak bungalow is a house built and kept in repair by the
Government, usually containing two suites of rooms ctuiing, bed,
36 TWO YEARS I1ST THE JTJKGLE.
and bath-room furnished with floor matting, plain but substantial
chairs and tables, and a bedstead upon which the traveller spreads
his bed, for every one in India carries with him his thick cotton
nsai, or comforter, blankets, and pillow. Attached to every dak
bungalow upon the important lines of travel, is a cook-house, a
complete set of table furniture, and an old gray-bearded Moham
medan, who has charge of the whole establishment, and who will
supply the traveller with meals, if required. Each traveller pays
one rupee per day for occupying the bungalow, and "the old man"
mil supply the provender by private contract at from two to three
rupees per day. The rule is that any European traveller is enti
tled to shelter in the dak bungalow for at least twenty-four hours,
and if no other traveller demands his place, he is at liberty to re
main three days. The Etawah bungalow is clean, airy, and cool,
standing in a thick grove of mangos, a perfect haven of rest for a
dusty, heated, and hungry wayfarer.
I had barely finished bathing and breakfasting, when Mr.
Fraser, the assistant magistrate, dropped in to help me get ac
quainted with the place and to offer whatever assistance I might
require. In the afternoon I went over to his bungalow, where we
eat on the verandah and shot small birds in the trees near by, until
the midday heat was over, when we took a rifle and started down
to the Jumna prospecting. The river is two miles from the
European cantonment, but a fine metalled road winds down from
the level plateau into the ravines, and through them to the bridge
of boats. Near the river I had a snap shot at a jackal, but missed
him. Just opposite the point where we first reached the river
bank were two saras cranes, stalking along the river margin, at the
farther side of a sand-bar one hundred and fifty yards in width.
Mr. Fraser knelt down in the wheat and knocked one of them over
very neatly, with a bullet through its breast. It proved to be the
male bird and a very fine specimen. Farther up we saw three
large gavials lying on a sand-bar in the middle of the river, but
could not succeed in getting a shot at them. Above the bridge of
boats we found a five-foot gavial lying upon another sand-bar, which
Mr. Fraser shot through the shoulders and killed instantly. This
made two valuable specimens for the first day, which was enough
to bring good luck. A party of native boys carried the crane and
fche gavial up to the dak bungalow, and I skin tied them both the
next morning*
I saw that I had found good collecting ground at last, and lost
FROM! BOMBAY TO ETAWAH. 37
not a moment in getting ready for a long cruise on the river.
Boats were exceedingly scarce, and but for my friends I should have
had serious trouble in hiring a suitable craft Major Boss yery
kindly relieved me of all trouble on that score by obtaining for my
use, as long as I should want it, and free of charge, a large boat be
longing to a wealthy old native gentleman, Mumtaz All Khan, who
had the government contract for the bridges of boats in that dis
trict It was a very large and unwieldly craft, flat-bottomed and
square-ended, sloping far up from the water, 35 feet long, 12 wide,
and 2 deep, a perfect model of the old-fashioned ferry-boats to be
seen upon many of our Western rivers. We built a deck across
amidships, and erected an awning of grass thatch over a portion of
this to protect us from the rays of the sun, for there was not a drop
of rain to fear. Our craft was provided with a mast, a sail, lines to
tow it, poles to push it, oars to row it, and five able-bodied men to
work all these appliances. We tried hard to hire a small and light
row-boat to take along, but without success, for there was not one
available on the river. Should I go there again to collect, I would
take with me a small boat of some kind.
Two days after we reached Etawah (March 13th), our boat was
ready. We loaded our traps into a bufiklo cart and drove through
the bazaar to lay in a stock of provisions sufficient for three weeks.
We bought rice, bread, flour, sugar, onions, butter, and ghee, in
the purchase of which last an amusing incident occurred.
The sun was pouring down upon us at high noon and I became
very thirsty. Carlo bought a clean new chattie, an earthen pot,
worth about one cent, and when we came to a well where people
were drawing water he had it filled for me. I took a long draught
and handed the chattie back to Carlo, who threw the water out,
wiped it dry, and, going to a ghee-seller close by, asked to have it
filled with that immortal stuff. Ghee is clarified butter, and is
used in India instead of lard, ordinary butter, and other animal
fats. To our amazement the ghee-seller flatly refused to sell us
any, for the reason, as Carlo explained, that the gentle Hindoo had
seen me put the chattie to my mouth, which defiled it to such an
extent that he could not take it into his hands. I was strongly
tempted to knock his ghee-pots about his ears, take thirty rapees
worth of satisfaction out of his royal highness, and then go up to
court and pay my fine. But Carlo was equal to the occasion ; he
raised his voice to its regular commanding pitch, bullied the man of
caste, and threatened him with arrest, until he gave in and pro
38 TWO YEAKS IK THE JUNGLE.
ceeded to sell us the ghee. But he would not touch that chattie
with his hands 1 Not he. He handled it with two sticks as though
it were the dead carcass of some foul animal ; and all because I drank
water from it once.
After three hours' work in the crowded, hot, and dusty bazaar,
we drove down to where the boat lay at the bathing ghaut, the
boatmen quickly carried our cargo aboard, and with a feeling of
profound relief we let go our moorings and drifted down the
stream.
CHAPTER IV.
GAVTAL SHOOTING ON THE JUMNA.
Afloat on the Jumna. Character of the River. Difficulties of Crocodile Shoot*
ing. The Fatal Spot. Prospects. The Fun Begins. Defeat through
Poor Shooting and Native Timidity. An Harangue. Sxvimming after a
Wounded Gavial. Death of " Number One." Another still Larger. How
to Skeletonize a G-avial. Mode of Skinning Described. Birds of Prey.
Crowds of Spectators. Gavial Eggs. A Model Crew. Plucky Encounter
with a Wounded Gavial. A Struggle at Close Quarters. Our Plan of
Operations. A Good Rifle. Killing Gavials at Long Range.
As we floated down the river, I began to realize that the task
which lay before me, to be accomplished regardless of circumstances,
was no light one. The Jumna is a very crooked, muddy, swift, and
deep river, full of treacherous eddies and under-currents, but for
tunately only about two hundred yards in average width at that
season. Usually the banks are low and covered with fields of wheat
and grain, to which every foot of fertile land is devoted, but in
many places the stream is hemmed in by perpendicular cliffs of
hard clay, behind which are barren and rugged ravines. At each
bend in the river there was a wide sand-bar, often many acres in
extent.
Previous experience had taught me the uselessness of shooting
crocodiles in the water, for a dead crocodile or alligator sinks to
the bottom like a stone, and is lost in a moment. If the water is
still, your victim will be found floating belly up at the end of two
days, but the skin will be a total loss, for the scales will slip off in
spite of all that can be done. In rivers that are swift, deep, and
very muddy, like the Jumna at that season, it is simply impossible
to shoot crocodiles and get them unless they are lying out upon
the banks. Even then they must be hit hard in a vital spot, and
either killed stone-dead upon the instant, or stunned so effectu
ally that they will not be able to recover and crawl into the water
before the hunter or an attendant has time to rush forward and
40 TWO YBAES IN THE JUGGLE,
seize them by the tail "When a crocodile leaves the water to take
his daily sun-bath upon the bank, he does not go rambling about
over the country, to be suddenly set upon and killed by almost any
one before he has time to reach the water. Ear from it. He cau
tiously lays himself down to sleep within a yard of the water's edge,
head toward the stream, ready to plunge forward out of sight at
the slightest alarm. He usually sleeps with one eye open, too, and
however fast asleep he may appear to be, you have only to show
yourself within easy rifle shot, and adios ! he is off to the bottom
of the river.
I have found by a long series of experiments, that the only sure
way to stop a large crocodile or alligator is to shoot him in the neck
or at the shoulders, so as to strike the vertebral column. It ia easy
enough to kill small specimens by shooting them in the head, but
a crocodile with the top of its head blown off is useless either for
its skin or skeleton, while one shot through the heart or lungs will
get into the water much faster than one not shot at all The brain
of a twelve-foot gavial is so small that it would hardly fill an egg-
cup, and it is surrounded by such a huge mass of 8011$ bone that
it offers no mark at all to fire at. The sides of the neck and the
shoulders, however, are wholly unprotected by bony plates, and
when a bullet strikes the vertebral column, the whole nervous sys
tem receives such a terrible shock that the animal is instantly paral
yzed, at least for a time, and rendered powerless to move a single
yard. When the spinal column is struck by a bullet, the crocodile's
jaws fly wide open, as if the bullet had touched a spring, the legs
draw up and quiver convulsively, and the reptile lies still for further
treatment.
I soon found that if we captured any gavials, I should have to
shoot them at long range and do much better shooting than I had
ever done before. At first I feared that my little rifle and I had
undertaken more than we could accomplish under so many disad
vantages. The river was very swift owing to the recent freshets ia
the lower Himalayas, and our boat was so much like an old clumsy
raft that shooting from it was simply out of the question. The
cover along the banks was so pitifully thin, and the sand-banks
were so wide I saw I should often have to shoot across the river, or
else just as far across the sand-banks, in order to kill a gavial at all
Just below Etawah we stopped at a wide sand-bar and I spent
some time in firing at targets from one hundred to three hundred
yards, until I got the peep-sight of my Maynard rifle graduated
GAYIAL SHOOTING OK THE JTJMSTA. 41
very carefully. I also spent some time in learning to estimate dis*
tances accurately, which now became a matter of the first impor
tance.
The next day the fun began. As we rounded a bend in the
river, we saw far down the stream seven gavials, large and small,
lying at the lower end of a long, narrow sand-bar, which joined the
shore by a narrow strip at the upper end. We brought the boat
to the shore and moored it, then made a detour into the wheat
field to avoid being seen by our game. Just at the upper end of
the sand-bar I posted Carlo and three of the boatmen, telling them
that when I fired they were to run, down the peninsula, seize by
the tail the c ghariyal ' I would shoot, and prevent it from getting
into the water. I told them that if they could catch the tail and
hang on, the reptile could not bite them and I would soon come up
and finish it. They promised to obey, but I saw they were ner
vous, and I had my doubts as to the result. I went down through
the wheat field, keeping well out of sight until I arrived opposite the
largest gavial, and then crept softly up to the top of the bank. The
largest gavial was about ten feet in length, lying at the water's edge
broadside on, a beautiful specimen. Aiming to hit the vertebral
column I fired at the neck, but the gavial plunged into the river
and I gave it up for lost. I signalled the men to stay where they
were, and waited for the gavials to come out again. And then
happened the strangest thing I ever saw in crocodile hunting. The
large gavial I fired at suddenly appeared at the top of the water
and actually rushed out upon the bank. He clanked his bony jaws
together and flung his head from side to side as if in great agony.
When he reached the bank I fired a second time, and again he took
to the water, but soon appeared with his head held high up, snap
ping and struggling as though in the agonies of death. He pushed
up into the shallow water and groaned three or four times, like a
strong man in distress. It was the first time I ever heard such a
pure vocal tone from a crocodile. I fired a third shot, which seemed
to strike the right spot, for the gavial's jaws flew open and it lay
quite still. The men now came running down, but before they
reached the scene of action the crocodile began to slowly drag it-
self into the shallow water. They arrived in ample time to stop it,
but they stood in a shrinking group within three feet of the huge
reptile's tail, cowering back and afraid to touch it As the gavial
slowly crept away I shouted to the men to encourage them, offering
a reward of two rupees if they would stop it, and I fairly stormed
43 TWO TEARS tlSF THE JUNGLE.
at them as the animal reached the water. Twice they plucked up
the courage to take hold of the long, scaly tail, but as it gave a slight
twitch they dropped it. I fired another shot, but my rifle seemed
quite bewitched, and that splendid reptile crawled slowly away be
fore my eyes, in spite of all I could do or say. One man could easily
have stopped it, but I did not care to swim across the strip of
water that lay between the end of the sand-bar and the bank. As
the gavial reached deeper water it turned belly up, kicked its legs
feebly in the air, and slowly drifted down, to where no one dared
follow. The water was so murky we could not see an object three
inches below the surface.
And so we lost that fine ten-foot gavial. I was disgusted with
myself for my miserably poor shooting, and vexed with the men for
their timidity, which lost the game. In a few words I shamed them
for their cowardice, and pointed out how the reptile was too nearly
dead to bite any one. I told them that if any one of them should ever
be bitten by a gavial, I would send him to the hospital and pay him
double wages until he should get well, and that if any one should
be drowned while trying to catch one for me, I would give his
widow a hundred rupees. This harangue had a wonderful effect
upon them.
The nest morning we all began to do better work. We found
a large gavial lying upon an isolated sand-bar out almost in the
middle of the river, and from the top of the bank I put a bullet
into its back-bone just at the shoulders. Its jaws flew wide open
and its legs drew up, but otherwise it lay perfectly still To my
great surprise three of the boatmen immediately sprang into the
water and started to swim across to the sand-bar. There was no
telling how many gavials lay right under them, bat I quickly made
up my mind I could risk it as well as they, and taking only my hunt
ing knife in my belt, swam after them.
The gavial was powerless to move, but as we approached, it
snapped viciously from side to side in a manner which warned us
to be careful "We immediately seized it by the tail, and reaching
from behind I stabbed it to the heart with my hunting-knife, which
soon ended its struggles. This specimen measured exactly eleven
feet The boat was brought down, and we hauled aboard the car- ,
oass of "Number One/'
We had still better luck that day. A mile below our first cap
ture we found seven fine gavials lying at the edge of a broad
Hand-bank, which extended along the shore. I posted the men
GAVIAL SHOOTING- OK THE JUMNA. 47
gathers confidence, and allows his body to float up to the top of the
water. His back and tail are now visible, and we carefully esti
mate his length to within six inches. While we are thinking
about it, he gives a gentle sweep sidewise with his tail, and floats
forward till his snout touches the sand. Slowly and deliberately
he puts his best foot forward, raises the end of his snout, and lazily
slides up the sand until he is fairly out of the water, then he slides
slowly round to the left until he lies broadside to us. If he is a
little suspicious, he turns until his head is toward the water again
and only a yard from it He does not stand up on his feet and
walk ; he simply slides along in the laziest possible way. As he
settles down, he gives his tail a flirt to one side, draws his feet close
up to his body, and is soon sound asleep, though in appearance
only, and dreaming of young calves, big fish, and dead Hindoos.
Just as my intended victim cleared the water and showed me
his side, my rifle spoke, and his jaws flew open. Instantly four of
the boatmen rushed across the sand, jumped into the river, and
started to swim to the sand-bar. The gavial saw them coming,
mustered up his strength, and began to struggle toward the w^ter.
I fired at him again but missed the vital spot, and the gavial re
doubled his efforts to reach the water. I shouted to the men and
promised them four annas each (twelve cents, or two days' wages),
if they stopped that "ghariyal." TJhey struggled through the
water faster than ever, but just as they touched bottom the gavial
reached the water. As he slid out of sight I yelled to the men that
I would give " eight annas 1 " They rushed across the sand-bar, and
reached the further side just as the end of the gavial's tail disap
peared, and I gave it up for lost But they were not to be beaten
so easily. Two men jumped into the water above their knees,
made a grab for the gavial's tail, caught it and held on, and in a
twinkling they dragged the huge reptile out of his native element
and to the middle of the sand-bar. The gavial was now fairly re
covered and thoroughly roused, and I never saw a crocodile try so
viciously to bite his assailants. He was a large one too (measur
ing 11 feet 6 inches), and the men had a fierce struggle to hold
him, and to keep from being bitten. I cheered them lustily, but
could do no more, for my last cartridge had been expended. Fort
unately, one of the men had carried over with him a rope, and an
other had taken a stout little bamboo, for just such an emergency.
At last the rope was slipped round one of the gavial's hind legs and
made fast to the bamboo, which was stuck in the sand, and the
48 TWO TEARS IN THE JUGGLE.
question was settled. As soon as possible the boat was brought
down to ferry me across, and a pistol shot in the neck ended the
troublesome reptile.
But for the almost perfect accuracy of my little Maynard rifle
up to three hundred yards, my gavial hunt would have been almost
a total failure, for in only two or three instances did I succeed in get
ting a shot at a less distance than one hundred yards. I loaded my
cartridges with the most scrupulous care, kept my rifle thoroughly
clean, and did my shooting as if I were firing at a target for a
prize. It often happened that my only chance to kill a gavial was
to fire across the river, from the high bank to the opposite sand
bar. Under such circumstances I would leave three men on the
same side as the crocodile, and from my post on the oppo
site side direct them by various signals where to take up a position.
Then at the signal they would sit down upon the hot sand and
wait patiently, hours if necessary, for further developments. I
would, then take up my position, and with my field-glass carefully
examine the position of the crocodiles, and decide upon the exact
spot to fire at. After carefully estimating the distance, the di
rection of the wind, and the amount of " windage " to allow the
bullet, I would adjust my peep-sight, lie flat upon the ground, and
rest my rifle upon the leather-case of my field-glass, or the top of my
solar topee. It was firing to hit a gray, horizontal line, the actual
mark to be struck being smaller than a man's arm. A long, care
ful aim, a holding of the breath, a firm grip, a steady pull and a
sharp " bang/* would be the climax of perhaps two or three hours
manoeuvring in the scorching sun. If all the gavials upon the op
posite shore skurried into the river and plunged out of sight in a
twinkling, I made no further demonstration ; but if the jaws of the
largest one flew wide open, I would spring to my feet, wave my
solar topee in a circle, and the men would jump up and rush across
the sand-bar to our victim. On one occasion I killed a gavial, measur
ing 11 feet 6 inches, a large specimen, with my peep-sight elevated
for 225 yards, and the largest one I secured during my hunt on the
Jumna measured just 12 feet, and was killed at 200 yards, across the
river. From first to last I killed eight gavials by firing across the
river at long range and hitting their spinal column. Once I was so
far from my game that when I fired and overshot the mark the
gavials did not even take the water. I fired again, and undershot,
and still they did not take alarm, but having now got the exact
range, a third shot struck one of the gavials and cut its spinal cord
GAVIAL SHOOTING OK THE JTJMKA. 49
squarely in two. That was the best shooting I have ever done with
a rifle, and it was a surprise even to myself. My success was due
mainly to the admirable qualities of my Maynard rifle, which was
always to be depended upon in time of greatest need.
The air was perfectly clear, for one thing, the light was usually
good, and my nerves were reasonably steady.
CHAPTER V.
THE GANGETIC CROCODILE.
A Jolly Life. Native Tenderness for the Gavial. Eating the Flesh. The Jum
na swarming with Gavials. A " Mass Meeting." Loss of an Enormous
Specimen. Maximum size Attained. The Gavial's Place in Nature.
Habits and Characters of the Species. General Observations on the Croco-
dilians. Number of Eggs Deposited. The Gavial not a Man-eater. A
Ticklish Eeptile. Vocal Powers.
As I look back upon it through the rose-tinted vista of memory,
it really seems that I never in my life spent another month of such
unalloyed happiness as that upon the Jumna. I was steadily gath
ering in a bountiful harvest of gavials, birds, and mammals ; I had
glorious sport with both rifle and fowling-piece upon new and in
teresting animals, and my surroundings were strange, romantic,
and agreeable. The weather was perfect. The nights were breezy
and cool, so that we needed to wrap up in our blankets as we slept
soundly under the awning of our boat, and there was not a single
mosquito, gnat, or sand-fly to annoy us. The mornings were soft
and balmy, the days were cloudless and hot, and there was not a
drop of rain to fear. Although my boat was the clumsiest I ever
had, it was also the most comfortable and convenient. Under the
awning we had our boxes of provisions, preservatives, and tools,
ammunition, clothes, etc., all conveniently arranged, while along
one side hung the fire-arms, always loaded, and the indispensable
field-glass ready at hand. Under one side of the awning we piled
up gavial skeletons and skins, tied into compact bundles, and hung
up rough skeletons of birds. Down in the forward part of the
boat stood a large barrel of brine in which we soaked gavial skins,
and beside it was the little mud fire-place, where Carlo did a very
moderate amount of cooking for himself and me. He was fond
of shooting, and nearly every day would take one of my shot-guns
and wander off along the banks until he succeeded in shooting two
THE GANGKETIO CBOOODILE. 51
or three doves or partridges for my dinner. I had roast dove or
partridge on toast nearly every day, and we had no other meat
during the trip than such as we shot. We killed geese, ducks,
and peacocks, which made excellent roasts and curries, and once I
shot a gazelle (" ravine deer"), upon a brushy sand-flat, the flesh
of which was very acceptable to us all.
There was ample room on the deck of the boat for us to work
at our specimens, and we skinned and skeletonized many a gavial
and large bird as we floated quietly along. We could not hang oui
crocodile skins under any shade, and so we tried hanging them on
the mast. By taking the skins down during the hottest part of the
day we managed to dry them very successfully, and as soon as they
were dry we folded them up. One day as we went floating down
the river with an eleven foot gavial skin suspended by the head
from the top of the mast, its legs held straight out by sticks, and
the jaws gaping wide open to allow a free circulation of air^ we
saw some distance ahead of us three large gavials lying upon the
bank. Just beyond them were some natives washing at the river
side. We began to lay our plans for making a kill, but suddenly
two of the natives caught sight of us, and guessing our purpose
from the emblem at the mast-head, they ran toward the gavials and
drove them into the water. We shouted angrily at them, and by
way of reply they threw stones at the gavials until their heads en
tirely disappeared under the water, and ' were thus beyond our
reach. This was the only time I ever saw the natives show any
sympathy for the crocodiles. In some portions of India, however,
crocodiles are held sacred, and it would be safe? to shoot a native
than one of those scaly reptiles. At Mugger Peer, eight miles
from Kurrachee, there is a large tank full of huge and ugly mug
gers (Crocodilus bombifrons), which are regularly fed by priests
and held sacred.
Twice while we were on the Jumna, low-caste natives came to us
for the flesh of young gavials, which they declared they wanted to
eat. I have eaten roast crocodile in South America, where they
feed only upon fish, and the flesh was white, tender, free from
all disagreeable musky odors, and toothsome as the nicest roast
veaL
For about fifteen miles below Etawah the Jumna fairly swarms
with gavials, many of which are of monstrous size. Unlike all the
other saurians I ever hunted, they come out upon the sand-bars
very early in the morning, and are to be found there at all hours
52 TWO YEAES IN THE JUGGLE.
of the day until almost sunset.* Individuals have their favorite
haunts, and unless disturbed the same crocodile will return day
after day to the same sand-bank, as I have plainly seen by observing
those which were peculiarly marked. Several times I have seen
gavials swimming leisurely up and down the river over the same
course for an hour at a time, apparently enjoying a promenade.
Generally we found them upon the shore in groups of four to sis,
but of course many solitary individuals were seen. As a rule they
were very shy, but several times after missing a certain animal of a
group, I have seen it take to the water at the sound of the rifle, but
almost immediately come out again, if we remained quietly hidden.
As an instance of their great numbers, I find it recorded in my
note-book that in six hours we once counted twenty-four gavials
lying upon the sand-banks. Once, while hidden behind a small
bush at the base of a clay cliff, with my rifle and field-glass in my
hand, I saw twelve gavials (not one of which was under ten feet in
length) crawl slowly out of the water, one after another, upon a
little isolated sand-bar which was no larger than a good-sized cro
quet-ground. Such a mass-meeting of saurians I never saw before
nor since. But here let me caution the nest hunter, or naturalist,
who may visit this locality, that in a few years' time conditions may
become so changed that not a dozen gavials will be found in that
particular spot, where in March, 1877, they existed in scores. And
furthermore, during the wet season when the river is high and wide,
it may be almost impossible to find gavials upon the banks in such
situations that they can be secured, f
Although the largest of the twenty-six gavials I shot and secured
measured only twelve feet, we saw three or four individuals which
* I attribute this to the coldness of the water, which is due to its snow/
sources, and also to its swiftness and strong undercurrents, which combine to
render life beneath its surface not entirely agreeable to a lazy, heat-loving
animal.
f In order to give an idea of the seasons in which gavials may be success
fully hunted on the Ganges and Jumna, the following facts concerning the
rise and fall of the river may be useful. About May 1st, the snow water be
gins to swell the river. The volume of this gradually increases until June
15th, when most of the sand-banks are covered. From the latter date until
October 1st, the river is frequently in high flood, shooting is practically im
possible, and navigation is dangerous. After this the water falls steadily until
January 1st, and from this date until May, there is a minimum of water in the
river, except during slight freshets caused by light rains in the lower Himalayas.
From April 15th to October 1st th* heat is dangerous to European constitutions
THE GAKGETIC OBOOODILE. 53
must have been from fifteen to eighteen feet in length, or even
more. To my chagrin and disappointment I found after two or
three trials that a single bullet from my little Maynard rifle (cali
bre .40, larger calibres are made now), had not weight and force
enough to shatter the spinal-column of a seventeen-foot crocodile
at one hundred and fifty yards. Had I possessed a heavy rifle of
the same accuracy as my Maynard, we should have accouijte<J *for
two or three of them at least.
Once I found an old monster, beside which a ten-foot gavial
seemed entirely insignificant, sunning himself upon an isolated bar
in the middle of the river. I offered my men a rupee each if we
secured him, and fired at his neck. At the first shot his jaws flew
open, he lay quite still, and my men instantly plunged into the
river. I quickly reloaded and fired two more shots to make mat
ters more sure, but in my eagerness and haste they must have
missed the vital spot, for when the old monster saw my boatmen
surging madly through the water straight toward him, he put forth
all his strength, slid slowly down the sand into the river and disap
peared. It was a bitter disappointment to us all, for we knew we
should never see him again. Although during that trip we shot a
number of gavials which must have died in the water, not one of
them ever came to' the surface afterward. One small one, however,
did deliberately come out upon a bank and die there, the only in
stance of the kind I ever saw.
Pliny states that if turmeric be fired into a crocodile's body he
will come out upon the sand to die, so Major Koss sent me his
express rifle, and some turmeric, for me to make the experiment.
I filled some explosive bullets with it instead of detonating powder
and fired them at gavials, but none of thm ever came out ol the
water after they had once got into it. I have heard of parties of
mighty hunters shooting " one hundred and twenty-eight alligators
a week in the St. Johns," and even of a hundred " shot " in a day ;
but be it remembered that these alligators were only shot at.
There is a world of difference between shooting (at) a crocodile
and securing it, and when your mighty hunter boasts of the great
,number he " shot/' ask him how many he got.
In the museum at Allahabad is a fine skeleton of a male gavial
which measures 17 feet in length as it stands. If we allow for the
shortening of the skeleton which has undoubtedly taken place in
mounting and drying, I think we may safely say that the ani
mal when alive was 17 feet, 8 inches in length. In the Jardin
54 TWO YEAKS IN THE JUITOLK
des Plantes, Paris, there is a stuffed Gavialis Gangeticus, 20 feet, 7
inches long, but that animal when alive was apparently an excep*
tkmally slender one. The largest specimen in the British Museum
measures only 14 feet, 9 inches.
My chief disappointment at failing to secure one of the three
monster gavials that we saw, was owing to the fact that these
individuals were the only ones that possessed the strange bony
knob at the end of the snout, which is peculiar to the largest speci
mens of this species. I particularly desired to examine it upon a
living specimen, for the manner of its growth, and its uses, are as
yet a puzzle to naturalists. It is the development of the inner edge
of the premaxillary bones into a lofty double knob of smooth bone,
nearly surrounding the external nostril. For my part, I believe it
to be a purely sexual characteristic, possessed only by those males
which have attained their full growth, and reached an advanced
age. In my collection of twenty-six gavials, there were both males
and females of various sizes up to twelve feet, not one of which
showed the least sign of any unusual development of the premaxil-
laries. A skull which was kindly presented me by Mr. Palmer, of
Etawah, and which according to my calculations, belonged to an
animal thirteen feet in length, also showed no signs of the "boss"
upon the snout.
The gavial, or "gnariya!'' of the Hindoos (Gavialis Gangeticus,'
Geoff.), stands at the head of the order Sauria (Crocodilians), which
includes the gavials of India and Borneo, the crocodiles of both the
old world and the new, the alligators and caimans of America only.
Generally speaking, the main points of difference between crocodiles
and alligators are as follows : a crocodile (of any species) is distin
guished by a triangular head, of which the snout is the apex, a nar
row muzzle, and canine teeth in the lower jaw which pass freely up
ward in the notches in the side of the upper ; whereas an alligator
(also caiman or jacare) has a broad flat muzzle, and the canine teeth
of the lower jaw fit into sockets in the under surface of the upper iaw.
The gavial has very slender and elongated jaws, with an ex
panded end, quite like the handle of a frying-pan, smooth and com
pact, set with twenty-seven teeth in each side of the upper jaw and
twenty-five in the lower. The lower large front teeth pass upward
entirely through two holes at the extremity of the snout, but all the
remaining ^teeth are wholly free upon the sides, slanting well out
ward, and in young specimens they are so prominent and sharp that
it is unpleasant to grasp the muzzle in the naked iiandL
THE GATOETIC CROCODILE. 55
From the gavial, which has the narrowest muzzle of all the
crocodilians, all the known species of crocodiles, caimans, and
jacares, can be arranged in a regular series according to the widtj
of their muzzles, leading by regular gradations down to the alli
gator, which has the broadest muzzle of all, inasmuch as the sides
are nearly parallel from the angle of the jaw to the canine teeth.
The Indian gavial inhabits all the large rivers of Northern India,
the Ganges up to Hurdwar, nine hundred and eighty-three feet
above the sea, the Jumna, Sard&h, Indus, Brahmapootra and their
tributaries, but does not occur anywhere in Southern India, nor
Burmah. Another species of gavial, called by Dr. Gray, TomiMoma
schlegettn,i8iouTLd. in Borneo, but nowhere else so far as we know at
present. The mugger (Crocodilus bombifrons), inhabits all India
from the foot of the Himalayas where the water is often frozen,*
almost to Cape Comorin. I saw only one small specimen of this
species in the Jumna, and as it lay upon a sand-bar close beside
some gavials, the points of difference between the two were very
striking. I observed it long and carefully with a powerful field-
glass, and fully satisfied myself as to its identity. The gavial looked
smooth and yellow, whereas the little mugger had a very rugose
appearance, and in color was of a dirty gray. When he left the
water he deliberately walked out upon the sand, and when I finally
fired at him he sprang up on his feet, and ran across the bar into
the water, in doing which he more nearly resembled a huge iguana
than a crocodile. I examined the spot directly afterward, and be
sides the tracks left by his feet there was only a broken mark where
the tip of his tail had touched the sand as he ran. Out of perhaps
four hundred and fifty to five hundred gavials, crocodiles, and alli
gators which I have watched getting from the land into the water,
only four have stood up on their legs and run. This mugger was
one, and another was a Mississippi alligator, which I afterward
killed, and found to be in a very emaciated condition, owing to the
fact that nearly half of its upper jaw had been bitten ofi^ and it had
apparently experienced great difficulty in capturing its prey.
Gavials are the smoothest of all the large crocodilians it has
been my privilege to handle as living specimens, i.e., all the Ameri
can species save one, and three in the East Indies. They are also
the brightest in color. Lying upon the sand at a distance of two
hundred yards, their bodies often seem to be of a uniform dull
"Gray,
66 TWO TEAKS Itf THE JTJKGLE.
chrome yellow, but in reality the entire upper surface of the animal,
from, snout to tail, is of a uniform oHve green, mottled with the
former color. Of course the older individuals lose the original
brightness of their coloring with advancing age. The under sur-
laces are all pale yellow, the iris is green frosted with black, while
the pupil is a very narrow, perpendicular black line.
It would appear probable from the examination of some of our
specimens, that the number of eggs deposited by a female gavial
depends upon her size. One of our specimens, 9 feet in length,
contained 15 eggs almost ready to be deposited, another measuring
10 feet contained 30 eggs, while two measuring between 11 and 12
feet contained 41 and 44 eggs respectively. As nearly as I could
estimate, all these eggs would have been ready for the sand by
about April 1st. As with the eggs of all saurians, these were sub-
cylindrical, and pure white.
Evidently gavials are not man-eaters, or rather man-catchers,
else they would certainly have carried off some of my boatmen.
Upon many occasions they swam the river as fearlessly as though
not a saurian existed in it, whereas they actually swarmed there.
The natives who live along the river also assured me the ghariyals
never caught men. The stomachs of all those I dissected contained
only the remains of fishes, and I looked in vain for pieces of dead
Hindoos. Still, it is not improbable that gavials devour the bodies
of defunct natives who are thrown into the river after undergoing
a mock cremation, such as I shall describe further on.
Although the skin of a large gavial is very thick, and the entire
back, is covered with bony plates nearly a quarter of an inch thick,
it is still as sensitive to touch as the bottom of a man's foot. Often
when watching gavials that lay apparently sound asleep upon the
sand, I have seen them suddenly reach a leg backward or forward
to kick off a fly that had alighted upon them. A 9-foot female
which I captured was exceedingly ticklish upon the back and sides.
Although my shot had broken her neck and she lay apparently
dead, the lightest scratch with the finger-nail upon her sides or
dorsal scales caused her to flinch and squirm violently. Even the
tip of a crow's feather drawn lightly along between the rows of
dorsal scales, or across the thin skin of the flanks was attended with
the same result.
Wounded gavials often bawl aloud like calves, when seized by
their captors, a thing I have never known any other crocodiles to
do. One of our largest specimens, a female 11 feet 6 inches long,
THE GA^aETIC OKOCODILE. 57
made the most determined resistance of any, and bawled aloud
more than a dozen times while struggling with her assailants. It
has been asserted that crocodiles are voiceless, but this is certainly
not the case with Oavialis Oangeticus. Nor is it true of the Orinoco
crocodile (Crocodilus intermedius), as I know by a personal en
counter with an old male nearly 12 feet in length, who turned
upon me with a deep guttural snarl like a dog as I attempted to
seize him by the tail
CHAPTER VI.
ANIMAL LIFE ALONG THE JUMNA.
Boating on the Jumna. A Long Prayer. The Saras Crane. Queer Antics.
The Jabiru. Nests of the Scavenger Vulture. Peacocks. A Jungle Cat
Surprised. The Jackals' Serenade. Turtles. The Gangeti'c Porpoise.
Native Villages. The People. Female Ugliness. Friends and Foes. A
Native Funeral. Cremation a mere Form. An Adjutant Shot. Goodbye
to the Biver.
WE worked on down the Jumna until we reached the mouth of
the river Chumbul, which flows into it from the south. Here the
banks began to grow muddy, and almost destitute of both gavials
and birds, so we decided to work back up toward Etawah. Com
ing down the river is a very easy matter, for it is only necessary to
steer the boats, but going up, the boatmen have to tow them
against a current running from two to three miles per hour. We
often mot large boats laden with wheat floating rapidly down,
steered with long sweeps, like lumber rafts. Many others passed
up the river empty, some of which required ten to twenty men to
tow them. It was a strange sight to see one of those huge, clumsy
crafts coming round a bend in the river with fifteen to twenty long,
slender grass lines radiating from the top of the mast, like a beam
of light falling far ahead upon a long line of nearly naked Hindoos
toiling slowly along the bank.
One night we tied up to the shore near one of these grain-boats,
and in the still small hours of the morning, we heard a Hindoo
say his prayers. It was one of the boatmen, lying comfortably
stretched out on the bags of the wheat, who was perhaps wake
ful toward morning and took occasion to indulge in a season of
prayer. Shortly after three o'clock we were awakened from a
sound sleep by this boatman's singing out " 5ito-Eam-a-5^o-Bam-a-
^o-Ram-a-^a-Ram-a-^to-Bam/' which was kept up with slight
variations until morning. There was a kind of sameness to thig
ANIMAL LIFE ALONG THE JUKKA. 59
however, so at the end of about every fifteen minutes he would dash
off into a variation of " Eam-Eam-Eam-Bam-Kam/' which always
afforded us quite a rest, prior to the next instalment of " Sifar
Earn." Sleep was out of the question so long as that perform
ance continued. I could not count the fellow's prayers, but I
timed him and ciphered out the number in that way. He began
to pray at twenty minutes past three o'clock and kept it up until
ten minutes to five ; and during that time he uttered the name of
Kama and his consort at least once every second, which made sixty
prayers to the minute, or altogether about five thousand four hun
dred prayers that morning before breakfast. All very well in its
way ; but after that we took care not to tie up near any other boat,
lest another boatman should be taken with Sita-Bam in the middle
of the night.
On the way up the river we devoted much of our time to col
lecting large birds, which frequented the river in greater variety
and greater numbers than I ever saw in any one locality.
Saras cranes fed in pairs in the fields, along the banks, or stalked
majestically over the sand-bars in flocks of sis to thirty. Except
ing the large snow-white whooping crane of America (Grus Ameri-
canus) the saras crane (Grus antigone) is the largest and hand
somest of the genus. The saras stands over four feet high, and
is of a pale bluish color, except the head and nape, which are al
most bare and of a dark crimson tinge. On the uplands they
nearly always go in pairs, and although their cry sounds at first like
the note of one bird, it is in reality a double cry made up of a low
short note from ' the female, immediately taken up and improved
upon by the male. The second cry always follows the first in
stantly, and it requires sharp watching for a stranger to detect the
true manner in which it is made. . It is, as a whole, very loud and
clear, and would be noted musically about as follows :
with the interval of the fifth much slurred.
These cranes sometimes cut some of the queerest antics ever
indulged in by sober and dignified birds. Several times I have
seen a whole flock indulge in a regular dance upon a level sand
bank. While the birds are idly stepping about, one suddenly
flaps his long wings several times in succession, another jumps
straight into the air, and, with one accord, they throw off their dig-
60 TWO YEAES II?" THE JUNGLE.
nity for the time being and the fun begins. Some stand still and
flap their wings, others jump straight up and down one jump
after another as high as they can go, often springing three feet
from the ground ; others run about, bowing and bobbing to each
other, courtesying with half-opened wings, their breasts low down
and tails high in the air, cutting the most ridiculous figures imagin
able.
The saras, like most of the large cranes and herons, fights des
perately when wounded, and is not to be approached with impu
nity. I once winged a large male bird, and when my boatmen ran
forward to seize him he struck out so dangerously with his long,
sharp bill and unwounded wing that he actually kept the men at
bay, until Iran up from behind, seized him by the head, and quickly
thrust a slender knife-blade through the occiput into the brain,
which instantly ended the life of the noble bird. Usually I was
obliged to shoot the saras at one hundred yards, with my rifle, but
upon finding that they suffered the natives to approach them much
nearer than me, I killed several with my shot-gun by getting be
hind the boatmen as they went slowly forward along the bank in
towing the boat. Once or twice we found the saras and the small
common crane (Grus cinerea) flocking sociably together.
We saw two pairs of jabiru (Mycteria Australis), but they were
exceedingly wary at this season, never alighting near the slightest
cover of any kind, and never allowing me to approach within less
than two hundred yards. One of these birds surprised us one day
by deliberately sitting down upon his tarsi to take a rest. I tried
to bring one down with the rifle, but failed. We found the black
"ibis (Gr&ronticus papillosus), probing in the sand along the water's
edge, also an occasional stork ( Ciconia alba), and large egret (Hero-
dias alba).
Birds of prey were abundant, among which was the white scav
enger -vulture (Neophron percnopterus). This bird happened to
be nesting at that time (April 10th), and although Jerdon informs
us it usually builds in trees, we here found its nests in the most
inaccessible places it could possibly select, Invariably, indeed,
we found its nest placed upon a narrow ledge against the side of a
perpendicular blu usually just about midway from top to bottom,
and not to be reached at all without the aid of a rope. As was the
case with seizing the wounded gavial by the tail, my boatmen
needed first to be shown how to reach a nest by means of a
rope.
AHIKAL LIFE ALOKO THE JUMHA. 01
We found the first nest against the side of a cliff, about forty
feet from tlie ground and thirty from the top, killed the old bird
upon the nest, and then we wanted the eggs. As I expected, my
men were each afraid to be let down from above, so I went myself.
"When I had put one leg through a loop tied firmly at the end of
our strongest rope, four of my men lowered me over the top of the
bank and slowly paid out the rope, until I reached the nest and
stood safely on the narrow ledge, upon which it was built. It con
tained two eggs of a dirty gray color, minutely dotted over with
dull brownish red. One of them measured 2.65 inches by 1.90.
The nest was a remarkable conglomeration of materials. The
groundwork was an armful of twigs from the thorny acacia, some
of great size considering the smallness of the bird, and upon this
was laid a bunch of long, black Hindoo hair (cut from the head of
some man going into mourning), a square foot of dried goat-skin, a
human humerus, buffalo and goat's hair, cotton in small quanti
ties, a dorsal plate, two metacarpal bones, and eight inches of cau
dal vertebrs from some of our gavials, the back of a sheep's skull,
an assorted lot of rope fragments, and rags of every color and de
gree of dirtinesa No wonder the builder of such a nest is called
the scavenger vulture.
The next time we found a nest, the boatmen let down the rope
from the top of the cliff to the bottom, and one who was drawn
from below up to the nest, put the eggs into the empty case belong
ing to my field-glass, and lowered them down safely. This stout
leathern ease made an excellent receptacle for bird's eggs when
hung over the shoulders of a man hanging against the face of the
cli
A few yards from the vulture's nest, stuck against the cliff like
a huge honey-comb of mud, was a cluster of about thirty nests of
the Indian cliff swallow (Lagenoplastes jftuvicola). The proprietors
of the place were at home, and in their breeding season. By the
aid of the rope w soon reached the colony of retort-shaped, tube-
mouthed nests, and secured a goodly number of eggs, The num
ber of eggs in a nest was usually three, although four were found
together more than once, all pure white.
"WMrever the deep and barren ravines came down to the river,
were numerous, and we often heard their piercing cry of
" ringing from the tops of the barren ridges. Late ia
the evening they would appear upon the tops of the cliffs, poise
upon the edge, and launching off one by one, fly across the river
62 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
into the low wheat fields upon the opposite side to feed unmolested
until morning. At sunrise they would fly back again and disappear
in the rapines. We shot several for their skeletons and two splen
did males for their skins, expecting trouble with the natives almost
any day on this account, for the peacock is a sacred bird among
the Hindoos. It is not worshipped as a god, but it serves as a
throne for the god Eama, and is thus held sacred.
The peacock is a bone of contention between the English soldiers
in the North-West Province and the Hindoos. The soldiers go out
hunting and shoot peacocks, for which the natives attempt to mob
them, and it is said that they seldom go out shooting without get
ting into a row and perhaps shooting a native. Carlo found where
a flock of peacocks roosted in a large banyan tree, and killed sev
eral. At last the natives came down to us and humbly begged, as
a personal favor to themselves, that we would not kill " any more of
those poor fellows that never did anything bad, but only ate a little
wheat ;" and so we promised to desist.
One day we found a pair of rose-winged paroquets (PalcBornis
torquatus), which occupied a hole in a bank similar to the nest
of a kingfisher. One bird came out of fche burrow and alighted
upon a small bush near the mouth beside its mate. We shot both
of them for speicmens and then climbed up to look for eggs. The
hole extended horizontally into the bank in nearly a straight line,
two inches in diameter, and we thrust in a stout stick eight feet
long 'without reaching the end. This was the longest stick we
could procure, and we decided not to attempt to follow up the
burrow by digging. Up to that time, I never heard of this bird
burrowing in a bank like a king-fisher, for they almost invariably
nest in holes in trees.
Besides twenty-eight important species of birds, we also found
some small mammals along the banks of the Jumna. As I sat under
the awning, skinning a saras crane while the boatmen towed us up
stream, Carlo pointed out a small wild animal trotting along the
opposite bank of the river. I could not make out what it was
without the glass, but determined to take a shot at it for luck.
Putting my peep-$ight up to one hundred and seventy-five yards,
I got down in the bottom of the boat, rested my rifle firmly upon
the edge, and without stopping the boat, blazed away. To the as
tonishment of us all, especially myself, the little beast on the oppo
site side fell down, rolling over and over, kicking and growling
A native on the other bank ran to seize it, and held it
ANIMAL LIFE ALONG THE JUMNA. 63
cautiously until we crossed over. It proved to be a jungle cat
(Felis chaus). Height at shoulders 14 inches, length of head and
body 26 inches, tail 9 inches.
Jackals (Canis aureus), were numerous in the ravines along the
river, and some of the night concerts with which they favored us
were highly entertaining, to say the least. Twice in particular, I
remember that as the sun went down, and darkness closed in rapid
ly, the jackals all around us broke out into a perfect concert of
agonized yelping and yaw-yawing, so ludicrous that we all laughed
outright The cry of a jackal is an abominable chopped-up yell,
half howl, half bark.
Upon opening my eyes one morning I saw.a saucy and inquisi"
tive jackal sitting coolly upon the top of the bank, looking down
into our boat, apparently studying the internal economy of our old
floating slaughter-house. As I reached for my rifle he gracefully
retired, and I stole quickly but quietly up the bank. Beaching
the top I failed to see him, and sat down to pull various thorns out
of the bottoms of my feet While thus engaged I espied a dark
gray object across a little ravine, sitting quietly upon a little mound,
watching me with the greatest curiosity. It was my morning
caller. It was hardly light enough to see my sight, but I fired at
him from where I sat. He fell down, but jumped up with a pro
fane growl, remarking that that was a pretty way to treat a visitor,
and disappeared in the ravines. An hour later one of my men
found him lying dead under a bush, shot through the liver. Carlo
watched one night near the carcass of a gavial, and killed another
specimen with my No. 10 shotgun.
Two species of turtle, Batagur thurgii and Trionyx Gangeticus,
were abundant in the river, especially the latter. Above Allahabad
we saw this large, soft-shelled variety in great numbers, and of very
large size, lying upon the sand at the water's edge, with their long,
skinny necks stretched high in air. - Below Etawah, also, we saw
them frequently, and several times I tried to break their necks with
a bullet, but without success. A good net would have been more
useful than fire-arms. One day we were fortunate enough to find
a large female Batagur thurgii out in the middle of a sand-bar,
wMther she had crawled to deposit her eggs. We cut off her re
treat Hward the water and she fell an easy prey. She weighed
thirty-two pounds, and from her ovary we took twenty-five fully de
veloped eggs.
There was another animal in the river which I desired above
64 TWO TEARS IIT THE JUNGLE.
everything else, but of which I was unable to obtain a single sped
men. It was the Platanista Gangetica, or fresh- water porpoise, nu
merous in the Ganges, Jumna, Gogra, and Brahmapootra, but ex
ceedingly rare in museums on account of the difficulty of capturing
ii Professor Ward wished me to capture specimens, if it could
possibly be accomplished during the time we had allotted to that
region, but without a long net and a light boat it was impossible.
Had I but known the situation, I would have brought a stout net a
hundred and fifty feet long, and ropes and harpoons in plenty, by
the aid of which we could have captured Platanista enough for
all the great museums of America and Europe. As matters stand
at present, the scientists of Calcutta vainly offer the fishermen of
the Ganges 5 each for specimens. We saw dozens of them in
the Jumna below Etawah, passing up and down, appearing at the
surface every forty or fifty yards as they swam along, rising for a
second only to instantly disappear. It would have been folly to
fire at them, for after a long series of trials on the coast of Florida
and in the Orinoco I am convinced that porpoise shooting is a delu
sion and a snare. No animal that I ever hunted has baffled me
like the fresh-water porpoise (Ma) of the Orinoco, and the Platanis
ta. With experienced Venezuelan fishermen to help me, I have
tried time after time to harpoon and to shoot Inia, but without
success. They do not stupidly play around the bows of one's boat
as marine porpoises do, inviting harpoons into their vitals ; they
simply rise for a moment, now here, now yonder, anywhere except
just where you expect them. When I go to the Jumna again I will
take a net, stretch it across the river according to a certain plan,
and then have my revenge.
Villages were numerous along the river, and, in the course of
our bird-hunting, we had occasion to visit or pass through a num
ber of them, usually to procure a drink of water. We were always
received very civilly by the natives, and some one would be deputed
to bring us a clean brass chatfcie full of fresh water.
But woe unto us had we had the ignorance or the audacity to
put one of their vessels to our lips. It would have been worse de
filed than if a hog had stuck his snout into it, and no matter
whether the vessel were of cheap earthenware or brass of high
value, it would have to have been broken in pieces, thrown into the
river, or melted down. Ordinarily the Christian traveller bends
down, puts both hands to his mouth so as to form a trough into
which the water is poured from the chattie held aloft, and so the
AKIMAL LIFE ALONG THE JUKKA. 65
itream is conducted into the mouth. I always kept a clean com
partment in my leather cartridge-bag which, when filled with water,
served me as well as a drinking-cup.
The villages were built of mud and thatched with straw, the
houses huddled closely together in a higgledy-piggledy way, win-
dowless, often doorless, ana with mother earth for a floor.' At
midday they are hot as ovens. How wretchedly filthy they must
be during the rainy season, when aU this dust is turned into liquid
mud, and rain drips through every roof.
In one of these river villages, at the foot of a tree which seemed
to be used as a shrine, I came suddenly upon a sculptured stone
image which almost took my breath away. Like Mark Twain in
the Jardin Mabille, I covered my face with my hands but I looked
between my fingers. It was about two feet long, very neatly
sculptured, but the subject was the most obscene that could be
imagined. And this emblem of purity (?) the villagers reverence,
I suppose. Verily the Hindoos have queer tastes.
The native men were, as a rule, very good looking, and their
features were as regular, symmetrical, and finely cut as those of
Europeans. If they were white they would mako handsome Ital
ians. Physically they are, as a rule, lean, lank, and poorly mus
cled, which is due to their living a life of perpetual hunger. No
wonder they are naturally timid and cowardly, or that one vigo
rous, beef-eating white man can overawe a multitude. In civil life
this is actually the case, for we behold 130,886 English men and
women occupying the country and ruling 191,307,070 natives
only one white person to every 1,461 natives, every one of whom
would gladly see the English thrust out of India, but they do not
dare say so. The natives have a saying that if every native in India
would throw only a handful of dust upon the nearest Englishman,
every one of them would be buried. .
Whenever I chanced to meet a woman in any of those villages,
she invariably pulled a corner of her mantle across her face and
turned her head aside, as if she were ashamed for such ugliness to
be seen. It was certainly very considerate of them, for they were
almost as homely as buffaloes. Somehow it seemed that all the
women were old, wrinkled, and skinny, and all the females who
were not, were the little girls.
The natives were kind to us, after a fashion, in occasionally
bringing us milk, for which they refused all pay. I would gladly
believe they did this out of pure friendliness, but we must give
5
66 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE.
the devil his due. Those who brought us milk were herdsmen,
Brahmins who worship kine, and they believe that by making gifts
of milk (with a deposit of black dirt at the bottom) to strangers,
they will call down blessings upon their flocks and herds. Major
Boss had so little faith in the dealings of the natives with a stranger
unused to their ways and unsupported by any shadow of authority,
that he sent one of his private peons to keep me company on the
river, remarking that a brass plate with the Government stamp
upon it often possessed great virtue in bringing surly natives to
terma He referred to the badge worn by all Government peons
(messengers or guards), a brass plate engraved with the name of
the department and worn upon the front of a colored sash. We
were not long in finding out the virtues of the brass plate. I sent
Carlo and Wazir, the peon, up to a village bazaar one day to buy
some flour. They found where it was for sale and asked for a
certain quantity, but with an earthen pot full of flour standing in
plain view, the gentle Hindoo stoutly declared he had none to sell
at any price. My men pointed to the flour and said they had just
seen him sell some of it to a woman and take the money, but he
sulkily refused to sell any to them. He had probably heard of
my shooting peacocks and saras cranes (also sacred to the Hindoos),
and he thought to have a little revenge. But the brass plate
brought him around very soon. We always procured our drinking
water from the village wells, and Wazir always accompanied the
water jar to make sure of getting it filled. Once the villagers de
manded pay for the water, a most unheard of proceeding, but the
peon caused them to withdraw their claim almost as soon as it was
made.
We noticed several human skulls bleaching upon the sand-bars
in the river, and just below Etawah we witnessed a Hindoo fu
neral. The procession came filing along the bank, about twenty
low-caste men, four of whom bore the corpse on a litter on their
shoulders. They wore their ordinary business suits, simple waist-
cloths only, some carried straw, one carried an armful of wood,
and all chanted a monotonous dirge. They reached a spot close
to a ruined temple where the bank almost overhung the water, and
the current was both deep and swift. There were bare, black spots
upon the edge of the bank, as if the same ceremony for which
they had come had often been performed there before.
A bed of straw was spread close to the edge of the bank and
the corpse laid UUQ& it The bodv was wrapped from head to
ANIMAL LIFE ALONG THE JUMNA. 67
in a red cotton cloth. Then more straw was piled upon the body
and a very little wood upon that, after which one of the rela-
tives touched a lighted match to the straw. The mourners sat
down upon their heels in a group to windward of the pile, and
chatted sociably while they watched it burn. The wind was
strong and it burned fiercely for about three minutes, then very
moderately for about ten more, by the end of which time the fuel
was all consumed. Then the mourners arose, dipped water from
the river and drowned out the fire ; the corpse lay there almost
intact, and we all saw that it was a woman. The limbs were
drawn up and the face contorted, the hair was burned away, and
the entire remains were black and hideous, yet only the skin, and
hair were burned. Presently one mourner put a stout stick
under the neck, another put another stick under the hips, and at
the word the carcass was tumbled over the edge of the bank and
fell into the water with a loud splash. A few yards further down
it reappeared at the surface for a moment ; upon which one of the
cremators reached out with his stick and pushed it under, after
which we saw it no more. Not more than ten yards below that
we saw the heads of two large gavials that floated at the surface,
watching the proceedings with evident interest
All the ashes and bits of wood were thrown into the river and
the spot washed clean, after which the mourners took their depart
ure. The Jumna never seemed so j filthy and repulsive as at that
moment, and I was glad I never drank from it.
That body-burning was a mere shallow pretence, and might
just as well have been dispensed with, for all it amounted to in
reality. But religion is religion, and the form, at least, must be
carried out,*
In some portions of India, where fuel is exceedingly scarce and
dear, the poorest of the low-caste natives fulfil the letter of their
religion by pimply putting a live coal upon the tongue of the corpse,
and they call this " burning." After all, is not that as sensible and
complete a "burning," as a few drops of water sprinkled upon one's
head is a "baptism," or " burial" with Christ? To -my mind one
is no less absurd than the other.
Upon reaching Etawah again we stopped at the wide sand-bar
opposite the bathing-ghaut, and while at work with our specimens,
* Natives who are sufficiently wealthy provide fuel enough to entirely con
sume the body, so that nothing remains after cremation except a few pieoet
of calcined laonc.
68 TWO YEABS IN THE JTJNOLE.
I fine adjutant (Leptoptilus argala) came winging his heavy flight
Across the river and alighted upon the sand witliin a hundred and
fifty yards of us. Standing upon that barren level he seemed of co
lossal size, and his legs were as white as if they had recently been
white-washed. I had with me a boy named Jungi, whom Major
Boss had sent to shoot birds for me, who was a very good shot.
Knowing that the adjutant would never suffer me to approach him
nearer than one hundred yards or so, I prepared to shoot him
tith my rifle, but Jungi asked me to leave the bird to him. He
took his gun and walked deliberately across the sand, as if he
would pass the adjutant within about fifty yards. The old bird
saw a native coming, but did not dream of a trick, and stood still
until Jungi reached the point nearest him, threw up his gun, and
dropped him dead in his tracks. Upon skinning and dissecting
this specimen we found an entire dog in its crop, a small animal
of course, but still as large as a full-sized domestic cat, weighing
perhaps five pounds. The lower mandibles of the adjutant are
thin and springy, and evidently capable of spreading widely when
necessary. No wonder these oirds are such efficient scavengers,
or that in Calcutta they are protected by law.
* But at last we were done with the Jumna. In three weeks we
had killed 26 gavials, for which we had to show 15 skins, 7 skele
tons, and 4 skulls, besides many skins and rough skeletons of large
birds. My experience on the river had been simply delightful, and
I turned away from it with a feeling of sincere regret
CHAPTER TH.
BAVTNE DEER AOT> BLACK BUCK HUNTING.
An Invitation. Aspect of the Country. Major Ross's Camp. A Luxurious Es
tablishment. The Jumna Ravines. The ' ' Ravine Deer. 1 ' A Bay's Sport
Fifteen Gazelles and aMl-Gai. The Sasin Antelope or " Black Buck." 1
Animal Pests Another Hunt with Major Ross. Interesting Sport. A
- Narrow Escape. A Stern Chase at Mid-day. -Eight Antelopes Gathered in.
A Holiday at Agra. The Taj Mehal, of course. Taj-struck Travellers.
The Trees of the North- West Provinces.
HAVING completed my work on the river, I received a very cor
dial invitation from Major and Mtfs. Ross to visit them at their
camp, thirty-five miles below Etawah, and spend a week in hunting
the Indian gazelle, which quite abounded in the neighboring ra
vines. Accordingly, Carlo and I packed up my rifle and ammuni
tion, a bag of powdered alum, a pot of arsenical soap, and a few
tools, and went by rail down the line to Paphoond station. Spend
ing the night in the road bungalow, we chartered an ekka (an
antediluvian species of passenger cart) to take us to Major Ross's
camp, twelve miles south. For two hours- and a half we rattled*
along a splendid "metalled" (L e., macadamized) road as fine in
every way as any in Great Britain, so far as I have seen another
evidence of British rule in India. The milestones are marked in
English and Hindustanee, which gives the natives to understand
that the English have come, to stay. The road is provided with good
bridges, road bungalows and police stations, and is a type of the
great arterial lines of road communication which have been con
structed throughout India since the Mutiny in 1857. The Ganges-
Jumna Dooab, i.e., the country lying between these two waters, is
also being rapidly traversed by a system of irrigation canals, which
will render famine in this district forever impossible.
Mud villages were almost as thick as farm-houses in Iowa, and
before long I found that it required good shooting to fire a rifle on
the level without hitting a native. And no wonder! Compared
70 TWO TEAKS IN THE JTJ1TOLE.
with very many portions of India, Etawah is very thinly settled ; but,
upon an area of 1,6$1 square miles, of which quite twenty per cent
is unculturable ravines or reh-stricken plains, there are 1,591 villages
and 668,581 people nearly one village and quite 408 people to
every square mile, fertile or -barren. No wonder the fields along
the roadside were little garden-plots of one to two acres, or that
there was no ground to spare for fences, and nothing to make them
of. Each tiny field was bounded by a little ridge of earth, and
fences, hedges, and ditches were alike unknown. The landscape
was only redeemed from utter barrenness (for the winter crops had
just been harvested), by the scattering mangos, acacias, and occa
sional banyan trees, which dotted the plain at long distances apart.
After two hours and a half of cramped limbs and aching backs,
we alighted from our antiquated jaunting-car at Major Boss's camp.
If the ride was cramped and shaky, it was also cheap, for the twelve
miles cost us only one rupee.
Mrs. Boss led me at once to a mango tree near the tents, and
pointed out a strange-looking animal which had taken refuge in it
the night before, and been fairly " treed " ever since. A charge of
shot soon brought it to the ground, and it proved to be a tree-cat
(Paradoxunts musanga) ; length, head and body, 23 J inches, tail 20,
color, dark gray washed with black.
I was surprised at the elegance and completeness of my friend's
camping establishment, which was simply luxurious as compared
with all the camping-out I had ever seen before, and it was man
aged with military precision. There was a main wall-tent, large and
roomy, with a double roof and verandah all around, and divided into
an office, dining-room, and bath-room. Major and Mrs. Boss had
a sleeping-tent, the khansama (cook) had a kitchen-tent, and there
was another for me. Contrary to the ordinary rule of camp-life
there was an abundance of furniture, but it was all made to fold
up and pack snugly away. There were five gharrys (bullock-carts)
to transport the equipage, and three excellent saddle-horses for the
"Sahib" and the "Memsahib." Counting cooks, sweepers, gun-
bearers, horse-keepers, and gharry-drivers, there were just twenty-
four servants of various castes attached to the camp. The morning
after my arrival, the camp was struck as soon as we had breakfasted,
and moved off to a village nearer the ravines. Major and Mrs. Boss
and I went shooting along the way, and when we reached Jeyt-
pore, late in the evening, we found the tents pitched in a green grove
of mango trees, the ground cleanly swept, the lamps lighted, and
BAVINE DEER AKD BLACK BUCK HUNTING-. 71
the table set with snowy linen and glistening silver. Fifteen min
utes later we were discussing the various courses of soup, roast mut
ton, fowls, vegetables, and the finest dish of curry and rice I ate any
where in the East Indies. The table was set out in the open air,
under the stars, and it seemed that such a roving, out-door life as
my friends led in the dry and pleasant winter months was simply
a continuous picnic, more enjoyable than life in the best town-house
that ever was built.
Mrs. Boss was the life of the camp, and her sparkling vivacity
imparted to it a charm as refreshing as a mountain breeze. Under
her energetic management the camp was always a model of neat
ness and comfort, and I was surprised to find that a lady in camp
could be so great a blessing. Mrs. Ross rode, walked, and played
lawn tennis daily with astonishing energy, considering the climate.
She often accompanied us in our shorter hunting excursions, and
we literally laid the spoils of the chase at her feet, proudly or other
wise, according to our luck.
Major Ross was my Encyclopaedia Indica, and like the model
British officer that he is, there was scarcely a subject that his in
formation did not cover. A traveller meets a great many persons
who are willing to answer his questions, and he soon learns to judge
by the ring of the metal whether it is pure or not. The friendship
of a man whose facts are always to be depended upon is something to
be prized, and in this world of falsehoods and exaggeration it is
like a glimpse of heaven to meet a man who never exaggerates.
Such a man is Major Ross, and his brothers are like him.
The ravines that border the Jumna for half its entire length
are very interesting from a geological point of view. Once these
uplands extended in a high and fertile level plain quite down to
the river, where they ended abruptly in a long continuous bluff.
The water which fell upon this table-land along the river sought
the lower level of the stream by pouring over the edge of the bluff,
until first little gulleys and then deep ravines were cut down
through the plain, and their beds became almost as low as the
water in the river. The steep sides of these long ravines were in
their turn furrowed and cut through by the little streams which
poured down them during the heavy rains of the wet season, and
the fertile soil of the plain was washed into the ravines and swept
away. Beneath this was a continuous stratum of hard, unweath-
ered clay, which does not readily grow grass, etc., and thus
collect vegetable mould, and which has stubbornly resisted the
72 TWO YEARS IK THE JUNGLE.
disintegrating action of moisture ; so that now, instead of the
rich alluvial tracts of low " bottom-land," between the river and the
uplands, which we would see had this clay been soft and friable,
like that along the banks of our western rivers, we see the deso
late " ravines." Between the fertile uplands and the river lies a
broad belt of rugged and barren clay peaks, divided by ragged
hollows, the tops of the highest just on a level with the uplands,
and their steep sides sprinkled with a scraggy growth of low
bushes which seem to put forth thorns instead of leavea Here
and there are miniature table-mountains forty to sixty feet high,
their flat tops marking the level of the former plain. Every rainy
season the ravines eat farther and farther into the fertile plain,
and one field after another is abandoned as the mould and disin
tegrated soil is washed into the ravines, leaving only the hard and
barren clay. Upon the top of one little table-mountain, half a
mi]e from the present head of the ravines, we saw the ruins of a
village that was once surrounded by fertile fields. A bird's-eye
view of the Jumna ravines reveals a " gray and melancholy waste/ 5
apparently desolate and lifeless; yet these miniature mountains,
this labyrinth of hills and hollows affords shelter for the gazelle,
nil-gai, jackal, wolf, hare, wild-hog, panther, and even the leopard.
The Indian gazelle (Gazella Bennetti) is commonly called by In
dian sportsmen the " ravine deer," because it is generally found in
the dry and barren ravines along the Jumna, and in similar por
tions of Bundelkundj.Bewah, the Central Provinces, and Grwalior.
It is also found in the Punjab and Rajpootana, but does not occur
south of the Godavery Kiver.
This graceful little animal is of a pale, reddish-brown color,
varying in the females, the entire under parts from chin to tail
being white, while the tail itself is black. My largest buck meas
ured 26 inches in height at shoulders, length of head and body, 3
feet 5 inches, tail 8 inches, and horns 13 inches. The horns of the
male are almost perfectly straight, except that the points are
tipped slightly forward, and are encircled with rings varying in
number from eighteen to twenty-three, from the base to within
two inches of the point. The horns never exceed 14J inches in
length, and only one pair out of a hundred exceeds 14.
Unlike all other antelopes, the female gazelle possesses horns,
although they are short, very slender, and seldom systematically
curved. They are usually 4 to 5 inches in length, sometimes 6,
but during my hunt with Major Eoss I was fortunate enough to
RAVIKE DEER AND BLACK BUCK HUNTING. 73
shoot an old female whose horns measured 8J inches, the long*
est by two inches yet recorded. They were very slender, tapering
gradually from the base to the tip.
Although the gazelle is rather dull in both hearing and smell
ing, as we proved many times, its sight is keen and restless, and it
furnishes very interesting sport, especially if the little creatures are
unusually wary and wild from previous acquaintance with fire
arms. They usually go in droves of five to eight, but we once en
countered a splendid herd of thirty-seven gazelles and four sasin
antelopes, feeding in a stubble field in the early morning. On that
same ground two English sportsmen once made a famous " bag "
at Christmas time, the net results of the day's shooting being two
gazelles, one gazelle's ear, one horn, and one' horse and his keeper
peppered with bird-shot.
An account of our busiest day's sport in the ravines, and our
best bag of specimens for from first to last I took either skin or
skeleton of every adult animal will suffice to illustrate one phase
of zoological collecting. The following is from my journal :
" Kiuntra, April 2d Major Boss awoke me at half-past three,
and after a hasty toilet, two hard-boiled eggs and a cup of coffee,
we mounted our horses and were off. Our rifles had gone on an
hour before with "Wazir and Jungi, the two horse-keepers, and
men who went to carry the game home. As we cantered across
the fields toward the ravines, daylight appeared in the east, and
the cool morning air resounded on every side with the cooing of a
hundred doves, blended into one continuous, trembling note rolling
close along the earth.
"At the head of the ravines we planned out our respective
courses and separated, so as to shoot over as much ground as pos
sible, and also because we had found that a sportsman does better
work alone when hunting c small deer/ Wazir was to keep me
company, and two game-carriers followed us at some distance.
This was the place where we expected to find nil-gai (Portax pictus).
" We caught a glimpse of a fine wild boar crossing a little ridge
as he was returning from his nightly raid upon the fields to his lair
in the ravines, and tried to follow him up and get a shot, but failed
to see him a second time. Walking down the level bed of a ravine
we turned a corner suddenly, and came plump upon five gazelles
walking leisurely toward us, when whisk / there was a dash of tiny
hoofs and the agile little creatures bounded out of sight like a flash.
We bestirred ourselves to cut them off, but when we next saw them
74 TWO YEARS IK THE JUNGLE.
call a halt they were fully 300 yards away. I attempted to make
a brilliant shot at that distance, aiming at a fine buek, but my bul
let struck the bank about three inches above the top of his shoul
ders. Away they went again, and from a hill-top We marked their
course until they disappeared entirely. Then we started for them,
keeping well in the bottom of the ravines until we thought we
were near them. Getting upon the top of a ridge we went cau
tiously forward, and very soon saw my identical buck climbing
out of a ravine about ninety yards in advance of us. Feeling sure
he would pause a moment at the top of the ridge to look for us, I
dropped quietly upon one knee, and covered him with my rifle.
Sure enough, as he reached the level he saw us and turned to look
for a second or two, when my bullet struck him full in the chest
and dropped him dead. It is the almost invariable habit of the
gazelle, unless startled suddenly at close range, to stare at the
hunter for two or three seconds before turning to run away, and
that instant of rest is the hunter's time to fire. As soon as the
buck fell, Wazir, who was a devout Mohammedan, ran forward with
a knife and cut its throat, exclaiming * Bismillah 1 ' (in the name
of God) while the animal was still alive, which rendered the flesh
eligible for the cooking-pots of all true Moslems. This operation
is called ' hallal karna/ and no Mohammedan can eat the flesh of
any animal which has not been properly 'hallaled' before life
became extinct, by some true follower of the Prophet. During our
first two days' shooting, it somehow happened that not a single
animal was ' hallaled/ and so, although the camp-followers had an
abundance of fresh meat for which the souls of Mohammedans
yearned and their mouths watered, not one of them touched a morsel.
" Shortly after the death of the buck, we saw a fine nil-gai or
'blue bull/ on the top of a little table-land nearly half a mile away,
and we took a good look at him through the glass for fear we might
never see him again. As he stood upon the summit of that high
ground, his dark body sharply outlined against the sky, he seemed
as large as our American moose, and he instantly reminded me of
that long-legged and ungainly animal. Yet this great lumbering
animal, perhaps four and a half feet high at the shoulders, with
eight-inch horns and tail nearly two feet long, is an antelope, one
of the largest of the antelope family.
"As the nil-gai disappeared in the ravines, I started across the
succession of hills and hollows that lay between us, and in an in
credibly short time reached the place where we last saw him. But
BAVINE DEER AND BLACK BUCK HUNTING. 75
the animal was not to be seen, and after a long search for him we
had to give up beaten. It was utterly impossible to track "him over
that hard and barren clay. We heard two shots from Major Boss,
and on looking in his direction saw two nil-gai climb out of the
ravines and go galloping off across the uplands. They went at
a heavy, lumbering pace, more like the running of cows than ante
lopes. The Hindoos, with a total disregard for natural classifica
tion, assert that this animal is a ' cow ' and not an antelope, and
therefore a very sacred animal. They will not touch the nil-gai,
but will eat all other antelopes.
" It had been our rule to return to camp about ten o'clock every
morning, and rest quietly during the midday heat, which in the
ravines was intense ; but in the hope of finding nil-gai we pushed
on and on in a wide circuit far into the ravines. While walking
quietly down the bed of a ravine we espied two gazelles browsing
upon the scanty leaves of an acacia. Both were does, and I fired
at the nearest one. They wheeled and bounded out of sight, and
upon running forward we found the grass bespattered with ar
terial blood which had gushed out from a mortal wound. We
started at once on the bloody trail and soon found the doe lying
gasping under a bush. (This was the female which possessed un
usually long horns, mentioned in a former paragraph.) Within
twenty minutes from the time we saw her browsing quietly under
the acacia, her skin was hanging across Wazir's rifle and the vul
tures were tearing at her flesh. Then' I turned my face toward
camp. Passing through a village we rested, drank quantities of
water and ate some roasted gram, which is about as good as parched
corn. Within a mile of camp we met a horse coming for me, and a
lively gallop soon brought me to the tents. Major Boss had shot
a fine buck gazelle and a cow nil-gai, which were soon brought in
upon a cart. The intense heat of the sun had quite roasted the skin
on the side that was uppermost, so that its elasticity was gone for
ever. This animal was of an iron-gray color, without horns, and
about the size of the female* wapiti (Cervus Canadensis). After
coming in from a hunt, we always took a bath the first thing and
drained all the jars of drinking-water. ' Give us this day our daily
bath/ is the universal cry in India.
" ' Tiffin ' over (two o'clock dinner), Carlo and I fell to work on
our specimens, and before night the ' bag ' received an addition of
one saras crane, three spoonbills (PlatdLea leucorodia), and three
black-backed geese (Sarcidiornis melanonotus), shot by my friends,"
76 TWO YEARS ITT THE JUN0LE.
The next day, in the evening, we rode to a bit of lowland be*
tween the ravines and the river. On the way we surprised a large
wolf (Ganis pallipes), making for the ravines with a black kid in his
mouth. As bad luck would have it, we were both without our
rifles, having sent them ahead with the bearers. We gave chase at
once, but the wolf entered the ravines where we could not follow
on horseback. These brutes are very destructive to small animals
of all kinds, killing goats, sheep, and calves, and running down ga
zelle and antelope. The Indian Government pays a reward for
the Trilling of wolves, and in 1876, five thousand nine hundred and
seventy-six of these miserable brutes were destroyed.
On reaching our destination, we found several gazelles feeding
out in the open plain with a scattered herd of cattle, and I brought
down a buck at one hundred and thirty yards. Major Boss shot
a hare (Lepus ruficaudatus) for me. It jumped out of a bush
almost at our feet and went bounding off, when the Major made a
brilliant shot with his rifle, striking the hare with an explosive
express bullet which blew it all to pieces. The head lay in one
place, the ligsnwere scattered about in various directions, and the
tail hung up in the top of a little bush like a signal of distress.
At the end of seven days' shooting we had accounted for fifteen
gazelle and one nil-gai, not counting smaller specimens ; and,
sending my lot of skins and skeletons across country by bullock-
cart, I returned to Etawah by rail.
The sasin antelope, or " black buck " of sportsmen (Antelope
bezoarticd), is another animal which is found in great numbers in
the Ganges-Jumna Dooab, as well as many other portions of
India from the Punjab to Tutucorin, very nearly to Cape Comorin.
In some districts they are found in immense herds of several
thousand individuals, and, wherever they are, they do great
damage to crops. It is the universal custom, or rather the ne
cessity, of the natives who live in the game-infested districts, to
build small elevated platforms of poles out in their fields, on which
they patiently sit all night, beating tom-toms and shouting to keep
away the deer and wild pigs. As a rule, the common people of
India are not allowed to possess fire-arms of any description, or
rather no one is allowed to supply them, and hence the country,
notwithstanding the density of its population and the perpetual
hunger of its people, is quite overrun with game, some kinds of
which devour the crops of the agriculturists, while others prey
upon domestic animals and the people themselves. The British
KAVINE BEER AND BLACK BUCK HUKTUSTa 77
Government does not, however, object to the employment of pro
fessional native hunters, or " shikarees," for thinning out the game,
and all such persons are duly licensed by the magistrates.
The sasin antelope stands from 32 to 34 inches in shoulder
height, length of body and head about 46 to 48 inches, and tail 6
inches. The does and all the young bucks are of the same color, a
pale yellowish fawn color above, with all the under parts white.
As the bucks grow older they begin to acquire a dark streak from
the knees straight up to the shoulder, which gradually extends
backward along the sides and deepens in color with increasing
age, until at last, when the animal has come to full majority, the
vertical shoulder stripe is almost black and the sides of the body,
neck, and head are of a rich dark brown. The female has no
horns, and those of the young light-colored bucks are of course
short and comparatively insignificant, but the old black buck is
crowned by a royal pair, twenty to twenty-five inches long. They
are black, spirally twisted in four or five turns, strongly ringed
from the base up to the last curve, and diverge into a perfect V.
The old male is, in every respect, a very handsome animal.
A few days after our gazelle hunt, my friends completed the
survey of their canal and came to Etawah. Wishing now to obtain
a specimen of the sasin antelope, Major Boss and I collected our
forces once more and went to Shekoabad, a railway station thirty-
four miles above Etawah. Here antelopes were very numerous
within easy reach of the station, and, putting up at the dak bun
galow, we sallied out morning and evening. An account of our
first morning's work will serve to illustrate the character of black-
buck shooting and the habits of the animal.
Starting out at daybreak, we found a small herd within half a
mile of the station, but it contained no good buck, and on firing at
two hundred yards we each missed a doe and went on. The
level plain is so thickly dotted with villages that we saw we could
only fire with extreme caution. Fortunately the crops had been
gathered and the people were threshing, else we would scarcely have
dared to shoot at all. The crops here are watered by irrigation,
and every four or five acres has its well and a sloping embankment
of "earth beside it, thrown up so as to form an inclined plane, down
which the bullocks are driven as they haul up the skins full of
water. These wells are never covered or enclosed, and before the
day was out I nearly came to grief in one of them.
We found a herd of about forty antelopes, including onefina old
78 TWO YEAKS IN THE JUKGKLE.
buck, feeding quietly near one of these wells, and we easily stalked
it under coyer of the embankment As usual, Major Boss gave me
the first shot, and scrambling up to the top of the embankment I
made a brilliant miss at the old buck, distance one hundred and
fifty yards. Major Boss fired and brought down a young buck, and
the herd bolted. Instead of running directly from us, they swung
round for nearly a quarter of a circle, in a straggling line, the old
buck bringing up the rear as a sort of whipper-in ; we paid our
respects to him as he came by but missed, and the herd, now
thoroughly alarmed, sprang away at race-horse speed. As they
passed us, several old does bounded high in the air as though they
were leaping over four-foot hurdles, and as they dashed off down
the plain, we saw first one and then another spring high in the air,
clear above the backs of the others, come down with stiffened legs,
and be lost to view in the flying herd. It was an astonishing sight.
This strange demonstration in the face of danger is peculiar to the
antelope, and whenever observed it betokens thorough alarm, and
is a sort of defiant adieu to the sportsman, with the information
that he need not trouble himself to follow.
In watching the herd as it disappeared, I walked backward a
few paces, reloading my rifle at the same time, until, happening to
look down I saw that I was standing upon the brink of the open
well. In the excitement of the moment I had forgotten its exist
ence, and had I taken just one more backward step, I would have
gone down head first about sixty feet. "What an aggravating,
ignominious, and disgusting death it would have been. Hindoo
women often commit suicide by jumping into the village welL
About ten o'clock we found another herd of antelope, many of
which were lying down for their midday siesta. There was no
cover near them, so we had to trust to their unwariness. "With our
guns in readiness we walked slowly forward, apparently without no
ticing the animals, and made as though we would saunter past them
at a distance of one hundred and forty yards. There was a beautiful
buck in the herd, quietly lying down chewing his cud. He rose
as we approached but stood quite still, and just as we reached the
nearest point I slowly raised my rifle and fired at him. My solid bullet
passed through the muscles of his fore-arm and he fell to his knees,
but recovered himself as I ran forward, and staggered away. Major
Boss fired at "hrm without effect, and the herd dashed away, leaving
the wounded buck to his fate. We followed him as fast as possible,
but the farther he went, the farther he seemed able to go. He
RAVINE BEER AND BLACK BUCK HUNTING. 79
passed within fifty yards of some natives tramping out wheat with
bullocks, and stopped in an adjoining field. Stealing up behind the
nearest cover I fired at him again, when he started up and slowly
trotted off. Major Boss halted under a banyan tree, for the sun
was now beginning to tell upon us, but I kept on. Disgusted with
my unusually poor shooting, I determined to follow that buck and
bring him down by main strength if necessary. He trotted slowly
along and I hurried after him to keep him in sight. The hot winds
were blowing from the northwest, the heat was intense, and it was
risking a sun- stroke to go on, for the buck kept leading directly
from the station, now five miles away. At intervals he would stop,
but he watched me constantly, and whenever I came withiji two hun
dred yards of him he would start on again. The perspiration poured
off me like rain, and such exertion was beginning to tell upon my
nerves.
After a time I stalked him successfully a third time and got a
shot, but perspiration half blinded me, and my arms were so un
steady that I could scarcely hope to hit. However, I heard the
bullet strike with a dull thud upon his hide, and on we went as be
fore. I was determined to measure that buck's horns before turn
ing back. About noon he halted again in an open field, evidently
much distressed, and getting him in line with an acacia I made a
very creditable stalk, wiped the perspiration out of my eyes, and
fired again. This time the buck failed to run away. He stood still,
began to gasp violently, staggered, fell over, and the chase was
ended. One bullet had gone through his fore-arm, another through
his sternum, a third through his withers, breaking one of the ver
tebral processes, and the last went through his liver. I had shot all
around the vital parts. His horns measured twenty inches and
he was in every way a beauty ; but the manner of his death left me
nothing to be proud of.
Jungi arrived in search of me while I was cutting out the en
trails of the buck to lessen his weight, and two natives who came
up to see the quarry, were easily persuaded to sling it under a
pole and carry it to the station for a consideration. We were sir
miles from home, and it was noon ; but the buck was dead, and
what cared we if the plain was like the floor of an oven and the air
like the breath of a furnace ?
During my chase, Major Boss killed another buck almost as
black as mine. Two hours later, a cold bath, dry clothes, and a good
tiffin had set us completely to rights. During the two days we
80 TWO YEABS I1ST THE JUKOLE.
spent at Shekoabad, eight antelopes, four bucks, and four does were
called upon to yield up their skins and skeletons. There is really
very little sport in hunting the sasin antelope, because of the un-
wariness of the animal and the ease with which they are approached.
Any one who is a moderately accurate rifle-shot at one hundred and
fifty yards can usually kill from two to five in a day, and if the
hunter is really bloodthirsty he may bring down a good many more
than that, but as far as real sport is concerned, it is tame. There
is no excellent sport without great labor on the part of some one.
Upon returning to Etawah, I packed up my collection and
shipped it to Calcutta, then took a little holiday trip up to Agra
to see the famous Taj Mehal. Ever since the days of Heber, trav
ellers have lavished adjectives and similes upon this pretty tomb,
some because they were sincere, and all the rest because it is the
fashion to do so. In my opinion, no other structure in the world
has been so greatly over-praised. I can only account for it by the
infrequency of really fine and well-finished specimens of architect
ure in India. The abundance of mud-huts and characteristic Hindoo
temples make this really beautiful structure seem to be the most
ravishingly beautiful one on the face of the earth. Hence the in
coherent ravings, and the constant strain upon the English language
' on account of the Taj. I do not believe half the travellers who
have written about it were really sincere in such a superlative de
gree of admiration and rapture as they have expressed. It is like
the ravings over the expression of the Sphinx a face with the eyes,
nose, and lips hammered into one unsightly blur, which looks as if
some wild animal had been tearing it. Look at the photographs
of it, if you cannot get the object itself.
What are the elements which make up this " dream in marble,"
this " psalm in stone," this " essence of architectural beauty," this
Taj in fact ? It has not size certainly, for its width covers only one
hundred and fifty feet each way. Its dome is a huge marble ' ' chattie "
turned bottom uppermost, with bulging sides and contracted base,
an exact model of the useful vessel the gentle Hindoo boils his rice
in. The building is square, except that the corners are cut ,on,
and the upper half of the walls are set with huge, empty niches, as
though they were prepared for statues that were never put in place.
The minarets on the corners of the terrace are low, dumpy, and
plain, and in shape and size are as much like some of the light-houses
on our Atlantic sea-board as one billiard ball is like another. But
the Taj (as well as the minarets) is fcuilt of white marble, which
BAVINE BEER AND BLACK BUCK: HUNTING-. 81
as never been discolored by smoke and soot ; and I suspect its
very cleanliness, purity, and lack of Hindoo paint is what renders
it so all-powerful that ninety-nine travellers out of a hundred fall
down before it, Taj-struck, and the hundredth who survives is set
down as a dull, soulless, and ignorant fault-finder, destitute of taste
and appreciation. Would the Taj be esteemed so exquisitely beau
tiful and so perfect in plan if it were built of brick or limestone,
instead of white marble ? The inside of the structure is wonder
fully pretty, with its lotuses and lilies of precious stones. The
cost of the Taj is entirely satisfactory, and as a monument to" Love
it is immense ; but to my mind there are many buildings more
grand, graceful, and imposing than this, and hundreds which seem
more sacred.
The North- West Provinces offer but a barren field for the bot
anist or entomologist, at least in the dry season. I did not see a
single serpent or lizard, nor any insects worth mentioning during
my stay there. As for the flora of the country I could tell practi
cally nothing, for, owing to the total lack of rain during the winter
and spring months, vegetation is only conspicuous by its scantiness.
The tree which figures most conspicuously on the plains of the
Dooab is the mango (Hindoo, "aam," Mangifera Indica), whose
thick and ample green top affords most grateful shade. These
trees are grown from cuttings planted by the Hindoos, who never
think of cutting down a tree of any kind, or even cutting off long
branches, and refuse to learn pruning and forestry, They encour
age the planting of these excellent shade-trees, and the land occu
pied by the mango-groves is exempt from taxation.
The thorny acacia, or "bubool" (Acacia Arabica), is the com
monest tree in the North- West Provinces, but owing to the fact
that the natives feed their goats on its leaves and seed-pods, and
the natural scantiness of its foliage, this tree, which is a very small
one, always has a stunted, bare, and scraggy appearance. This is
the tree which furnishes the gum arabic of commerce. It grows
in the driest districts, apparently in defiance of drought, and is
common in the "jungles" of Northern India along with Butea
frondosa, which possesses a gorgeous, though odorless, scarlet
flower. We found it in bloom at Auraiya, on April 1st, its branches
loaded with flowers.
The " neem " (Azadirachta Indica), is found here and there, a
email tree of which every part seems to possess some valuable
medicinal property. The bruised leaves are used in healing sores,
82 TWO YEABS IN THE JTTNTGLE.
swellings, and rheumatism, and also some diseases of the skin ; the
bark is sometimes used as a substitute for quinine, and also as a
tonic ; a dye is manufactured from the fruit, and the seeds are
used as an insect poison ; the root is used as a vermifuge, and a
gum exudes from the bark. Its wood is very bitter and is never
attacked by white ants.
Here and there are seen solitary trees of large size, most of
which have been planted by past generations in certain sacred spots
or near villages, so that the inhabitants can sit in their grateful
shade and discuss parish matters. There are four large trees be
longing to this class, which figure conspicuously in the landscapes
of Northern India. They are the sacred fig-tree, or " peepul "
(Mcus religiosa), the banyan, Hindoo "burgud" (Ficus Indica),
the tamarind, "imli" (Tamarindus Indica), and the "goolur," which
latter is used to bottom wells that have walls of masonry.
From Agra I started for Calcutta, and the Neilgherry Hills in
Southern India, having spent eight very busy and profitable weeks
in the North-West Provinces.
CHAPTER VIH.
BENARES, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS.
The Monkey Temple. Sacred Animals. Tlie Fakir. The Hindoos as Beast
Worshippers. A Beastial Religion. From Benares to Calcutta. The Hot
Season. "Punkahs and Tatties." Departure for Madras. The Hoogly
River. Sailor Anatomists. The Hoogly Channel. Madras. A Seaport
without a Harbor. Two Years of Drought. A Famine-stricken City. A
Paternal Government. The Madras Museum. Another Language and
another Servant.
ON the way to Calcutta I stopped for a day at the holy city of
Benares, the Hindoo Mecca and the headquarters of Brahminism/
Crossing the Ganges by the bridge of boats, I soon found a baboo
who spoke English and was willing to be my guide for a consid
eration. We drove to the Golden Temple, to the minarets, Said to
the bathing ghauts, and finally to the place I came particularly to
see, the Doorga Khond, or Monkey Temple, situated just outside
the native town. Along the road leading to the temple there were
monkeys chasing each other up 'and down, sitting on the stone
walls and climbing about in the trees, their numbers increasing
until we reached the temple itself. So far as its architecture is
concerned, this temple amounts to almost nothing. In the centre
of a paved yard stands a small stone pagoda no larger than a sen
try-box, in which is a stone image of a hideous black goddess
(Doorga), hung with wreaths of marigolds, beside which a stuffed
monkey would seem divinely beautiful. Surrounding this open
yard is a high stone wall like the walls of a house, furnished- all
around with shelves and ^iches for the accommodation of the
monkeys. Adjoining this enclosure is a fine tank ; a wide-spread
ing banyan overshadows the place, and that is all there is of this
divine monkey-house.
Buying half a gallon of gram from a priest at the entrance, we
stepped within the enclosure, and then anoffier priest who was with
us cried out, f c Ah ! Ah ! Ah 1 " Directly there was a grand ruah
84 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNGLE.
through the doorways, over the walls, and from the top of the
banyan, as about a hundred and fifty monkeys of all ages, sizes, and
degrees of fatness came crowding around us to be fed. Some im
pudent rascals snatched handfuls of gram and scampered off, cr_ani-^
ming it into their cheeks as they ran ; some took the food timidly
and with suspicion, but when we threw handfuls of it on the floor
there ensued a vigorous game of "grab-and-snatch-it." So long as
the gram held out we were the centre of attraction, and each pair
of watchful brown eyes was fixed upon us. Some fat old fellows
sat and gravely looked at us, others made wry faces, some winked,
and some grinned from ear to ear. A few were quarrelsome, and
there was continuous biting and squealing, while, after the feeding
was over, others busied themselves in examining each other's heads
for vermin, just as I remember seeing people do in the streets of
Naples more than once.
What a fine lot of monkey skins and skeletons are here run
ning to waste I Here are specimens with a vengeance, but one
might better risk shooting a native than one of these sacred pets.
These monkeys are very sacred, next to the Brahmin bull in fact,
because they are descendants of Hunuman, the famous monkey-god
of Southern India, "who aided Eama in the conquest of Ceylon by
forming a bridge of rocks opposite Manaar. The figure of the
monkey who thus greatly distinguished himself is often found in
Hindoo temples in the guise of a man, with a black monkey-face
and a long tail" *
The species which infests this temple is the grayish-brown,
short-tailed Inuus rhesus, which has conspicuous red callosities and
is the common monkey of all Northern India. In this region, one
must know the temper of the natives pretty well before venturing
to shoot a monkey, for although this charming animal is not wor
shipped, he is greatly reverenced in many districts, and to kill one
would precipitate a row with the natives, the net results of which
would be highly uncertain. Some Anglo-Indians have assured me
that at Benares any one killing a monkey would be almost torn in
pieces by the natives. But Benares is the headquarters of fanati
cism.
In the bazaar we met a big Brahmin bull stalking along the
narrow street, crowding the people right and left, and sticking his
nose into one basket of grain after another as freely as if he owned
*Jerdon.
BEKABES, CALCUTTA, AND HABEAS. 85
the whole city. And is he not monarch of all he surveys ? These
brutes become so accustomed to servile reverence that they are
bold and insolent, and whoever does not make way for them will
very likely get trampled upon, if not knocked down. The most
daring European never ventures to strike a Brahmin bull in this
city, nor even to swear at him if the natives know it. Any Hindoo
would rather kill ten Christians than one Brahmin bull, and it
would no doubt be safer for a Christian to kill ten natives than one
of these brutes, provided he escaped the British authorities.
This reminds me of another sacred animal, some specimens of
which I saw in Allahabad, and here again in Benares. I refer to
the fakirs. Allahabad was full of them. I shall never forget an
apparition that I encountered suddenly one day in the bazaar of
that city while Carlo and I were out on a shopping expedition.
We were standing at a grain stall buying some rice, when there
suddenly appeared at my elbow a man (in external form at least)
entirely naked, except a very small and very dirty rag around his
loins, and a staff in his- hand. He was tall, lank, and bony, his
beard was tangled, full of dirt, and came far down his hairy breast.
..His long, matted hair hung around his shoulders like a bundle of
untwisted hemp ropes. His body was mangy and caked with dirt
of a year's standing, apparently, his cJLaws were long and dirty, and
he was certainly the most disgusting object I ever saw in human
form.
" Carlo," said I, "what kind of an animal is this? "
" That Hindoo holy-man, sir. He never wash he-self ; all same
one pig."
The fakir was going around collecting money of the shop-keep-*
ers. He said never a word to any of them, but walked around and
held out a piece of cocoanut shell, into which the bazaar-men
dropped their " pice " without a word. He went about it quite like
a landlord collecting his rent. And this was one of the fakirs,
those holy men (there are nearly ninety thousand of them, it is
said) whose feet and garments are kissed by men and women, and
who are, in popular estimation, saints !
The Hindoos are essentially beast- worshippers. They reverence
the Brahmin bull, the monkey, peacock, crocodile, cobra and other
serpents and these are the least objectionable of all their gods.
We can forgive them for worshipping all these, because they are
cleanly and respectable animals ; but for their reverence of such
degraded, filthy, naked, and unclean beasts as these fakirs, there is
86 TWO TEAES IN THE JUGGLE.
simply no excuse. Indeed, I believe the animals mentioned above
are the only decent objects of worship the Hindoos recognize. A
scaly old mugger is a worthy god in comparison with the most
common object of worship in all India, the name of which is not to
be written. Their gods and goddesses are bloodthirsty and cruel
monsters, guilty of adultery and incest, and some of the rites by
which they are worshipped are so obscene that they can never be
recorded. If there is a religion in existence which is destitute of
even one redeeming quality, Hindooism is the one. If there is one
which is wholly " earthly, sensual, devilish/' it is this. It is a re
ligion of frauds, cruelties, and horrors.
Leaving the Holy (?) City at eleven o'clock in the morning, we
rode all that day over the same hot, dusty, and seemingly barren
plain which we have been crossing nearly ever since we left Bombay.
By daylight the next morning the scene had changed, and the plain
was dotted over with groves of palms. What a blessed relief from
that wide, level, thirsty-looking expanse, without forest or thickets,
hills or valleys, to relieve the eye or excite the interest. As we
sped rapidly along, the green palm-groves gradually grew denser
and thicker, and finally blended into one continuous jungle. This
is the India we have been longing to see thick jungle with shady
lanes running through it, thatched huts nestling among the cocoa-
nut groves, banana-trees reaching their broad green leaves over the
garden fences, tanks with villages beside them, and tropical mois
ture and luxuriance. Presently we reached Howrah, the busy ter
minus of the railway and the Brooklyn of Calcutta, crossed the
Hoogly on the fine, new pontoon bridge, one of the finest of its
kind ever constructed, and were in Calcutta, the City of Palaces.
" But where are the Palaces ? " is the natural query of every trav
eller. It is a conundrum, and I give it up. The palace of the ex-
king of Oudh is the only one I saw or heard of, and that is an
hour's drive from the city.
As might be expected, the European quarter of Calcutta is per
fectly satisfactory fine Government buildings, wide and regular
streets, a spacious esplanade called the Maidan, a pleasure gar
den, the Eden, and the customary statues in each. The Imperial
Museum has just taken possession of a huge rectangular pile, built
expressly for it, but its collections are by no means what a natural
ist has a right to expect. In some departments the collection is
even poor, some of the most important Asiatic forms being con-
gDicuous only by their absence. The collection of East Indian Che-
BETAKES, CALCUTTA, AKD MADRAS. 87
Ionia is very complete and the specimens are beautifully prepared.
I had expected to devote a week or more to studying the fishes and
* reptiles which I should find here, but the absence of classified speci
mens rendered it impossible.* I had, however, the pleasure of
meeting Dr. Anderson, the eminent Director of the Museum.
In Calcutta I began to realize very keenly that the hot season
had set in, and hastened my preparations to depart for South
ern India. The thermometer steadily stood at 98 to 100 in the
shade, and the nights were almost as hot as the days. There are
different qualities of heat, just as there are different degrees. At
home, we work out in the fields when the' thermometer stands at
102 in the shade, with only a thin straw hat for a head-covering,
whereas if a white man should attempt anything of the kind here
with the same temperature, he would soon be hors de combat. Here,
every office is provided with its long swinging fans called " punk
ahs," which hang from the ceiling over the desks and are pulled
vigorously to and fro all day long by coolies kept constantly em
ployed for that purpose. Every dinner-table has its punkah, and
nearly every European has one over his bed and a coolie crouched
down outside his door, pulling steadily all night long, fanning the
" Sahib " while he sleeps, or until the coolie himself falls asleep,
and the Sahib goes into a nightmare and awakes drenched with
perspiration and gasping for breath. Instead of storm-doors such
as we have to keep out the piercing cold, here we see the very
same idea followed out in an opposite way. The doors of many
houses and English shops are provided with open screens of grass,
or " cuscus," upon which water is constantly thrown by the coolies,
so that the air in passing through them will be cooled and charged
with ^oisture, and render life less of a burden to those within.
These "are the " tatties" so indispensable to the existence of Euro
peans in Northern India during the hot season, and especially dur
ing the prevalence of the dreaded " hot winds."
Having carefully packed up my collection, and shipped it aboard
a vessel bound for New York, on the morning of May 6th I em
barked on the French Messageries steamer Meinam, for Madras.
The broad and deep Hoogly Eiver forms the harbor of Calcutta, and
below the pontoon bridge the sailing vessels are moored close to
gether along the eastern shore by strong chain cables, while the
steamers lie at the jetties which have been bdlt *oxe sf! *tare on
* It must be borne in mind that the above was written in 1877.
88 TWO TEARS IIT THE JUNGLE.
the same side, but farther down the stream. As we steamed slowly
down the Hoogly and left the " City of Palaces " (sic] behind us,
the palm-groves and cocoanut gardens gradually disappeared, until
there remained only a low and flat alluvial plain, dotted here and
there with patches of low jungle, straggling native huts, grain
stacks, and herds of grazing cattle.
The delta is, of course, green and fertile, but we are entirely
disappointed of the lofty trees and luxuriant tangle of vegetation
which we have had indelibly pictured in our mind ever since we
first heard of India. And yet, away over on our left lie the Sun-
derbunds, a vast labyrinth of channels, creeks, and bayous, and
islands clad with low, scrubby jungle, that really does afford shelter
for wild hogs, spotted deer, jackals, crocodiles, and an occasional
tiger and rhinoceros. I had intended to make a hunting trip to
this famous game district, but upon questioning those who had
been there I found that I could not be certain of finding anything
except wild pigs and deer, which was not a satisfactory prospect
How rudely a little travel lays in ruins some of our most cher
ished ideas, impressions which have been honestly acquired, too.
Here have we travelled over sixteen hundred miles in India, with
out seeing a tropical forest, or even a tropical landscape, until
reaching the delta of the Ganges. Judging from the tales of cer
tain travellers and sea-captains, I expected to see the Hoogly below
Calcutta almost covered with the bodies of dead Hindoos, whereas
we saw never a one. Neither were there any swarms of native
craft. I was surprised at the scarcity of birds along the river, for
we saw only half a dozen small egrets (Herodias egrettoides), feed
ing in a salt marsh, and two gulls (L. rudibundd) flying overhead.
At sunset we anchored in the river at Diamond Harbor, for we
were yet many miles from the mouth, and no vessel dares to navi
gate this treacherous river after nightfall. Even in the daytime it
is difficult enough to steer clear of its shifting quicksands.
While we lay at anchor, some of the sailors (French) went fish
ing over the bows and caught a shark about four feet long. Di
rectly it was landed upon the deck, they procured a lantern and a
knife and went to work to dissect their specimen as scientifically as
they knew how. For half an hour those big, rough fellows worked
over that animal, studying its anatomy with as much interest as a
party of savants. I wondered if American sailors would have felt as
much interest in a common shark, and whether an American mate
would not have ordered the men to " heave that overboard " for
BETAKES, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS. 89
fear of soiling the deck. The first shark I ever caught was at
Nassau, B. I., from the deck of the steamer City of New York, and
while I was gone below for a knife, Captain Deakin ordered a sailor
to "heave that overboard before he makes a mess of it." But Cap
tain Deakin despised second- class passengers on principle, and never
lost an opportunity to do them a mean turn ; in which he was like
nearly all the other American and English steamship officers I ever
met.
The banks of the Hoogly sink by such a gentle gradient into
the Bay of Bengal that the mouth of the river is really miles at sea
quite out of sight of land in fact and the navigation of the river
is both difficult and dangerous. A long, winding line of buoys
marks the channel out to the light-ship and pilot-brig at the Sand-
heads, without which no large vessel could ever reach Calcutta, for
the banks are of fine sand and the channel is constantly shifting.
The Calcutta Pilot Service very judiciously consists of Englishmen,
so that in the event of war no hostile fleet could by any human
possibility find its way up to Calcutta. The Sandheads are visible
only upon the captain's chart now, but in due course of time there
will be villages and rice-fields where is now smooth water.
The fourth morning from Calcutta we reached Madras. From
north to south stretched a low, sandy coast, fringed with white
breakers, without a sign of bay, harbor, or sheltering river-mouth,
or even a break in the surf. Ships anchor in the open sea, exposed
to the full fury of the storms, and during the cyclones which fre
quently visit Madras, vessels are often swept upon the beach and
dashed to pieces. Those that are able usually slip their cables and
put to sea, preferring to brave the fury of the storm in deep water,
with plenty of sea-room.
Until the construction of the long iron pier which extends out
into the sea, far beyond the surf, all communication with the shore
was carried on by means of the famous masulah boats common to
the Coromandel coast, which are built for the express purpose of
going through the breakers. They are very deep and wide in pro
portion to their length, built of a light, tough, and pliant Ceylon
wood called "hallmillia" (Berry a amonilla), and the planks are
sewed together instead of nailed, so that when a sea strikes the side
of a boat the planks yield sufficiently to deaden the force of the
shock. But the fault of the masulah boat is that it will go to pieces
by the ripping of its seams just when it ought not. Scarcely a
week goes by but the daily papers mention how " Masulah boat No,
90 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNGLE.
so-and-so, returning from such-a-ship laden with rice, went to pieces
in the surf and the cargo was lost. The crew escaped by swim
ming."
Looking shoreward from the ship, we see a long row of square-
built, flat-roofed warehouses, stores, and banks extending along
the shore within a stone's throw of the surf. To the south of this
there is a tall light-house, a fort (St. George), and behind these a
wide esplanade, beyond which the city spreads out indefinitely.
There is nothing prominent about Madras, no lofty buildings loom
ing up above the smaller one, no domes, nor church-spires, nor
eyen a palm-tree.
In good weather there is not the least difficulty or danger in
going through the surf, and a masulah boat soon landed us high
and dry upon the sand. Perhaps Madras never appeared to worse
advantage than it did then, in May, 1877. The second year of
drought and famine had filled the city with an immense crowd of
half-starved, and four-fifths naked wretches, men, women, and chil
dren, who fairly swarmed in every street and alleyway. The trees
were almost leafless, the ground was baked and bare, and from
morning till night the sultry air was full of blinding red dust which
covered everything, even penetrating the closed sleeping-rooms and
coating the furniture and bed-curtains. The city had taken on a
dull, reddish-brown color, instead of its traditional yellow.
For half a mile the beach was covered with masulah boats, and
bags of rice stacked up eight feet high, at which a swarm of coolies
worked like a huge colony of black ants, unloading boats and car*
rying rice-bags up to the level of the street. The streets near the
beach were crowded with carts, which, when laden with rice were
dragged away to the railway station by coolies instead of bullocks.
Women and children with baskets followed the laden carts, and
whenever a rice-bag sprung a leak and a little grain was spilled in
the dust, the dirt was swept up and carried away to be sifted for
the few grains of rice it contained. Emaciated beggars swarmed
about the hotel doors, begging with the piteous pantomime of hun
ger, or with the long-drawn wail of " Sawme e ! " In the streets,
boys ran along beside the open gharry, holding out their hands and
crying "Sahib !"*at every rod ; and no matter where the carriage
stopped, there was always a living skeleton at hand to rise up, pat
its hollow stomach with one hand and hold out the other for alms.
At first I thought the Madrasees were four or five shades blacker
than the natives of Northern India, but their seeming so was only
BENARES, CALCUTTA, AKD MADRAS. 91
because they were so very 'nude. At first so much semi-nudity
Was very repulsive, but one soon becomes accustomed to it. What
a mercy it is that these poor famine-stricken wretches do not have
to contend with cold as well as hunger, and that under this blazing
sun no one can suffer much from lack of clothes.
No government ever tried harder to mitigate the horrors of
famine than the administration of the so-called Benighted Presi
dency. In the distressed districts there were relief works, relief
camps, and hospitals, without which the wretched natives would
have died by thousands. The railways were taxed to the utmost
of their resources to remove the grain from Madras to the famine
districts fast enough to keep the people from absolute starvation.
But for the railways, it is probable that three-fifths of the people in
the Madras Presidency would have died. The natives look upon
the British occupancy of their country as a punishment inflicted
upon them by the gods for past misdeeds, and they believe that the
expiation of their sins will in time be completed and the punish
ment removed. They had better pray for their gods to punish
them some more in that way. Lucky it is for them that English
men have built roads and railways for them, and that in time of
famine England still acknowledges every wretch of them as a Brit
ish subject, to be fed and doctored at any cost.
The Madras Government Museum is an institution of which the
" Benighted Presidency " may well be proud. It approaches my
ideal of a museum for the people, and to judge from the crowds of
natives which throng its galleries, the people appreciate it. The
collection of stuffed fishes is the finest I have ever seen, not only as
to the number of genera (local forms are best represented, of
course), but also as to the beautiful manner in which the speci
mens have been prepared. Fortunately for the taxidermist, Mr. P.
Anthony Pillay, he receives nearly all his specimens fresh from the
ocean, and fortunately for them, he prepares them with remarkable
skill The collection of mammals peculiar to Southern India is
very instructive, and that of invertebrates from the Indian Ocean
even more so. The Herbarium contains an immense number of
botanical specimens. During my visits to the Museum I frequently
had the pleasure of meeting its director, Dr. Bidie, who kindly gave
me much information and useful advice concerning my intended
work in Southern India.
At Madras I encountered another native language (Tamil), and
was of course obliged to have another servant to speak it for ma.
92 TWO YEABS TN THE JUKG-LE.
The custom with Europeans in India is to have three or four ser
vants to do the work of one man, and had I followed the ordinary
rule, I should have hired one man as a cook, another as " beaser/'
another as general assistant, and a fourth loafer to boss the other
three. Instead of that I engaged a man whose caste could not pos
sibly stand in the way of his doing any kind of work, who spoke
English very tolerably, and was an impudent rascal I told him I
would require him to do the work of two ordinary servants, for
which I would pay him double wages, the most satisfactory arrange
ment a traveller can make.
I had come to Madras to collect mammals of all sizes, and in
order to escape the heat of the plains during the hottest months,
and also to find good collecting ground at the same time, I de
cided to visit the Neilgherry Hills. Accordingly, three days after
reaching Madras, I packed up and started by rail for the foot of the
Hills, accompanied by my new servant Ajppoo, as great a fraud as
I could have found in a month.
CHAPTER IX.
THTfl NEILGHERRY HILLS.
The "Blue Mountains." A Natural Eden. Physical Aspect. The Coonoo?
Pass. Beauty and Grandeur. Climbing up to Paradise. Ootacamund.
Products of the Hills. The Worst Hotel in India A Hunt in the ' 'De
lectable Mountains." Above the Clouds. The Todas A Remarkable
People. Their Negative Qualities. Phenomenal Laziness. The "Pau-
laul " and the " Paulchi." Physique of the Todas. Dress. Polyandry,
or Plurality of Husbands. Betrothal, Marriage, and Divorce. Infanticide.
The Toda Hut. The Mund. The Toda Buffalo. Little Game but
Splendid Scenery. A Cloud Scene. An Empty Bag, but no Regrets.
A BIDE of three hundred miles in a southwesterly direction over
a hot and dusty level plain almost as barren as a brick-yard, and in
places of a brick-red color, brought us to Coimbatore, from whence
a branch line leads up north twenty-five miles to the village of
Mettapollium, near the foot of the Neilgherries. Between Metta-
pollium and the foot of the Hills, lies the Bhowani Biver and a
level belt of luxuriant tropical forest six miles wide, a dense, shady
jungle of bamboos, palms, ferns, and forest trees. Reaching the
end of this delightful road, we leave the carriage and start to ride
on horseback up the Coonoor Pass, while our light luggage is car
ried by coolies.*
The Neilgherry Hills (or " blue mountains " all mountains are
called "hills" in India) rise very abruptly from the low, level
plain of Southern India, into a lofty, triangular table-land of an
average height of about seven thousand feet above the level of the
sea. Except on the north, where a narrow, elevated ridge joins it
to the Western Ghauts and the table-land of Mysore, this lofty
plateau is completely isolated a green and smiling garden in a
parched and thirsty plain. In general shape it is a right-angled
triangle of which the base is to the north, facing Mysore ; the per
pendicular extends from north to south and faces thte Malabar Dis-
* There is now a mountain railway up to Coonoor.
94 TWO YEAKS DST THE JUNttLE.
triot ; the hypothenuse extends northeast and southwest, and the
apex reaches down to Coimbatore and Palghaut.
The base of the Neilgherries is encircled by a wide belt of dense
and unhealthful forest, which affords abundant cover for elephants,
tigers, bears, hyaenas, elk, and small deer, and has long been famous
as a hunting ground for large game. The sides of the hills are
either perpendicular granite cliffs of great height, or very steep
wooded slopes scored by deep ravines and rocky gorges. Upon
the summit we see a wide expanse of smooth, rolling hills and
ridges, which rise up on the northeast and southwest into three
separate ranges of lofty peaks, one of which, Dodabetta, eight thou
sand seven hundred and sixty feet high, is the second highest peak
south of the Himalayas. Five other peaks exceed eight thousand
feet in height, and the town of Ootacamund, in the centre of the
plateau, is seven thousand three hundred feet above the level of
the sea.*
There are no forests upon these hills, nor continuous jungle of
any kind ; but here and there, upon wet hillsides or in moist hol
lows, are small patches of dense, leafy jungle, called " sholas," which
afford cover for sambur deer, muntjac, foxes, jackals, porcupines,
black monkeys, and even tigers.
The climate upon the Neilgherry range is truly delightful
Owing to its elevation, it strikes the happy medium between the
extremes of heat and cold, and of drought and flood, so that here
there is at all seasons the " ethereal mildness " of perpetual spring.
Even during the great drought and consequent famine of 1876-77,
which prevailed upon the plains, the clouds which rolled up from
the southwest laden with moisture from the Indian Ocean, encoun
tering the cool peaks of the Blue Mountains, were compelled to
" drop down the dew." The average annual rainfall at Ootacamund
is fifty-five inches, and even in 1876, the first year of the famine,
there were seventy-six rainy days, and the total rainfall was 25.16
inches. The average annual temperature at the same place is
55.83 degrees. In 1876, the mean temperature for July was sixty-
one degrees. The air upon the Hills is pure, cool, and invigorat
ing, and the nights are decidedly cold. Naturally enough, this is
the sanitarium for Southern India, whither come enervated civil
and military officers, soldiers, and civilians of all classes, from the
*Th.e Neilgkerries are composed almost wholly of porphyritic granite, dor*
rd by a deep layer of rich.^ black, and fertile soil.
THE NEILGHEBRY HILLS. 96
plains to spend the hot months and repair constitutional damages
most of which may be traced to the curse of the East Indies
" brandy-and-soda."
The Coonoor Pass winds up one side of a deep, rocky gorge
which is furrowed straight down the steep mountain side from top
to bottom, widening and deepening as it goes. On one hand the
steep side of the ravine rises up beside us almost like a wall, while
on the other it descends precipitously from the roadside far down
to the bottom of the gorge where the Karteri Biver, a mountain
torrent, goes dashing downward over its rocky bed. All the way
up, the road is shaded by forest trees which everywhere cover that
side of the ravine with a dense green mantle, and from time to
time we cross cool and shady little glens of the most romantic de
scription, where little mountain streams, whose moist banks are cov
ered with exquisite ferns, go tumbling downward over gnarled
roots and mossy stones.
Every now and then a turn in the road gives us a clear view
across the gorge to where a lofty precipice looms up a thousand
feet or more, and looking backward we see the hot plain we have
just quitted stretching out far below us like a vast, unruffled sea
of brown and green. The higher we ascend, the cooler becomes
the air, and vegetation takes on a rank and luxuriant freshnesa.
which contrasts so strongly with the region we have just quitted,
that we seem to have climbed up out of a fiery hell into a cool,
shady, and well- watered paradise.
But every rose has its thorns. The " pony " I rode (which was
furnished by the Madras Carrying Co. at an exorbitant price) was
a wretched, half-starved, and wholly worn-out beast which it seemed
a sin to ride. At every step it threatened to collapse, like the fa
mous " One-Hoss Shay." It was the first time I ever bestrode a
skeleton, and tried to make it walk. The experiment was not a
success, for about every two rods my pony skeleton insisted upon
stopping, and, at the end of the second mile, I dismounted and
walked on, leaving my fiery, untamed steed standing in the middle
of the road with his head down, a prey to his own gloomy thoughts.
Two miles farther up a " fresh (!) pony " awaited me. It was a
slight improvement upon the first one, having been fed only a week
previously ; but the fault of this noble animal was that he wanted
to stop, and would stop every few minutes, to look at the scenery.
After three miles I abandoned him also as a derelict, and finished
the ascent on foot. The pass is nine miles long, and at the top we
96 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE.
reached the picturesque little village of Coonoor, at an elevation of
five thousand nine hundred and fifty-four feet.
Twelve miles from Coonoor, in the centre of the Neilgherry
plateau, is Ootacamund, the capital of the Hill district, the fashion
able resort of Southern India, and the headquarters of all the
sportsmen who visit the hills. It is the least like a town of any I
ever saw or heard of, for it is so effectually scattered, over so many
\ills, that as a town it has no individuality whatever. But it is a
highly pretentious one nevertheless, with its hotels, club, pack of
hounds, shops, and an assortment of Government institutions. A
network of fine metalled roads run around and over the hills, and
a goodly number of pretty cottages and fine bungalows perch around
on the hill-sides, each with its spacious " compound " of an acre or
more laid out in shady, gravelled walks, and terraces of flowers.
As to climate and natural scenery, the Neilgherries surpass any
mountain region I have ever seen, neither cold nor hot at any sea
son, always green and fresh, and always either softly beautiful or
precipitously grand. The soil is very rich, and produces the finest
fruits and vegetables to be found in Southern India, among which are
mangos, bananas (or plantains, as they are universally called here),
mandarin oranges, pineapples, and even pears, although I am bound
to say the last-named tasted more like raw turnips than pears. The
common vegetables are potatoes, cabbages, and cauliflowers of good
size and quality, celery, onions, sweet potatoes, turnips, beets, car
rots, radishes, peas, lettuce, etc. Tea and coffee are grown in vast
quantities, tobacco is grown very successfully, and also large quan
tities of cinchona bark, from which the priceless quinine is manu
factured.
The British Government knows how to do some very admirable
things now and then out of pure charity. For instance, it owns
and manages a vast cinchona plantation upon the hills, from which
it manufactures quinine in great quantities, and while this great
fever specific is selling in the extortionate English apothecary shops
for from fifteen to twenty rupees per ounce, the poor fever-stricken
native, or European either, for that matter, can go to the Govern
ment Court-House and procure it for one and a half rupee per
ounce. What a boon is this to suffering humanity !
In our glorious republic, we have, until very recently, managed
this matter rather differently. We have charged a snug little thirty
per cent import duty upon quinine, which prevented its impor
tation and sale at a low price, and protected a single firm of chem-
THE NEILGHBRBT HILLS. 97
ists while it rolled up a princely fortune at the expense of the poor
" f ever-and-ager " victims in the back settlements and the Western
river bottoms.
During my stay at Ootacamund (called Ooty, for short), I lived
at Leigh's Alexandra Hotel, where, for four rupees a day, I had the
poorest fare and the worst attendance I ever put up with in a hotel
or boarding-house of any kind, or at any price. Although the fare
was poor it had one redeeming feature there was never very much
of it, for mine hostess and her myrmidons seemed to be experiment
ing upon me to see how little a man could live upon. But it was
the best I could do under the circumstances. In hotels like that,
the traveller who does not spend nearly as much money in brandy,
soda, and cigars as his board amounts to, is an unwelcome guest,
and from mine host to the water-carrier he is treated accordingly.
The servants of the Alexandra recognized one set of travellers as
" big gentlemen," who were entitled to their attention, and the
" small gentlemen " (such as I) were left to shift for themselves.
Soon after reaching Ootacamund I met a very enthusiastic young
sportsman, with whom I planned a short trip to the Neddimullahs,
a range to the west, to hunt sambur deer (Eusa aristotelis), and
the Neilgherry goat (Hemitragus hylocrius), which is here (in
sport, I suppose) called the "ibex." We took with us a native
" shikaree " to be our guide, and a party of coolies who carried
upon their heads the baskets laden with our camp-outfit, ammuni
tion, and provisions for five days.
A brisk walk of about twelve miles over the hills and through
the hollows, brought us to the range of peaks, and at a lovely spot,
known as Betmund, we made our camp beside two little Toda hufs,
which sheltered us at night. Never have I seen a lovelier land
scape than that which stretched before us then. Looking back
toward Ootacamund we saw an endless succession of rolling hills
and rounded ridges covered with bright green grass, relieved here
and there by dense sholas of a darker hue. The hills looked as if
they had just been gone over with a lawn-mower, they were so
smooth and clean. Near our camp was a clear, cold mountain
stream, while on three sides of us the hills rose into lofty peaks
still smooth in outline and covered with short grass. We were
really among the " delectable mountains."
At daybreak the next morning we saw four wild goats feeding
near the summit of one of the tallest peaks, at the base of which
we were encamped. To the naked eye they were the merest dark
98 ^ TWO TEAES IX THE JTOTGLE.
specks, but wiia the glass we easily made them out. Dressing
hastily, we were soon on our way up the steep side, and after an
hour's steady and laborious climbing we reached the summit, made
a careful stalk over, and found nothing. All that day and the
next also we climbed up and down those peaks, hunted along dan
gerous precipices and rocky ridges, but found no animals. We
were so high that clouds enveloped us more than half the time and
greatly retarded our progress. They enabled us to realize what a
wet, cold, and disagreeable thing a cloud is, when one is in it, how
ever beautiful it may look from below.
On the third day we moved six miles to the northeast, and
pitched our tent in the edge of a fine shola at the mouth of a small
cave in the rocks, low down beside a clear running brook, where
we were quite sheltered from the wind. A hundred yards away,
up the grassy slope, was a typical Toda village, or " mund," called
Muddimund, and I was glad of so good an opportunity to make
the acquaintance of these strange people. After all, the Todas are
the most interesting animals on the Neilgherries, and before them
wild goats and sambur sink into insignificance.
The Todas of the mund regarded our camping so near them au
a sort of invasion of their premises, and their suspicion of us rose
to positive dislike when, on the second day, they discovered our
coolies had stolen a couple of dry rails from their cattle-pen and
cut them up for fire-wood. Of course it was a perfectly lawless
act, and I quite admired the spirit of one of the men who came
down to inform us of the fact, and threaten to have our men up for
theft if the offence vras repeated. As he stood upon a bare rock
above our camp, with a long staff in his hand, clad only in a loin
cloth and a cloudy cotton sheet worn somewhat like a toga, with
bare arms and legs, and a mass of long, jet-black hair falling in
apostolic fashion over his shoulders, he seemed like another " John
the Eaptist preaching in the wilderness." He soon convinced us
of the error of our ways, and a couple of rupees not only acted like
oil upon the troubled waters, but rendered him both friendly and
communicative.
The Todas are certainly a remarkable tribe, but their qualities '
are all of a negative character. Their history which is really a
history of nothing goes to show that the natural laws which gov
ern the progress of all other races and tribes of mankind do not af
fect them in the least. Man is a progressive being, whose gradual
ascent in the scale of intelligence and refinement depends largely
THE NEILGHERRY HILLS. 99
upon the nature of his environment, or whether his surroundingi
are favorable or unfavorable for his advancement. He reaches his
highest level in a temperate climate, and on good soil, where life
is not a continual struggle for bare existence.
With the exception of a few changes which have been forced
upon them by the Government, as the cessation of infanticide, for
example, the Todas are to-day precisely as they were when, in
1814, Mr. Sullivan discovered them on the Neilgherry plateau.
They belong to the Dravidian race, but are the least cultivated
of all its tribes. Although inhabiting this magnificent plateau
from time immemorial, a very Eden in itself, living in a mild and
salubrious climate, on bountifully fertile soil, and amid scenery
that ought to inspire a mummy, they have never tilled the soil, nor
planted fruit-trees, nor built cities, towns, or villages, or even com
fortable dwellings. They have no domestic animals save buffaloes
and cats, whereas they might easily have flocks upon flocks of
sheep, goats, and fowls, and ponies and bullocks by the score.
With time enough for anything, they manufacture absolutely
nothing, not even weapons ; build nothing except the flimsy huts
they live in, and like the lazy, indolent brutes they are, subsist
wholly upon the milk from their buffaloes, and what grain they can
beg of the Badagas, a neighboring tribe which pays an uncertain
tribute to the Todas as the original possessors of all the land on
the Neilgherries. The drove of buffaloes belonging to the mund is
herded by the small boys, and milked by the dairyman only, the
" paulauL" The only occupation of the men, aside from the milk
man, is visiting the neighboring villages of Badagas and begging
for tribute.
In a country teeming with game, and also with a natural appe
tite for flesh, the Todas are absolutely without weapons, or even
spears of the simplest sort, either for defence or capture. They
make no traps for game, set no snares, dig no pitfAs, nor capture
game in any way whatever. And yet they said they were fond^of
sambur flesh, and two of the men we questioned informed us, with
the pride of men who recall a banquet, that they once had all they
could eat of a sambur killed by Morgan Doray. They have no
caste prejudices to prevent them killing and eating game, as have
many Indian natives, and nothing keeps them from the chase but
sublime laziness. What total depravity !
Having learned the above, I was quite prepared for the informa
tion that the Todas have no written language, no songs, no history,
100 TWO TEARS IK THE JTHSTGLE.
mitten or unwritten, no historical monuments nor compositions
of any kind ; in fact, nothing but buffaloes. I believe, however,
they have some religious notions and ceremonies, but I did not
succeed in getting anything like a clear idea of their nature, and so
prefer to omit all mention of them. This much I learned to a cer
tainty, however, that the milkman, the "paulaul," is regarded as a
sacred character, a god in fact, and is never touched by any human
being unless it be another sacred milkman of equal rank. The
dairy, or " paulchi," is a sacred place, which may not be entered
under any circumstances by any one but the paulauL If there is
any surplus millr after the wants of the mund are supplied, it is
made into ghee, which, if not also used, he sells or trades to neigh
boring tribes for rice, millet, wheat, sugar, salt, or tobacco.
Even in India, with its many tribes and castes, the Todas are
people of remarkably fine appearance. To judge by their form
and features, one would suppose them capable of any degree of
progress in the social scale. The men are tall and very erect,
large-framed, broad-chested, and finely built every way, many being
quite muscular. Their color is a blackish brown. The features
are well-moulded every way, with Jewish nose, full lips, massive
but not prominent cheek-bones, large eyes, and low forehead, but
otherwise the head is well shaped.
Their hair is very abundant, wavy, jet-black, and rather coarse,
and the thick, bushy beard is also black. I never saw men whose
bodies were so densely hairy, especially on the breast and arms, as
are these Todas generally. Every man is an Esau.
In height the women are, on an average, about six inches shorter
than the men. There was one comely face at Muddimund, but the
remainder of the women were not nearly so good-looking as the
men. Both men and women part their hair in the middle, and the
latter wear theirs either in curls or in a wavy mass hanging well
down their backs.
The Toda garment is a sort of mantle of coarse cotton stuff of
native manufacture, with a figured border, and when new is white.
It is thrown over the left shoulder, brought forward under the
right arm, and the corner is again flung over the left shoulder,
which leaves the right arm entirely bare and free. The female
robe is of the same size and material, but it is worn like a mantle
over both shoulders. The priestly milkman usually wears nothing
except the loin cloth, and neither men nor women ever wear any
kind of head covering.
KEILGHEBRT HILM. 101
The most remarkable fact about the Todas is that they practise
polyandry the marriage of several brothers or near relatives to
one woman. This state of society presupposes a scarcity of women,
which is indeed the case with the Todas, and has been from their
earliest history. This condition of the population was brought
about by infanticide, whereby a large proportion of the female chil
dren born to the tribe were killed at their birth.
Formerly the males of the tribe outnumbered the females two
to one, but since the Madras Government has suppressed infanti
cide, the proportion has risen until now there are three-fourths as
many females as males.
The regulations of these people in regard to marriage are very
simple, and result in a perfectly tranquil and harmonious state of
society. If my informants knew how to reckon time properly, a
girl's marriage to her first husband takes place when she is fifteen
years of age, by her own consent and choice only, and her husband
receives from her father a dowry of several buffaloes. After that
her husband's brothers may also marry her and unite their herds
with his, thus forming a joint-stock company and one common
herd. The women of the tribe never own or inherit property, and
the men are therefore bound to support them.
Although the social laws of the Todas regarding betrothal, mar
riage, remarriage, and divorce are so extremely elastic they are actu
ally shocking, they bear a resemblance to the customs of the Bible
patriarchs, in many respects so close as to be positively alarming.
With the Todas, marriage seems to be quite a go-as-you-please
institution, except that women are so scarce no man is allowed to
have more than one wife at a time. Like many of the prominent
characters in the Old Testament, who indulged in polygamy and
polyandry, their complete social history would not make good
family reading.
The practice of polyandry was brought about by infanticide,
and the killing of female children was due to the phenomenal lazi
ness of the Toda, who shrank from the task of supporting a whole
woman and four or five children all by himself. But for that, this
tribe of physically fine men and women might have expanded and
founded upon the Neilgherries a magnificent principality.
As it is, there were in 1881 only six hundred and seventy-five
of them, not so many by about forty as in 1870, and they wander
about from one grazing ground to another like the good-for-noth
ing heathens they are.
102
TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNGLE.
By many observers they are thought to be directly descended
from one of the tribes of Israel which belief is based on their
facial resemblance, their semi-nomadic habits, and their customs
regarding marriage and divorce. To my mind, there is something
so decidedly Israelitish in their hereditary and violent abhorrence
of tilling the soil, horticulture, and all other manual labor, that I
am constrained to believe the suspicion is well founded.
The habitation of the Toda is precisely what one would expect
of such an animal. It is of the smallest possible size, close and
hot, dark aa a dungeon, destitute of furniture, and full of fleas. It
is more like a rustic dog-kennel than the habitation of a human
being. It looks like an overgrown dog-kennel in every line, and
whoever enters it can only do so by going on all-fours. It has no
window whatever, no chimney or smoke-hole, and the only opening
is a door in one end of the hut.
The typical hut is eight feet square, and about the same in
height to the angle of the Gothic roof. The ends are boarded up
tightly with rough boards, the cracks being filled with sun-baked
clay. There is but one door, a rectangular hole three feet high by
two wide, at the middle of one end, next to the ground. There
are no side walls, for the roof reaches quite to the ground on either
side, and the rafters even run into the earth.
The roof is thatched with lemon-grass lashed to the bamboo
rafters with split rattan. The huts built as above are quite sub
stantial, but sometimes one is put up in more flimsy fashion, of
smaller size, with angular peak, flat-sided roof, and low side walls.
It was a hut of this kind that sheltered us from the rain at Bet-
mund s and almost smothered us, too,
until we kicked out one of the ends and
secured a supply of fresh air.
In spite of the darkness and fleas I
entered one of the huts at Muddimund
and examined it carefully. The accom
panying diagram will explain the interior
better than any description, a being a
slightly elevated bed of clay, on which
the adults of the family slept, b a vacant
space in the middle of the floor where
the children slept, c the fireplace, d the stone mortar, and e a place
set apart for the culinary utensils, bags of grain, etc. To me, this
place was like a veritable Black Hole, and how three adults and
ot?
Ground Plan of a Toda Hut.
THE tfEILOTEBBY HILLS. 103
four children managed to sleep in such a den, with the door tightly
closed, was a mystery.
Three such huts as the above standing close together, and the
dairy a little distance away, all enclosed by a low wall of earth
about three feet high, constituted Muddimund. Fifty yards away
was the buffalo pen, built of small saplings twelve feet long, lite an
ordinary rail fence.
The Toda buffalo is a distinct breed from, the domestic buffalo
of India generally, being of a lighter build, more active habit, and
having horns with much greater elevation, length, curvature, and
divergence. He has more flesh on his bones and some hair on
his blue hide, but for all that, he, too, is a very ugly specimen of
the bovine tribe. He is " scarey " and sometimes even dangerous in
the presence of white men, and the Todas say the herd is always
able to defend itself against the tigers and leopards of the Hills.
The buffaloes form a regular line of battle, with the largest bulls
and best fighters nearest the enemy, and the cows and calves take
shelter in the rear of the fighting column. The buffaloes have even
been known to rally to the protection of the children herding them.
For three days we hunted up and down the hills and through
the sholas, but with no success. Late one evening we espied a
stag sambur feeding near the edge of a dense shola, but just when
we were getting fairly within range of him a dense white cloud
came sweeping along and hid Mm completely from our view.
Under the obscurity of this we hurried up nearer, and when it
cleared away at last, we saw, through the driving mist, only the
antlers and head of the stag as he stood behind a hill looking over
the top, straight toward us. It was our only chance for a shot, for
it was almost night, and aiming for the throat, we fired together.
As we expected, the stag wheeled around, dashed into the shola
and was gone.
All that the hills lacked in the matter of game and specimens
they made up in scenery. Every day our hunting led us along the
very edge of the Neilgherry plateau, where the hills end abruptly
in a precipitous descent of 4,000 feet to a lower and more level
plateau. From one spot in particular the view was sublime.
Standing at the end of a lofty ridge, we looked down upon a plain
which lay spread out before us like a map, surrounded on three
sides by the encircling Neilgherries, and stretching away in front
for a good forty miles. Nearest us it was dotted over with tiny
houses and cultivated fields, and crossed here and there by a road,
104 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNGLE.
but in the distance there was discernible only a sea of green forest,
broken here and there by grassy glades. My companion pointed
oat the location of the Government Reserved Forest at Mudumal-
lay, where Indian bison (Bos gaurus), and sambur deer were nu
merous, and we planned a trip there forthwith.
The last day we visited our favorite point of observation we
beheld a cloud-scene which was remarkably beautiful. From our
lofty height we looked down upon a sea of billowy white clouds as
white as the whitest pearls, which so completely obscured the plain
below that there was no visible evidence of its existence. Above
the expanse of clouds the air was clear, the sun shone brightly, and
the grim, gray precipices and lofty peaks which loomed up round
it and girt it in, were not more motionless than this sea of clouds.
As a rule, it is folly for a traveller to describe a cloud-scene, and I
mention this only to call attention to the surpassing beauty of a
mass of clouds when seen in sunshine from above and surrounded
by grim and sombre outlines.
At the end of five days' very laborious hunting over the hills we
returned to Oocatamund. So far as specimens were concerned the
hunt had been a total failure, for we had not a single one ; but any
man who could regret such a trip as that on such grounds deserves
to be shut up in a work-shop all his life, and see nothing of nature
except musty skins and skeletons*
CHAPTER X.
THE WATNAAD FOREST.
A Hunting Trip to Mudumallay. Monkey Shooting. The Karkhana, -TKe
Meanest Natives in India. Obstacles. An Old Hypocrite. Record of
One Day's Hunting. Expert Trackers. Bison. A Long Chase. Death of
a Sambur Stag. A Herd of Wild Elephants. -An Attack by an Amateur,
on Foot and Alone- Close Quarters. Failure. Lost in the Jungle. A
Sambur Killed by a Tiger. A Bad Predicament. Deliverance by a Lucky
G uess , __The Author's Status as a Shikaree. Death of a Bull Bison.
Skinning Tinder Difficulties.- Instinct of Self-preservation in Monkeys.
Jungle Fever. Native Cussedness again. Return to Ooty. A Good
Samaritan. A Model (!) Physician. Mr. and Mrs. Dawson. Departure.
UPON the Neilgherries, wild animals of all kinds are now so scarce
that they cannot be hunted with any degree of certainty, and the best
that either sportsman or naturalist can do is to make Ootacamund
his headquarters and hunt in the forests about the base of the hills.
Occasionally (three to five times a year), a tiger is met and killed
upon the hills, and an enthusiastic sportsman who is a good shot
may kill a wild goat or a stag sambur every week he is out ; but to
a collector who shoots for skins and skeletons this is ruinously slow
work.
A few miles to the northwest of the Neilgherry plateau, and
4,000 feet lower, lies the great Wainaad Forest, like a vast pre
serve, teeming with large game of many kinds and famous as a
hunting ground. My sporting friend had visited a certain portion
of it known as the Mudumallay Eeserved Forest, and he gave me
such glowing accounts of the Indian bison and deer to be found
there, that, after taking his report at a discount of fifty per cent,
I decided to go there for a fortnight's shooting under his advice
and guidance.
We hired four pack-ponies, loaded them with our outfit and pro
visions, and at two o' clock in the afternoon we were all ready to
start. All except my friend's chief servant and right hand man.
He had been given an advance of four rupees wherewith to buy Ms
106 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE.
provisions for the trip, and had been gradually getting drunk evei
since early morning. At the last moment he gave us the slip alto
gether, and hid away in the bazaar. My friend spent an hour in
searching for him, with a native policeman and a stout cane, but he
was not to be found, and we started without him.
We took the road leading north from Ooty to the Segor ghaut
and Mysore, and as soon as we were well out of the town it began
to rain. For nearly two hours we plodded along through a steady
down-pour that completely drenched everything save my two
packs, which I had covered with my waterproof blankets. Just at
dark we reached the Kulhutty bungalow, wet, cold, tired, and hun
gry, and only eight miles from Ootacamund. But we soon had a
good fire blazing on the hearth, a steaming pot of chocolate on the
table, and dry clothes on ourselves.
As if to atone for our miserable drenching, the next morning
broke clear and sunny, and we lost no time in starting on our way
down the pass. Four miles from the Kulhutty bungalow we reached
the Segor bungalow, a mer$ hovel at the foot of the ghaut, elevation
twenty-seven hundred and ninety feet. From thence the road lay
through a generally level country, thinly covered with low bushes
and short, scrubby trees. Quartz rocks were quite abundant along
the road, and in one ledge I found a bed of Muscovite mica, which
furnished several fine specimens. Six miles from Segor we reached
the village of Musnigoorie, which stands on a smooth bed of red
dish porphyrite, through which run long, narrow, vertical veins oi
quartz, several of which extend lengthwise along the middle of the
street.
After leaving ^Musnigoorie the jungle grows denser and higher,
until it soon becomes a genuine forest, and the road is both hilly
and rocky. Late in the evening we crossed the Moyar Biver and
halted for the night at the Tippecadu traveller's bungalow, twenty-
two miles from Ooty. The next morning the ponies, which had
been turned out to graze, were missing, and it was not until 4 P.M.
that they were found. To occupy the time, I took my rifle and
strolled out into the forest along the river, which I found in places
to be composed chiefly of the common bamboo (Bambusa arundi-
naeea); which here grows in scattering clumps to a height of forty
to sixty feet. While I was walking along, lost in admiration of the
first bamboo forest I had ever seen, a large animal suddenly leaped
to the ground from a tree a few paces in front of me, flourished a
Jong tail in mid-air, and rushed away through the grass. From the
THE WALNAAD FOREST. 107
length of its tail I thought it was a young leopard, and immediately
gave chase, when the animal ran up a tree, and in another moment
my rifle brought down a fine old gray monkey, the Madras languid
(Semnopithecus leucoprymus). The report started a whole troop
of the same species which had been feeding quietly in an adjoining
tree, and away they went at a great rate, galloping through the
tree-tops a little faster than I could run on the ground below. But
one of the monkeys could not resist the temptation to stop and have
a look at me, a very common habit with monkeys generally, and a
moment later he, too, was tumbling to the ground. The largest
monkey of this species which I obtained in the Wainaad measured
as follows : length of head and body 23 inches, tail 37. I also shot
a Malabar squirrel (8. Malabaricus), one of the handsomest of all
the Sciuridce, and also one of the largest.*
By the time I had prepared the skins of my three specimens the
ponies arrived and we started for the Mudumallay Karkhana, or
headquarters of the forest officers, six miles from Tippecadu. The
village, which consists of about twenty huts, built of mud or of split
bamboos woven together, stands upon the bank of a filthy, stagnant
pond or " tank," a genuine cholera generator in fact, for it furnishes
the sole water-supply of the village. The year before our visit the
village had been nearly depopulated by cholera and fever, many
dying, while the rest fled for their lives. There is a good bungalow
here belonging to the forest department, quite vacant when we ar
rived, but owing to ignorance on my part, and lack of management
on that of my companion, we had not obtained at Ooty permission
to occupy it during our stay, and so we were obliged to go farther,
and fare worse. Having come to hunt bison, we went on two and a
half miles beyond the Karkhana to the very centre of the best game
district, and camped near the house of a well-to-do old native, named
Courti Chetty.
The natives inhabiting the Mudumallay forest, forest officers, and
all, are certainly the meanest and most disobliging lot I met any
where in the East Indies. As soon as they found we had come
among them without any "backing" from the government au
thorities, or without any kind of tangible power over them, they be
came most insolent and disobliging. First of all we saw the hand
of the government writer, Eamasawmy, in charge of the Karkhana
and its aflkirs. While we were makiitg our camp, a forest peon
* S* Table of Measurements of S. I Mammal*, Appendix.
108 TWO TEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
came along and demanded to know who gave us permission to camp
in that forest. We politely informed him that we had no permis
sion and needed none. A little later, when we tried to engage
trackers and game-carriers from among the natives living near us,
they told us Bamasawmy had ordered them not to go with us,
and they dared not go at any price. Here was a pretty fix. I
at once wrote a letter to the most excellent Kamasawmy, threaten
ing to instantly report him to his superior at Ooty, Major Jago, if
he hindered our movements or caused us further trouble of any
kind. He at once countermanded his obnoxious "order," and be
came the cringing, fawning native who fears authority, even though
it be ever so shadowy.
Then came old Courti Chetty, who had under his immediate
control all the natives near our camp. We gave him various pres
ents to start with, but these only served to whet his appetite to
an alarming extent. He thought he was doing us a great favor
when he furnished us trackers at a rupee each per day (three
times their actual value), and pocketed half their wages. The
Kurumbers themselves, even when hired, would do nothing unless
they felt inclined, and what nearly ruined us was that they seemed
to be indifferent to the power of the rupee.
Old Courti Chetty visited our camp very frequently, always
wanting something, generally arrack or brandy. He had built
for himself quite an elaborate family temple in one corner of his
yard, and was a very devout old Hindoo, extremely careful of his
" caste." One morning his son took my gun and shot a muntjac
(Cervulus aureus), near our camp, of which I wanted the skin.
The little animal was brought up and skinned by the old man's
son under my instructions, but I was not allowed to touch the
animal lest I should defile it ! WTaen they had carried away the
carcase and all the flesh, I was at liberty to take up the skin. An
hour later, when Courti Chetty came down and asked for a drink
of brandy, I ordered Appoo to pour it out in my drinking-cup,
that I might make a trial of the venerable Hindoo's principles. It
was done. As usual, the old man declined to receive the cup from
the hand of either of us, but had it placed upon the ground in
front of him. Without another word he took up my cup, which
had been at my lips a thousand times, and drank off the contents
as though it had been mother's milk. The old hypocrite !
My friend had brought with him from Ooty a strong, healthy-
looking coolie to serve as a gun-bearer, but the day after we
THE WAIISTAAD FOREST. 109
reached our destination ' he stole nearly all the rice belonging to
my cook, and refused to do any work about the camp. His mas
ter discharged him at once, and after eating an enormous quantity
of rice he started back to Ooty. At the Karkhana he was at
tacked by cholera, and died in a few hours.
During the first three days my friend and I hunted together,
and were completely unsuccessful, whereupon we decided to go
out separately. The second day that I went out alone proved to be
a very eventful one, and a record of its incidents will give a fair
idea of our doings in that locality. The following is from my diary :
" June 3, 1877. Started out very early, accompanied by a
single old Kurumber^ because no other trackers could be procured.
The old man carried my rifle and game-bag, which latter con
tained my breakfast and luncheon. I carried my No. 10 gun, and
cartridges all loaded with single round balls and six drachms.
Throughout the day the character of the forest remained the same
as usual here rolling hills covered with grass waist high, and a
very open, scattering growth of low, scrubby trees ; ground^ hard
and dry, and no swamps.
" About nine o'clock found a very fresh bison trail, and started
upon it at once. The way the Kurumbers and Chetties of these
parts take up a bison trail through long, thin grass and over hard
ground is surprising. They glide rapidly but almost noiselessly
along, their eyes fixed upon the ground, but raised every now
and then for a quick, piercing glance ahead to sight the herd. The
old Rurumber lifted the trail very rapidly, and I followed close at
his heels. On we went, up hill and down dale, over hard ground
and soft ground, the trail freshening very rapidly. Sometimes it
led down moist banks, and then the ground would be quite
ploughed up by the hoofs of the herd. At last we were pretty
well blown, and sat down beside the trail, under a bush on a bit of
rising ground, to rest and refresh a little. I was getting deeply
interested in a cold roast chicken, when suddenly we heard a rush
and a trampling of feet, and the next instant a whole herd of bison
hove in sight, coming toward us over the brow of the hill.
" ' Kahtee, sahib ! Kahtee ! ' said my old tracker, in an excited
whisper.
"I snatched up my heavy gun and made ready.
" The herd came on at a brisk trot, suddenly turned off to the
right when a hundred yards away, and swept along before us like
a cavalry squadron- under review. It was a grand sight, although
110 TWO YEAES IN THE JUGGLE.
but a momentary vision of massive heads and huge white horns^
high humps, sides of chestnut brown, and about thirty pairs of
legs, all white from the knee down. They were too far away for
my smooth-bore to hit with certainty, but aiming as well as I
could, I fired at the largest bull one barrel after another and
missed with both. The bison dropped their heads lower, humped
their backs higher, redoubled their speed, and swept out of sight
like a whirlwind.
" We were instantly up and after them, and in about twenty
minutes saw them walking quietly along a quarter of a mile ahead
of us, for the forest was very open. I undertook to stalk the herd,
and was doing very well, when the old man touched me upon the
arm and pointed to a fine stag sambur that was standing, head
erect and antlers thrown back, motionless as a bronze statue,
looking full at us, and only fifty yards away. My policy is, ' one
bird in the hand is worth two dozen in the bush/ and regardless
of the bison in sight of us, I fired my rifle at the sambur's neck.
He dropped instantly, and died almost without a kick We cut
his throat, blazed a tree on three sides to mark the spot, and hur
ried on after the bison.
"Apparently bison do not run far after being shot at, or hear
ing fire-arms, for half a mile from our dead sambur we came upon
the herd again, and stalked up to within seventy yards of it. This
time I fired my rifle at the heart-region of a large cow that stood
nearest me, 'broadside on/ knowing that with that weapon I
would hit my mark. To my chagrin the entire herd went tearing
on; and I saw that my little rifle was too small for such large
game, or at least too small to stop a bison. We followed on after
the herd, which finally led us up a high, conical hill, and twice
completely around it. Twice we came upon the bison where the
grass was as high as our heads, but each time they saw us first and
dashed away. After two hours of such chasing, we reluctantly
abandoned the trail, and started back to find the sambur we had
shot. The old man took his bearings, and we walked, and walked,
and walked, but could not find it. It afterward proved that we
went directly away from camp and the object of our search.
" I soon saw that my guide had lost his reckoning, and simply
could not find our dead game. But he tried his best, I followed
without grumbling, and again we walked and walked. It grew
monotonous, but there was no help for ii And we could not talk
a word except by signs, which made matters so much worse.
THE WAINAAD FOEEST. Ill
" Late in the afternoon we came upon the first herd of wild ele
phants I ever saw. They were moving quietly along through the
forest, a quarter of a mile from us, and after watching them for a
while at a distance, we went our way' without disturbing them.
Half an hour later we came upon the same herd, this time where
there was better cover from which to observe them. The herd con
sisted of one fine old tusker, one young tusker, five females, and
two babies. They were feeding upon the grass, pulling up long
bunches and jerking it from side to side to shake the dirt from the
roots, then winding it up to their mouths. Some threw quantities
of dry dirt over their backs, others fanned themselves with leafy
branches. I wanted that old tusker for his skin and skeleton, but
I had no right to shoot him there, or even attempt it, without laying
myself liable to a heavy fine, and so we again left the herd and went
our way.
"We walked on another half -hour, and came upon the herd for
a third time. This was too much for human endurance. Twice had
we resisted temptation, but here it was once more. I determined
to kill that largest tusker then and there, if possible, and take
the consequences. The highest possible fine would be five hun
dred rupees, and he would be worth that as a specimen. When
my companion Saw my intention he retired a quarter of a mile, and
climbed a tree. I loaded my No. 10 with hardened balls and six
drachms, quite enough for any elephant, I thought, and took up my
position in advance of the herd. The old tusker was behind the
rest, sauntering slowly along, feeding as he went. I crept up
through the grass, keeping a tree-trunk all the time exactly be
tween his eye and me, and stole from one tree to another, until at
last I got within thirty feet of him. But unfortunately he kept his
. forehead from me, and I only knew about the front head shoL He
passed on and I had to stalk him again. I stalked him at least six
different times, but somehow his forehead was always away from
me, and I would not fire at any other part.
" The elephant is certainly the most stupid animal I ever tried
to approach. He is as easily stalked as an old sitting-hen. Evi
dently his hearing, sight, and scent are alike dull, or I would have
been discovered. At one time the whole herd was feeding around
me in a semi-circle, in a space not larger than could be covered by
an ordinary circus-tent, and it seemed as if the elephants were in a
menagerie, they were so near and so quiet.
" At last I had a reasonably fair chance at the tusker at twenty
112 TWO YEABS IN THE JUNGLE.
yards and fired both barrels, aiming to strike the brain through the
nasal cavity, at the base of the trunk. My shot was a total failure.
The elephants ran off a hundred yards, and to my great surprise
stopped and began feeding again, all except the tusker, who stood
quite still. I stalked him again and this time fired at his temple,
but failed to bring him down, and gave up in shame and disgust.
The elephants now made off, trumpeting as they went, and leaving
a trail which looked as if a hundred men had marched along in
Indian file. Then I regretted my folly in firing at the elephant and
wounding a noble animal to no purpose, and likewise rendering
myself liable to a fine whether I killed him or not. But the temp
tation was too great to be resisted.
" I found my old Kurumber, and we started home, abandoning
the search for the dead sambur. In going through a patch of high
grass we came suddenly upon a spot where a tiger had pulled down
and devoured a sambur about four days previously. The grass
was trampled all about, and it seemed the carcass had been dragged
some distance. We saw a number of freshly picked leg-bones, and
we might have found the skull and antlers by looking about a little,
but I, for one, felt a trifle nervous in that dense high grass, con
sidering who had just been there before us, and we left the spot
without any unnecessary delay.
* c We walked on until almost sunset, and then the old man told
me by signs that we were lost, would have to sleep (!) in the jungle,
and that we might as well prepare for it as best we could before
dark. Here was a pretty fix. We had been rained upon several
times and were wet to the skin, had no blankets, matches, nor food,
nor even a chopper wherewith to build a hut. A night under such
conditions, in that wet grass, would surely finish one of us for some
time to come, even should the tigers let us alone, and to sit all
night in the fork of a tree was not much better as a prospect. I
said we must get back to camp, and the old tracker said (by signs
all this) * Well, I am lost. You may show the way home/
"I replied, 'Very good, I will. Let us go in that direction/
and pointed across a little valley to a certain low hill. It was
simply a hap-hazard * guess ' at the way out of our difficulty, although
I felt, without in the least knowing why, that the Karkhana and our
camp lay in that direction. Without a word of objection the old
man waded on through the tall grass in the direction I had indica
ted, and just at sunset we climbed the little hill I had pointed out
came suddenly upon a well-travelled road ! Then we knew
THE WAINA.AX) FOREST. 113
we could reach some shelter before midnight, at all events. Fifteen
minutes later it "was pitch-dark, and I can scarcely remember a
night of more intense darkness. I could not see my companion
two paces in front of me. Fortunately the road passed near our
camp, which we succeeded in reaching about ten o'clock, to the sur
prise of every one, for we had long since been given up for lost, and
the people were speculating calmly on our probable fate."
The next day we went back and found our sambur untouched,
and I removed and preserved the skin, while the Kurumbers eagerly
appropriated the flesh. Very soon after this my friend and his gun-
bearer, Dena, succeeded in killing a fine bull bison, and as they
wanted only the skin, I was allowed to take the skeleton, all except
the skull, which the "Lef tenant" proposed to keep as a trophy.
But he was a thrifty lad, and afterward sold me the skull for four
rupees, which made my specimen complete. Having come wretch
edly provisioned and equipped for such a trip, he soon abandoned
his enterprise, which was to shoot bison for their skins and heads,
and returned to Ooty, leaving me alone. I was not sorry when I
found, immediately after his departure, that the chief reason why the
Kurumbers were so backward about assisting us was, because my
friend had neglected to pay a number of them for services rendered
during a previous visit. He was a queer character, to say the least.
One day he said to me, "I believe you have been having a war
over in the United States, between the North and South. Is it over
now?" "Yes." "Well, which side whipped?" This question
from a man who had but a short time previously held a commission
as a "Leftenant in the th Lancers," was rather a stunner to me.
I find that, in nearly all cases, I have to see a new animal two or
three times and get somewhat acquainted with it before I can be at
all sure of bringing it down. Especially is this the case with large
game, and with very strange species I am not discouraged if I make
two or three flat failures before bringing down a single specimen.
After I succeed in killing my first one of any kind, I ask no odds of
the rest. Should my reader be an old sportsman, I beg him to re
member all along that these are but the adventures of a " griffin,"
who, until coming to India to hunt elephants, tigers, and bison, had
never shot even an elk or buffalo ; and his fire-arms, for large
game, were such as no genuine " old shikaree " would accept as a
gift.
The death of my first bison occurred as follows :
"June 6, 1877. Went out this morning accompanied by
8
114 TWO TEAKS IK THE JUNGLE.
three Chetties, one of whom is the keenest tracker I have yet seen*
About 2 P.M., we struck the fresh trail of a solitary bull bison,
worthy game for the most fastidious sportsman. Followed the trail
rapidly for some time, when suddenly, with a loud snort and a crash,
the old bull started up and went tearing off through the jungle.
Instantly we were after him, swiftly but silently, half running and
half walking. If one man lost the trail, another found it again in
less than a minute, and on we went We crossed a little ravine and
clambered up the opposite bank, every one keenly on the alert.
On gaining the top of the hill, the foremost Chetty suddenly
crouched down, moved back a little, and motioned me to the front.
I hurried to his side, and there, about eighty yards distant, was our
old bison, quietly walking away from us at a slight angle. It was a
desperate chance, but I dared not lose it. Waiting a moment until
he turned a trifle to pass a certain clump of bushes, I aimed at his
flank so that my ball would range forward into his heart-region,
and fired my No. 10. He sank upon his knees, but got up directly,
ran straight on, and disappeared in a thicket. Eeloading as I ran,
we were soon at the spot where he was struck and saw his blood
upon the grass. I hurried along his trail, but before I had gone
a hundred yards he rushed out of a bamboo thicket and ran be
fore me along the edge of a deep ravine. As he dashed along I
fired a ball into his shoulders. He staggered, lost his balance, and
fell, crashing and tearing down through the young bamboos, rolled
completely over, and with a mighty bellow landed on his back, with
legs in air, at the very bottom of the nullah. Finding that he was
breathing freely, I fired a bullet from my Maynard quite into his
heart, which saved the noble animal at least some minutes of suffer-
ing."
But what a time we had measuring and skinning him ! He
could not possibly have fallen in a worse situation than upon his
back in the bottom of that narrow ravine. Although not of the
largest size, he was still a very fine bison, his vertical height at the
shoulders being five feet eight and one-half inches, while his horns
"were sixteen inches in circumference at the base. As this was but
the beginning of my experience with the Indian bison, I will defer
all observations upon the animal and its habits until we have had
a more extended acquaintance with it upon the Animallai Hills.
Two days later I shot another bull bison, and some Chetties
shot for me a fine brown flying-squirrel (Pteromys petaurista), and
another langur (Semnopithecus). While out hunting that day we
THE WAISTAAD FOBEST. 116
had a fine illustration of how the protective instinct varies in
animals according to surrounding circumstances. We surprised a
couple of gray langurs, feeding in a small grove of low trees in the
midst of a very thin and very low forest, which was overgrown with
tall grass. When the monkeys saw us they tried to hide in the
tree-tops, but finding it impossible to escape in that way, they ran,
We chased them through the grove without getting a shot, but at
last, when they reached the farther side we felt that we were sure
of them. In those low trees they would fall an easy prey to any of
our weapons. Who ever heard of a monkey coming down from his
native tree-top to escape a hunter ?
When the monkeys saw that the trees no longer afforded them
shelter and concealment, they leaped to the ground and started off
at a tearing gallop through the tall grass. We ran after them as
hard as we could go, but so long as the monkeys remained upon
the ground they were completely hidden from us. Very soon one
of them leaped upon a white-ant hill, and looked back to see where
we were. The instant my gun touched my shoulder he was doTO
and away again, with the most astonishing bounds, and flourishes
of his long tail.
We renewed the chase at our best speed, and once more a
monkey leaped up to see where we were. Four times this manoeu
vre was repeated, the animals gaining ground each time, until at
last we gave up beaten. This was the only way in which they
could escape us, and they knew it much better than we.
After sixteen days in the jungle, I decided to return to Ooty
without delay, but soon found I had stayed a day too long. The
night before we were to start back it rained nearly all night, and
with a chill, a splitting headache, and a high f ever,, the grim Phan
tom of the jungle marked me for his own. In spite of my iron
constitution and strictly temperate by-laws, the jungle-fever had
fastened upon me, although it was no more than I could expect
But it is not suoh a terrible ailment after all- in fact it is half good
for, owing to its regular intermittence, it gives its victim a chance
to rest and recuperate a little between spells.
We made ready to return to Ooty at once, and Bamasawmy
promised to engage a bullock bandy (cart) for us. Instead of
doing so, he did nothing at all about it, and went off shooting in the
forest. We lost a day's time through relying on his word, our
camp equipage got soaking wet in a rap-storm, and with the jungle-
fever to help matters, my patience under v^nt a severe strain. Whe
116 TWO YEARS IN THE JIHTOLE.
we asked one of Bamasawmy's peons to find a bandy-man for us,
he flatly told us to find him ourselves, for he would not, which in
the end we were obliged to do as best we could. It is a source of
consolation to me now to know that cholera prevails at Mudumallay,
and that in time it will catch all those wretches.
When we were starting off from our miserable camping-place,
old Courti Chetty made a last raid upon us, wanting arrack, powder,
shot, my " cumbley " (double blanket), and some money to spend
in redecorating ( !) his family temple, all of which I took great
pleasure in flatly refusing. He also begged me to write out a peti
tion to the Forest authorities at Ooty, praying for the removal of
Eamasawmy, which petition he and the other Chetties would sign
and present. He complained most bitterly of the way the govern
ment writer lorded it over them, compelling them to do this or
that without so much as saying "by your leave." He forgot that
in the same manner he and his relatives lorded it over -the poor
Kurumbers and Puniyahs, and that they all had, with one accord,
used me about as meanly as they could. To me there was a sweet
consolation in the thought that
" So, naturalists observe, a flea
Has smaller fleas that on him prey ;
And these have smaller still to bite 'em,
And so proceed ad infinitum"
And I left the Chetties to fight their own battles with Eamasawmy.
We hastened our return to the hills, and the first day travelled
from the Karkhana to the foot of the Segor ghaut, when the bullocks
could go no farther. I at once set out and walked up to the Kul-
hutty bungalow, where I spent a wretched night of fever and night
mare. The next day, finding that the bandy did not put in an ap
pearance, and feeling that I must reach Ooty before night, I hired
a pony at the toll-gate and tried to ride it bare-back. It balked,
bucked, and kicked viciously, and I could not get it a hundred yards
beyond its owner's hut, so I gave up in despair and lay down by
the road-side upon my blanket to enjoy my fever in peace and com
fort Just then, along came a good Samaritan (otherwise known
as Captain E. A. Campbell, of Ooty), who at once dismounted from
the fine bay horse he was riding, made me mount in his place, and,
walking by my side, brought me to the hotel at Ooty. Then I
gave up entirely, and in a few hours was quite out of my head, so
that for a time my miserable surroundings at the hotel and total
lack of attention did not trouble me at all
THE WAINAAB FOREST. 117
My servant Appoo also came down with fever, was worse than
useless, and begged me to send him back to Madras or he would
die. I had before determined to discharge Tri, and forthwith
gave him money enough to take him back to Madras, which so
completely overwhelmed him that he actually fell upon his knees
bo express his thanks. I record this as the only instance I ever knew
of a Hindoo thanking any one for a kindness, but I doubt if any
Anglo-Indian will believe that it really occurred.
As soon as I was able to think, I sent for a doctor. After a long
delay he came, but to me he seemed only an excuse for a doctor,
for all the qualities a good physician should have seemed to be
lacking in him. His first step was to find fault because I had not
$ent him a note instead of a verbal message. I was in a beautiful
condition for the composition of a stylish note just then. Then he
sniffed the damp, unsavory, and poisonous air of my room, looked
dubiously at the chaos surrounding me, and remarked that I
" ought to get cleaned up a little." Just my own opinion, but who
was going to do it when my servant had gone home sick, and the
landlord was good for nothing in looking after the comfort of his
"small gentlemen " guests ? The doctor felt my pulse, scribbled a
worthless prescription, said he would not need to come again, he
thought, pocketed his ten rupees, and went away.
In about a fortnight I was on my feet again, thanks to my own
quinine, and able to skin the big black monkeys (S. cucullatus\
which were brought me by the native shikarees. This w^s the
only mammal they were able to obtain for me, except the black-
naped hare (Lepus nigricollis),
* During my last fortnight upon the Hills I became acquainted
with Mr. G. A. B. Dawson and his excellent lady, both of whom
did all in their power to break the social monotony of my -4ife.
Mr. Dawson is an excellent artist and taxidermist, and was then
engaged upon the text of an illustrated work entitled "Neilgherry
Sporting Eeminiscences," which has since been published by Hig-r
ginbotham & Co., Madras.
. The illustrations, coming as they do from the hand of an artist
as well as a naturalist and sportsman, are truly beautiful and valu
able. Mrs. Dawson is a musician of rare ability, who, at eight
years of age, travelled in the United States with Mrs. Bostwick's
concert troupe, playing solos upon the concertina. Until meeting
her in her charming Neilgherry home, I never for a moment sus
pected what delighful music the concertina can be made to yield in
118 TWO YEARS IK THE JUNGLE.
good hands, and so long as I remember India I shall recall with
pleasure the evenings I spent at Grasmere.
For some weeks I had been corresponding with Mr. A. G. E.
Theobald, a forest officer on the Animallai Hills, and he depicted
such a splendid prospect for elephants, bison, and other large game,
that I determined to visit his locality for six or eight weeks afc least.
Accordingly, as soon as I felt strong enough, I packed up my speci
mens and sent them to Madras, while I bade adieu to the Neil-
gherries and started south.
So far as specimens were concerned, my Neilgherry trip was
not a complete success, and on that score I felt somewhat disap
pointed. I had the fever in my system, also, as I plainly felt. True,
I had escaped the fierce heat of the plains during the hottest
months, May and June, and, had I desired, I could not sooner have
gone to the Animallais, because there were no rains and therefore
no water upon those hills, until the burst of the southwest mon
soon late in June.
CHAPTER XL
THE ANIMALLAI HILLS.
A. Hunter's Paradise. Getting there. The Bullock Bandy and its Driver. Hii
Discourse. Physical Aspect of the Animallais. Toonacadavoo. A Glori
ous Prospect. Mr. Theobald. An Efficient Officer and Faithful Friend.
Character of the Forest. Seasons. Protection of the Elephants. A Per
mit Obtained. My Mulcer Hunting Gang. The Karders. More Orna
mental than Useful.
THE Animallai Hills ! How my nerves tingle and my pulse quick
ens as I write the name ! It seems to have charged my pen with
electricity, and no wonder. Let any young sportsman, young
naturalist, or " griffin " of any description have a Hunter's Paradise
for a four months' inheritance, with nothing to do but chase wild
animals and preserve their skins and skeletons ; let him have the
keenest trackers in the East Indies, and a faithful friend within
reach to help him over the rougher difficulties, and we will see if
he does not afterward write and speak of his experiences with en
thusiasm. India is the greatest game country in the world except
South Africa, and the Animallai Hills are, beyond all question, the
finest hunting grounds in all India. No other locality in all the
East Indies can boast of possessing such splendid open forests for
hunting, and such a genial climate, combined with such a variety
and abundance of large game.
The lordly elephant has given his name to this range of moun
tains. In Tamil, Tellegu, and Ganarese, his name is " ani," " ami,"
and " anay," respectively (which accounts for the variety of ways of
writing the name of the hills), and "mallai"or "mullay," signify
hills or mountains ; hence we have " Animallai," Elephant Moun
tains, a very appropriate name for a range which is the home of so
many vast herds of elephants, bison; axis deer, and wild hog. Be
sides these, there is the sambur, or Indian elk, the wild goat or
" ibex," of sportsmen, the muntjac or rib-faced deer, all in goodly
numbers, while the hunter meets m occasional tiger, leopard, and
120 TWO YEAKS IK THE JOTGKLE.
bear, many squirrels, and black monkeys by the hundred. A glance
at my list of Indian mammals * mil enable the reader to gauge the
accuracy of the above statements.
The Animallai Hills belong to the great range known as the
Western Ghauts, and extend generally east and west along the
south side of the great break known as the Coimbatore gap.
Through this wide pass runs the Madras and Calicut railway, with
the Neilgherries looming up close along the north and the Animal-.
lais from twenty to thirty miles farther south. The city of Coim
batore is the point of departure for the latter range, which must be
reached by travelling across country. My friend in the hills, Mr.
Theobald, had advised me to bring a full stock of provisions, since
nothing was obtainable in or near the jungles, except the flesh of
wild animals. Accordingly, when I and my new servant, Michael,
reached Coimbatore on our way from the Neilghenies, we spent a
very busy day in the crowded, hot, and dusty bazaar, buying pro
visions for our campaign in the jungles.
Our purchases were about as follows : For my native hunting
gang, 2 bags of coarse rice, sundry bottles of arrack (native li
quor of the fiery sort), several bundles of tobacco, salt, and chillies
(red pepper). For myself, 20 loaves of fresh bread, flour, Eng
lish jams and jellies, sausage, herrings, sardines, butter, and "bis
cuits " (crackers) all in tins ; rice, potatoes, " curry stunV' cocoa-
nuts, and brandy ; and for preserving skins of large animals, 96 Ibs.
salt and 96 Ibs. alum ; also, a new lantern, candles, cocoanut-oil,
rope, nails, etc. We expected to remain in the jungles not less than
two months, to prepare one large elephant skin and two skeletons,
several ditto of bison, and every other species of mammal we could
secure. We fully expected to have jungle-fever, for no stranger,
white or black, can escape it long in the Animallais, so we took a
good supply of quinine and chlorodine, the two great remedies of
India, and other medicines for cholera and dysentery, the twin
curses of jungle life, worse dreaded by Europeans than any number
of savage animals.
Travelling in India is usually done at night, in order to go fas
ter and farther, and to avoid the oppressive heat of the day. The
commonest means of conveyance is the covered bandy (cart) drawn
by two white bullocks. This ancient vehicle is simply a broad
platform on very high wheels, completely covered with mats which
* See page 216.
THE AKIMALLAI HILLS. 121
are supposed to be rain-proof. The driver sits astride the tongue
of the cart, within easy reach of his bullocks' hind-quarters, and it
is interesting to study the various methods he employs to start his
cattle and keep them going. A foreigner could no more drive
them than he could fly, until he has fully learned the Madras bul
lock-driver's language. It consists of a complicated system of
" boh-boh-boh-ing ! " chirrups, "tock-tocks," and other indescrib
able ejaculations, combined with slapping, tail-twisting, toe-poking,
and ordinary goading and lashing. Two or three times I have seen
my bandy-man .save the heavily loaded bandy from sticking perma
nently in a muddy nullah by biting his bullock's tail in a most
fiendish manner. It seems that a bullock has no idea what he can
do until his tail is bitten. Their drivers talk to them a great deal,
always aspersing the reputation of their female relatives when angry,
especially their mothers and sisters a common custom with Indian
natives when quarrelling and praising them when their horned
steeds are doing well The following was the drift of one driver's dis
course to his bullocks as translated by an "Anglo-Indian journalist."
" You, Punniah, you a byle ? * Not you ; your father must
have been a donkey, and your mother a pig ; no respectable cow
would own so lazy a son. As to you, Moreeah, I believe your father
was a Feringhee, and your mother a Pariak You are the most
abominable of all brutes, and how you came to have horns and a
tail is quite a mystery to me. Some fine day I shall saw off your
horns and sell them to a Mochee, and instead of coloring your long
tail with goolal, I shall cut it off and sell it to some rascally Eng
lish dragoon, to stick in his helmet and bring him bad luck, for he
is sure to be killed in the first battle he goes in afterward. I wish
they were all killed, but never mind, they soon will be, and then
won't we have jolly times? Ah ! now, you behave something like
respectable animals : that's the way to get over the ground. You,
Punniah, are my father and mother, and you, Moreeah, all the rest
of my relations, except my wife. I'll give you both a fine feed of
sugar-cane tops when welcome to any, but not if you are lazy
tock-tock ! tor-rr-ee-ee-ooh-ah ! " f
* Bullock.
f I have often been surprised at the speed and endurance of the little white
bullocks (zebus) which take the place of horses in India. It is no uncommon
occurrence for a good pair of bullocks to make 3i miles per hour for several
hours, with a light bandy and proper encouragement. With two or three re
lays of bullocks one can easily travel 30 miles in 10 to 12 hours.
122 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
About 4 P.M. of the day after we reached Coimbatore, we loaded
one bandy with our outfit and provisions, filled the bottom of
another with straw for ourselves, settled our dues at the traveller's
bungalow, and with the little bullocks at a sharp trot, started
south for the Animallais. The road was very good, and it literally
swarmed with people travelling along. "When night came I spread
my blanket on the straw and then had my boy arrange boxes and
bundles all around me, so that when the cart tilted sideways I
would not roll about. The cart wheels are so large that a very
small stone causes a terrible tilt and a fearful jolt, so that such
riding is very wearisome. AH night long we went jolting on,
stopping only at midnight for the bullocks to feed and rest, and at
daybreak the next morning the steep blue sides and serrated crest
of the Animallai range loomed up all along the south. At last we
reached the little village of Animallai, ten miles from the foot of the
hills, a sort of half-way house between the heart of the jungles and
Coimbatore. This is the winter headquarters of the Forest Eanger
in charge of the Ammallais, and for his use there is a good bun
galow, in which all wandering white men are allowed to take
shelter as a matter of charity. In the course of my goings and
comings I afterward occupied the place many times, sometimes a
week at a time, and it is not strange that I conceived quite an
affection for this " snug harbor."
As soon as we arrived, the Government writer, with the ap
palling name of Venkateramiah, came and offered his services in
helping us along. We halted at the bungalow until the next day,
when early in the morning the writer mustered a gang of about
twenty-five coolies to carry my luggage up the steep pass, and we
drove on to the "foot of the ghaut."
On the northern or Coimbatore side, the Animallais rise very
steeply up from the plains to a height of from two thousand to five
thousand feet, so that it is a steep, steady climb from the level, plain
up to the summit of the range. Once the summit is reached, the
hills slope very gradually down into Cochin and Travancore, drain
ing nearly all the water in that direction ; so that, while the Coim
batore district may be dry and parched by drought, the native
states on the opposite side will be well watered, green, and fertile.
Upon reaching the foot of the Ardivarum ghaut we dismissed
the carts, and the coolies took my luggage upon their shoulders.
A horse was waiting there for me, sent down by the friend I had
not yet seen, and leaving my servant to accompany the luggage, I
1
ID
M
p
THE AKTMALLAI HILLS. 123
mounted and rode on alone. After a long, hard climb up the steep
and rocky pass, we reached the summit at an elevation of about
two thousand feet, and began to descend the gentle slope. Then
the road led through lofty bamboo and teak forests, across rocky
ravines and mountain torrents, up hill and down, until at last, at
the very end of a long ridge, seven miles from the top of the
pass, we emerged from the thick forest, and the forest camp, called
Too-na-cad-a-voo, lay before us. At the very point of the ridge
stood a dozen bamboo huts and a comfortable thatched bungalow ;
a little river swept past them on the left and tumbled down a
precipice, .just beyond which rose a lofty cliff of smooth gray rock,
with a fringe of feathery bamboos all along its base by the river
side. On the right rose a conical mountain-peak. Between the two
mountains we looke^ over the camp and far across an unbroken
sea of green forest, which in the distance was bounded by a lofty
mountain-range. What a spot for a camp ! A moment later I rode
down to the door of the bungalow, and received a most cordial
welcome from the officer in charge of the forest, Mr. Albert G. E.
Theobald.
Now and then we meet a man whose looks and tones and words
strike the cord of our sympathies so forcibly that we feel instinct
ively a kinship and confidence, and we say to ourselves " I shall
like him." Such was my experience with Mr. Theobald, and at the
end of an hour I felt that I knew him as an old friend and comrade
in arms rather than an untried stranger. From the first moment
we became fast friends, which feeling only deepened with time and
further acquaintance. I found in him one of nature's noblemen, as
frank, free-hearted, and steadfast as ever breathed.
In the course of time I discovered that he was a real geni^M
the type so generously credited to the "Yankee." Besides pos
sessing a very considerable fund of medical information and sur
gical skill, he was a good gunsmith and watchmaker, a first-rate
photographer and taxidermist, and a very keen sportsman and
naturalist What an invaluable man he would be in an African
exploring expedition ! His natural ability as an experienced forester,
and his varied accomplishments, entitle him to a higher position
in the Forest Department than he now holds ; but he is still a
young man.
During my entire stay upon the Hills, Mr. Theobald never
wearied in his efforts to assist me, in every possible way. He
doctored me when I was ill ; he divided his provisions with me
124 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
several times wlien I was off in the jungles and nearly starved out ;
he lent me his elephant-gun, and taught me how to use it on
elephants ; and when my cook ran away he immediately sent me
his. He also lent me one of his private peons when I was crowded
with work upon elephants, and, in short, he helped me with more
useful articles than I care to mention altogether. A traveller can
not afford to carry with him all the comforts and conveniences
proper for a stationary camp-life, and his assistance was, therefore,
invaluable. He knew the natives, the wild beasts, and the forests
as intimately as a farmer knows his barnyard and its inhabitants,
and the interesting incidents of jungle life he related to me would
fill a volume.*
His bungalow was quite a museum in itself, stocked with a
magnificent array of trophies of the chase which proclaimed the
genuine " old shikaree." There were tusks and tails of more than
one lordly elephant that had fallen before my friend's smooth-bore.
Well-mounted heads of bison, sambur, muntjac, sasin antelope,
axis deer and wild boar hung on the walls until they were crowded.
Perched up on a book-case sat a very fine and rare monkey, the
wanderoo (Silenus veter), along with a small crocodile, shot at an
elevation of fifteen hundred feet, and stuffed birds both great and
small On the floor were spread, in the most indifferent way, skins
of bear, hyaena, leopard, and deer, but of the half-dozen tigers
killed by mine host only the skulls and claws remained. In out-of-
the-way corners of the bungalow I presently turned up divers and
sundry skulls of bison, antlers of sambur, and about fifty black
monkey skins. There were chests full of the best-made Indian
bird-skins I ever saw, drawers full of eggs and nests, and piles of
original scientific " Bough Notes " of all kinds. A well-stocked
zoological library was the crowning feature of this interesting col
lection of trophies and scientific specimens, and I did not need to
be told that this hunter-naturalist had joined the Forest Depart
ment to indulge his love of nature.
* Since my visit to India, Mr. Theo"bald encountered and killed on the
Ponnasy Hills (Oollegal Taluq), a famous rogue elephant, who began hig
career by killing nineteen other captive elephants, and making his escape.
Since that time he killed three natives and several head of cattle, besides de
stroying large quantities of standing crops and terrorizing the district for sev
eral years. He was a giant in size, and for the gallant exploit which ended
his career the Madras government voted Mr. Theobald a reward of two hun*
dred rupees, with permission to retain the tusks. The latter were fifty-eight
inches long, and weighed together seventy-five pounds a very large pair.
THE AETIMALLAI HILLS. 125
I soon found that I had reached a perfect hunter's paradise, the
ideal "happy hunting ground" which is the heaven of our North-
American Indians, where all good braves go when they die, where
game is ever abundant, and there are no white settlers nor Indian
agents. The slope of the Animallais is a succession of high hills
and deep ravines, lofty peaks or ridges, and broad valleys, every
where covered with lofty virgin forest. Some portions of the range,
those commonly termed the "higher ranges," which lay along the
boundary between the Coimbatore District and Travancore, are
very lofty. The highest peak has an elevation of eight thousand
eight hundred and thirty-seven feet, and is the highest land in
India south of the Himalayas. Around Toonacadavoo there were
high, rocky precipices for the wild goats, thick bamboo jungle and
marshes for the elephants, grassy glades and fine open forests for
deer and bison, rugged, rocky hill-sides for bears, and dense patches
of underbrush for the sounders of wild hog. The tiger needs no
particular kind of jungle, for where other game is, there will you
be sure to find him also. Thus are we able to account for the pres
ence of so many large animals in the same locality.
The forest camp is situated very nearly in the centre of the
Government Leased Forest, which is composed mainly of mighty
teak trees (Tectona grandis), blackwood (Dalbergia latifolia), the
" vella naga " (Conocarpus latifolius), "ven-gi" (Pterocarpus marsu-
pium), and the common bamboo (Banibusa arundinaced). Near the
foot of the hills, I noticed a tree (Salvadora Indica) which somewhat
resembles the weeping willow, and also the Euphorbia antiquorum.
There are two strongly marked seasons upon the Animallais,
the wet and the dry. The former is during the monsoon rains, from
June or July to November or December, when the streams and
marshes are full of water, grass is abundant, and the forest has
taken on the growth and freshness of spring. During this season
the force of the Forest Service is engaged in cutting down teak
trees, hewing out their trunks, hauling and " slipping " them down
the mountain side, to be floated down to Calicut, and there taken
charge of by H. M.'s Navy to be used in ship-building. Teak is
impervious to the attacks of the white ant and the ship-worm, which,
with other good qualities, renders it a very valuable timber.
The dry season begins at the end of the northeast monsoon,
usually about January 1st, and continues six months. Then the
leaves fall in the deciduous forest, which becomes open and bare,
the streams dry up, and the forest is usually swept by fire. The
126 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNGLE.
elephants and bison seek the streams near the base of the Mils, the
members of the Forest Department return to the low lands to escape
the fever, and the forest is then inhabited only by wild beasts. At
the time of my visit, July 4th, the members of the Forest Depart
ment had come only the previous week from the plains ; the ele
phants were beginning to come down from the higher ranges to
feed upon the young bamboo shoots, and the whole forest appeared
at its best.
In India, the elephant is a very useful and valuable animal when
trained to service, and large numbers are caught annually by Gov
ernment officers appointed for this work in the Coimbatore Dis
trict, at Collegal, in Mysore, and in Chittagong. Formerly wild
elephants were so numerous in many parts of India that they were
regarded as a nuisance and a Government reward of 7 per head
was paid for killing them. Through the efforts of sportsmen and
native shikarees their numbers were reduced to the proper limit,
whereupon the reward was discontinued and a fine imposed to pre
vent their destruction. At present, elephants are rigidly protected
by law all over India, although it is very evident that their numbers
will soon increase so much as to render further elephant shooting
positively necessary.
In 1873 an act was passed to " prevent the indiscriminate de
struction of wild elephants upon waste or forest land," not only in
the Madras Presidency, but any of the " native territories for the
time being subject to that government." The penalty for shooting
a female elephant was for the first offence a fine not exceeding
five hundred rupees, or three months' imprisonment, and for the
second conviction the penalty was double the first. Shooting wild
male elephants was also prohibited under the same penalty as fixed
for the killing of females, except it be done under a proper au
thorization. The act provides that any zemindar or native pro
prietor of land may shoot male elephants on his own land, and may
also authorize others to do the same. Of course, any person is au
thorized to shoot any elephant in defence of himself or any other
person, or to save his crop from destruction. Any native prince
owning territory frequented by elephants may, if he choose, grant
permission for male elephants to be shot, and the law provides that
each District Collector shall have the same discretionary power,
conditionally, although up to the time of my visit, the latter officers
had always refused to give any such permission.
Before I came to the Animallais my friend Theobald had offered
THE AOTMALLAI HILLS.
127
to obtain permission for me to kill two elephants in a tract of for
est on the Mils belonging to an old native prince, the Eajah of
Kulungud, which adjoined the Government Leased Forest. Mr.
T. had done the old Bajah many a good turn in preventing the
stealing of timber from his land, and after a good deal of talking
and much diplomacy on the part of my friend, the matter was:
finally arranged, and I was given
a written permit to kill two tusk
er elephants in the Kulungud
Forest.
The day after I reached Toona-
cadavoo I formed a regular hunt
ing gang of five picked men to
serve me in the jungles as track
ers, guides, game-carriers, por
ters, and general assistants. 1
was fortunate in finding there a
hill-tribe, the Mulcers, of which
every man is willing to work hard
when well fed, is skilled in wood
craft, and is not in the least af
flicted with caste prejudice, which
is the most important point of all.
The Mulcers are really agricult
urists, but they will do any kind
of work that pays, and live right
beside it. They are, by prefer
ence, carnivorous in their habits,
being very fond of flesh of all
kinds, save that of the tiger, and,
possessing no fire-arms them- peraVera.
selves, they hail the visit .of a (A Muic&r Hunt*.)
sportsman with delight. "When
well fed, the men are very strong and capable of great physical en
durance. Two of my men once carried a dead wild boar, weighing
230 Ibs., three miles through the jungle, up and down hill, halting
only twice to rest.
The Mulcer men are of medium stature, well proportioned,
very dark-skinned, with rather thick lips and slightly flattened
noses, after the African type, wearing no ornaments whatever as a
rule, and no other clothing than the loin-cloth. Ordinarily, their
128 TWO YEAES IK THE JUNGLE.
long, matted, jet-black hair is simply drawn back and tied in a
coil at the back of the head, while they have no beard at all save
now and then a few short black, kinky hairs. The women seem
to be old and wrinkled from their youth up, and, without exception,
are very ugly and unprepossessing.
Three of the men who formed my hunting-gang, Arndee, Pera
Vera, and Channah, were the most expert trackers I ever saw, and
1 soon had reason to know that all were likewise brave and spir
ited men. When it came to the supreme danger of tracking up a
tiger on foot and attacking him fairly and squarely in open ground,
with only one little insignificant rifle, the two men who happened to
be with me were fully equal to the occasion, and "game " to the last.
It was famine time, work was scarce, and food exceedingly dear,
and the five Mulcers were glad to take service with me. I agreed
to pay the head-man of the gang five annas per day in cash (fifteen
cents), and each of the others four annas per day, besides which
each received one quart of rice, and two leaves of tobacco per day,
with salt and chillies ad libitum. This was much more than they
could obtain elsewhere, and was amply sufficient for the support of
themselves and their families, who would always accompany them.
Being, as they were, passionately fond of fresh meat and receiving
good wages, it is not surprising that I had a gang of faithful men
always ready to undertake the hardest kind of work.
Besides the Mulcers, there are two other hill-tribes upon the Ani-
mallais, the Paliars and the Karders. The former are chiefly mer
chants and herdsmen, and it happened that I saw nothing of them.
The Karders, however, were somewhat numerous. To a hunter
they are entirely useless, for, owing to their caste prejudices they
will not touch a dead elephant, bison, bear, or deer of any kind at
any price. They are purely herbivorous in their habits, never
touching flesh, but subsisting upon roots dug in the jungle, fruits,
rice, etc. They collect honey and beeswax, cardamoms (Elettaria
cardamomum), white dammer, a resin from the Vateria Indica, black
dammer from Canarium strictum, and another gum resin called
"mutty pal" from Ailantus Malabaricus, also wild ginger, turmeric,
rattans (Calamus rotang), horns of deer, and "cheeakai" (the buds
of Acacia concinna), largely used by the natives for bathing pur
poses instead of soap. These products of the jungle they exchange
for rice, tobacco, salt, chillies, etc. In physique and physiognomy
they very closely resemble the Mulcers, but they dress more elabo
rately, and wear many ornaments. They all file their front teeth
THE ANIMALLAI HILLS. 129
to sharp points as a marriage ceremony, and the women wear an
enormous coil of springy wood, or a strip from the leaf of the pal
myra palm (Borassus flabelliformis), coiled up like a clock-spring
in the lobe of each ear, which causes the flesh to expand into a
forn ring two or three inches in diameter, which sometimes hangs
nearly to the shoulder. The women also wear beads and neck
laces of various kinds, but no other covering above the waist. The
old women are always hideously ugly, and, as is also the case with
the Mulcers, the men are handsomer than the women. Formerly
the Karders would perform no menial labor at all, and, while con
senting to carry a load of baggage or a gun, they would be deeply
offended if they were called coolies.
*
CHAPTER
ELEPHANT HUNTING-.
"A Lodge in a Vast Wilderness. "Hut-building with Bamboos. Elyaian at
Last Character of Elephant Hunting. Grand but Dangerous Sport.
Indian versus African Methods. The Skull. Difficulty of Hitting the
Brain. Cranial Fracture Impossible. The Fatal Shots. Physique of the
Elephant. Tracking up a Herd. Welcome Sounds. Surrounded by
Giants The Attack Stampede and Flight of the Herd. Great Abund
ance of Large Game. The Charge of a Dangerous Animal. Fooling
around a Baby Elephant. Charge of an Infuriated Female. A Grand but
" Scarey " Sight. Repelling the Charge.
ALTHOUGH there was really an abundance of game around Toonaca-
davoo, such as bison, sambur, wild goat, muntjac and monkeys,
there were no elephants, nor would there be any in that immediate
vicinity until very late in the season. Moreover, had there been
ever so many, we could not have killed one there. About a day's
march farther into the very heart of the forest, they were quite
numerous, and I soon decided to go out and camp where game of
all kinds was most abundant. Accordingly, when the elephant
permit came to hand from the old Rajah, we packed up provisions,
preservatives and ammunition, pots, pans, and camp furniture, and
took up the line of march for Tellicul, a mere vacant spot in the
heart of the forest. And there, at the confluence of two little rivers,
the Toonacadavoo and the Teckadee, where the teak-trees and the
bamboos were the tallest, where the forest was silen't* sombre, and
shadowy, where big game was thick all about us and no white man
eyer ^P 16 ' m ? m6B Cut down kig bamboos and built huts for us all.
To me this hut-building is an interesting operation. First a
skeleton hut is built of large bamboo stems set upright in the
ground, and a ridge-pole, plate and rafters lashed firmly to them
with green bark. Then large bamboo stems are cut in lengths cor
responding to the length and width of the hut, and split irregularly
all over. Finally each stem is split quite open on one side, and the
,4
ELEPHANT HUNTING. . 131
former cylinder now flattens out into a broad slab, twelve to eigh
teen inches wide. These bamboo slabs are then lashed with strips
of bark to the upright posts of a hut and form the walls. Bamboos
similarly treated were made into beds, tables, and doors, and it also
served as an excellent flooring. My wash-basin was a joint of bam
boo made into a trough, and my pail was a four-foot bamboo stem
with all the joints broken out except the lowest one, which served
as a bottom.
The roof of the hut is nothing but young teak-leaves laid on like
slates and held by their own petioles, being partly split and hooked
over the cross pieces. Besides a good comfortable hut for me, the
men built another to serve as a cook-house and servants' quarters,
while for themselves, their wives, children, and mothers-in-law, they
built simply a huge,- low shed and covered the ground beneath it
with bamboo slabs.
No man ever experienced half the keen pleasure and delightful
anticipation in taking possession of a mansion that I did in unpack
ing and arranging my guns, ammunition, and camp equipage in that
rude little hut. Before the door stood a large clump of bamboos,
an immense bouquet of ornamental grass sixty feet high, the long,
green, feathery stems nodding and bending as gracefully as ostrich
plumes. Far above us the tops of the giant forest trees met and
shut out all but one little patch of blue sky, and the sun's rays
never reached our camp until high noon. The shade was so dense
that there was no undergrowth, and usually we could walk through
that grand old forest as freely as though it were a meadow. I felt
that at last I had reached the "happy hunting grounds" I had
so often been disappointed of before, and subsequent events proved
that I was not mistaken.
And now a word in regard to elephant hunting. I consider it
the grandest and most exciting of all field sports, and by several
of the greatest sportsmen living it is also considered the most dan
gerous. The elephant is the true king of beasts, both as regards
size and strength, mental capacity, and natural dignity of character.
As he marches majestically through the forest, monarch of all he
surveys, or rushes like a living avalanche upon his foe, he seems
the vital impersonation of an Irresistible Force. I have a greater
_fear of the elephant and a greater respect for him, than any other
" 1/q beast I ever saw, either in the forest or in captivity, and this
only increased with protracted acquaintance,
y&t hunting is bound to bring into play all those
132 TWO YEABS IN THE JUNGLE.
ities of endurance, perseverance, coolness, good judgment, and
knowledge of an animal's habits, which go to make up a successful
sportsman. There is a subtle charm about tracking up an elephant
which I am sure is never found in any other pursuit. The trail is
usually broad and plain, leading rapidly up hill and down, over
mountain and through valley, across marsh and river, through dense
forest and over grassy plain, mile after mile, growing fresher every
hour, but often taxing the skill of the trackers to the utmost. At
last the clear, resonant trumpet note, or the cracking and crashing
of green branches, or a tall gray back above the bushes, tells the
pigmy he is in the presence of the giant. It is a fair and square
encounter every time, and the hunter backs his skill and nerve with
his life against the great mountain of physical strength and impreg
nability. The game does not skulk in the bushes and wait to be
driven out at random by a grand army of beaters ; nor can the
hunter climb into a tree-top and from thence shoot him with as
much safety as though he were at home in his little bed ; neither
can the elephant be killed at long range. The hunter must boldly
walk up in front of him to within twenty paces or less, fire away,
and take his chances. While doing so he knows very well that if
any accident or miscalculation places him, within the power of that
terrible trunk, those huge fore-feet or knees will immediately be
upon his chest crushing him, like a miserable reptile, out of all
human shape. Hunters frequently escape alive and recover from
the jaws and claws of the lion, tiger, leopard, and bear, but I never
yet heard of a man falling into the power of an infuriated wild ele
phant and living to tell the story.
Just before I began my elephant hunting, I came across the fol
lowing encouraging (!) paragraph from the pen of Colonel Shak-
spere, a high authority on Indian sports :
" That elephant shooting requires much practice is certain from
the fact that young hands at it, though very good shots, are rarely
successful. Indeed, that famous sportsman, Captain Garrow, who
probably at his death had killed more elephants than any man in
India, and if you count only tusk elephants, perhaps more than any
man who had ever shot, assured me that for the first two years he
did not bag even one. I have known other sportsmen, who turned
out very well afterward, to shoot at elephants for a couple of years,
knock them over, but never able to persuade them to remain," *
* Wild Sports of India, p. 168.
ELEPHANT HUKTIlSra 133
In the jungles of the East Indies an elephant must be shot
through the brain, and thus killed at the first fire, or he is very apt
to get away. Should the ball not touch the brain, the elephant is
only stunned for an instant and is almost certain to move off at a
high rate of speed. The latest writer on elephant hunting in
India * says, in " Thirteen Years Among the Wild Beasts of India/'
"I have never recovered any elephant that has left the spot with a
head shot," and my own experience has been the same. True, even
in India an elephant may be shot in the shoulder and partially dis
abled, to be followed up and re-attacked time after time until he
falls; but this practice is dangerous, un sportsmanlike, and unde
serving of success. It is, perhaps, a surer way of bagging an ele
phant, but there can be no glory in it, nor even satisfaction, it seems
to me. Although, by force of circumstances, I have to shoot all game
animals regardless of age, sex, or condition, I yet have pride enough
to be above shooting an elephant in the shoulder or anywhere else
than in the brain. At the very outset I resolved to bag each of my
elephants with a single ball through the brain, in a sportsmanlike
manner, or else hire a sportsman to do it for me.
On the plains of South Africa the famous wild-animal slayer,
Gordon Gumming, used to shoot elephants in the shoulder, and
then gallop alongside them for miles, loading and firing until the
weight of lead would compel the wretched beasts to fall. He re
lates how he once had to fire forty two-ounce balls into a single
elephant before bringing him down. In India no such barbaric
modes of hunting are practised, nor are they even possible.
In examining a section of an elephant's skull we find that while
the skull is of great size in order to afford an extensive surface for
the attachment of the powerful muscles of the trunk and jaws, the
brain itself is very small indeed, situated far back, and surrounded
by such a huge, irregular mass 6 of bone and flesh, that its exact po
sition in the living animal is very hard for the novice to determine.
The skull is really of great thickness, but it is composed of long,
narrow cells perpendicular to the surface of the skull, some three
to six inches in length, others small, irregular, and honey-comb
like. The skull has really an outer and an inner wall of consider
able thickness, between which lie these bony cells, separated from
each other by walls of bone as thin as pasteboard. These cells all
communicate with each other, and through the frontal sinuses
* G-. P. Sanderson.
134 TWO TEAKS I3ST THE JUNGLE.
the nasal cavity, so that they are filled with air only, and thus,
while the skull is of great size, it is very light and buoyant in pro*
portion to its bulk.
In the elephant we see an animal which very strikingly illus
trates the perfect manner in which nature always adapts means to
ends to secure the survival of the fittest, even under the most try
ing circumstances. He is possessed of a colossal body and head,
joined by a neck so extremely short and thick that the head is al
most a fixture upon the body. He cannot reach down to graze or
drink, as all long-necked animals do, and so nature has provided
him with a wonderful flexible proboscis six feet long, which is at
once a powerful arm and hand, a drinking-cup, and a movable nose.
The eye is very small indeed, placed far back upon the side of the
head, and owing to the shortness of the neck and general unwieldi-
ness of the head, the visual organ is almost a fixture upon his
head, and its range of vision exceedingly circumscribed. .His hear
ing is by no means acute, his sense of smell is also very deficient,
and, taken altogether, he is easily approached in the forest. The
most unskilful hunter can easily steal up to within ten feet of an
elephant when he is feeding, provided there are no others near to
discover him, and were the animal's brain enclosed in the same
kind of a skull as that of every other terrestrial mammal, the most
bungling hunter or naturalist could easily kill half a dozen ele
phants in a day.
But nature has not left this noble animal at the mercy of un
skilful hunters. Instead of the thin, solid cranium wall which we
see in the skulls of nearly all other land quadrupeds, a cranium
wMch can be fractured by a blow or a bullet, thus producing death,
a bullet may go crashing through those thin, bony cells, within two
inches of the brain itself, and only cause the animal to run away
much faster and farther than he otherwise would do. If the ball
passes very close to the brain, the elephant may be stunned or
knocked down by the concussion, but if he receives no further treat
ment he will quickly recover, regain his feet, and adios ! he is ofij
to recover entirely in a short time and live to a ripe old age, bar
ring more serious accidents. The Ceylon Observer once gave as
account of the death of a fine old male elephant near Trincomalee,
whose skull showed the marks of twenty-three bullets, which had
from year to year been fired into it by British n#val officers hunt
ing in that vicinity while their ships lay in the harbor. And yet
the old fellow's serenity had not been disturbed sufficiently to
ELEPHANT HUNTING. 135
frighten hi-m away from his old haunts, for he frequented the same
locality for several years. At last, however, a sportsman stole out
one fine night in pajamas and slippers, found the battle-scarred
veteran feeding close to the traveller's bungalow, and sent a ball
into his brain, which ended his career.
Much has been written about the vulnerable points of an ele
phant's skull, and they are usually reckoned at two or three, but
the fact of the matter is simply this : with a proper weapon, prop
erly I6aded, it is possible, nay easy, to reach the brain of an ele
phant from any quarter, side, or front, provided the animal is not
charging you, and is not more than twenty yards away. When a
gun will send a ball entirely through an elephant's head and out on
the other side, even when fired through the thickest part of the
skull, it stands to reason that one part of the skull will be as vul
nerable as any other, and it makes no difference whether you fire
at the forehead, temple, or ear, from above, below, or behind, so
long as it is possible to get a fair, unobstructed shot. When an
elephant is charging, the head is held high, the trunk tightly
curled and thrown forward, so that the bullet must be sent through
nearly two feet of trunk before even reaching the skull, a task al
most impossible to accomplish with certainty and precision. The
hunter must be perfectly familiar with the anatomy of the ele
phant's skull. Then, and then only, will he know at what point to
aim in order to reach the brain. When on a level with his ele
phant's head the vulnerable point will be somewhere on a horizontal
line drawn around the head from the ear-opening, three inches above
the eye, and to the very centre of the bump in the middle of the
face, which is really the base of the trunk and the nasal opening.
When one is above the elephant, the vulnerable point will be above
that line according to the height of the hunter's position, and when
he is below him, it will be a proportionate distance below.
The brain of a full-grown Indian elephant is of very irregular,
and almost indescribable shape, its greatest width being 10 inches
and extreme length 11. From the side, it is at best a difficult
mark to hit, even when seen, and infinitely more so when hidden
away in a mass of bone and flesh.
We encountered a herd of elephants the very day after we
camped at Tellicul. We started out about noon to find elephants,
if possible, and whatever else we could find in the way of mammals.
We had not gone far when up jumped a fine stag sambur, a
half-grown fawn, and a doe. The first two dashed away with iia
136 TWO YEARS IK THE
speed of the wind before I could even raise my rifle, but the doe
stopped short forty yards away, and for a full minute stood stock-
stiU, staring at me in dull surprise and curiosity. I could easily
have brought her down, but she would have been worthless as a
specimen, and so we all stood there quietly and had a staring match
with the doe, until she turned around and trotted off. The stag
carried a fine pair of antlers, and we set upon his trail at once,
hoping to come up with him in half an hour, at most As we were
hurrying along, we came to where that trail led across another of
a very different description, and the trackers stopped short, pointed
to it with broad smiles, and in low tones exclaimed, " Ani, sahib !
ani ! " or in other words, " Elephants, sir ! elephants ! " After ex
amining the? trail very carefully they declared that it was only four
hours' old, and had been made by a herd of at least ten elephants.
Without another word we turned off upon the elephant trail and
followed it as fast as we could walk.
When travelling through the forest, going from one good feed
ing ground to another, elephants usually follow one another in
Indian file, so that a whole herd leaves only a single trail ; but that
is a broad, well-tramped path, as plain and well-beaten as if a regi
ment of men had marched along in the same order. When it leads
through tall grass there is a clear lane a foot and a half wide.
The trail soon led us into a marsh of mud, water, and tall, rank
grass as high as our heads, and there the herd had scattered some
what. The soft mud was tramped full of great, deep holes where
their huge feet had sunk down, and they had fairly mown down
the high grass, as they went along, leaving the marsh cut up into a
labyrinth of lanes. A green hunter acquires a very wholesome re
spect for an animal which leaves a track sixteen inches in diameter
and eighteen inches deep ! But we crossed the marsh and entered
the forest again.
The trail freshened rapidly from the first, and we had followed
it for about an hour at a good pace, when suddenly we heard a
dear, resonant trumpet note, coming from the forest on our right.
Tal-loo-ee !
It created, a profound sensation, and instantly we turned off the
trail and started in a bee-line for the old feUow who was doing the
ELEPHANT HUNTING. 137
trumpeting. He repeated it at intervals, as if to guide us, and we
made the most of it. Soon we were near enough to hear the wel
come " crack ! crack 1 crr-rr-ras?i / " of the young bamboo shoots
upon which the herd was evidently feeding. No sound can be
more welcome to the ears of the elephant hunter. There was not
a breath of air stirring to betray us, and a moment later we were
crouching behind a huge teak-tree, in sight of half a dozen tall,
arching, gray backs that loomed up above the bushes.
I now told four of the men to stay were they were, while Arndee
and I pushed carefully forward. The weapon upon which I de
pended was a "Westley Eichards double muzzle-loading, smooth
bore No. 8 gun, weighing 9| Ibs., belonging to my friend Theobald.
Each barrel was loaded with six drachms of powder and a No. 10
round ball of pure zinc. Arndee carried my No. 10 gun loaded
with hardened balls, and I rather flattered myself I could floor
an elephant with that old gun if need be. At first my tracker led
the way, and almost before we knew it we were in the midst of the
scattered herd.
The herd contained about sixteen elephants, three of which
were young tuskers, but there was one old patriarch who carried a
splendid pair of ivories, and I instantly marked him as my own.
Being wholly unused to such work, I was all impatience to make
the attack at once, for fear the game would discover us and make
off. But Arndee had seen a good many elephants killed, and he
forcibly prevented my bringing matters to a crisis at once, telling
me by signs and looks to " keep cool and take my time." I obeyed
him, and for fully half an hour we skulked around and through that
herd, trying to get a sure thing on that old tusker.
The forest was quite open, with only a little underbrush here
and there, and we could easily see an elephant a hundred yards
away. Often we were within thirty yards of an elephant, and sev
eral times we crouched down in plain view of two or three. I was
amazed at their neither seeing nor scenting us. They were feeding
quietly on a hill-side, wandering all about, utterly unsuspicious of
danger.
Now stand here with me and watch that lordly old tusker who
is coming this way. See how lazily and leisurely he saunters along,
swinging his huge trunk from side to side, until he comes to a thick
clump of bamboos. He surveys the clump for a moment with his
queer little brown eye, and sees in the very centre of it a soft and
juicy young shoot, which looks very much like a huge stalk of asp ar-
138 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE.
agus, twenty feet high. Slowly and deliberately he forces his way
right into the clump, and reaches inward and upward with his
trunk until he gets a turn of it around the coveted young shoot.
Now he quietly backs off a few steps, and the twenty-foot stem
totters, cracks, and comes down with a tearing crash. Quietly
placing his huge fore-feet upon the prostrate stem he crushes it
into fragments, winds a soft, juicy piece of it up to his mouth, and
begins a measured ' ' champ ! champ ! champ ! " which tells us he is
wholly unsuspicious of our presence.
At last the elephants began to move off, quietly browsing as they ,
went, and I saw that I must bring matters to a crisis at once. Four
of them started off down the hill, the old tusker in the rear, crossed
a nullah and entered a thick bamboo jungle on the other side. I
sneaked along behind my old tusker within twenty feet olrids tail,
until at last the leading elephant turned off to the right, 1 ^arld I saw
that they were all going to pass quite close to an unusually large
dump of bamboos. I quickly made a detour to the right, almost
crawling upon hands and knees, and was soon crouching motionless
behind it. When the third elephant had sauntered past me I
quietly took my position at the further side of the clump and waited
for my old tusker. Slowly he pushed past the thorny tangle and
came into view. I knelt there with the old smooth-bore at my
shoulder, in plain view of the old fellow and only fifteen feet away,
but I never moved a muscle and he did not twig me ! I never felt
more certain of killing a robin than I did of flooring him the next
moment. Taking a steady, careful aim at his ear-opening, I fired,
and sprang behind the bamboos to be out of his way when he fell.
Horrors ! Instead of coming down with a grand crash, as I ex
pected, he threw his trunk aloft, gave a thrilling shriek and rushed
off through the forest, trumpeting as he went. My shot had been
a failure and a glorious chance was lost. But why ? Or how ? I
could not understand it, and could scarcely believe it was a fact.
Of course my shot alarmed the entire herd and set the elephants
running in all directions at first, during which time I executed a
series of lively dodges to keep from being seen, and also to keep from
impeding the progress of any elephant who might be running away.
A hunter who is quite surrounded by elephants, and alarms them
all by a shot, is often in great danger of being run over accidentally
when the herd makes its first startled rush. In a moment or two
the elephants all got together and started off, after which the forest
was still as death. We followed them until nearly night, without
ELEPHANT HUKTING. 139
success, of course, and returned home in disappointment, wonder
ing why my shot had failed to hit the brain. I see now, that on
account of my kneeling as I did, my bullet passed quite above the
mark. Had I aimed ten inches lower, it would have done its work.
The next morning at daybreak we set out fully equipped for
cutting up an elephant, and took up the trail where we abandoned
it the evening before.
While following it up, we started quantities of game, but dared
not fire, not knowing how soon we might come up with the ele
phants. We saw troop after troop of black monkeys, seventeen
gangs in all that day, and a number of great horn-bills (Buceros
bicornis) flying overhead. Out of a patch of low underbrush we
started a sounder of wild hog ; and farther on, a solitary old bull
bison feeding upon a hill-side, saw us, gave a snort like a steam-
engine^anxl dashed heavily away. Later in the day we came upon
a herd' of axis deer feeding at the edge of a glade, and I could not
resist the temptation to fire at a buck. I crept up to within sixty
yards of him, rested my rifle upon a log, fired at him as he stood
broadside and never touched him! He did not even jump.
Before I could recover from my astonishment and reload my rifle
the herd quietly trotted o Verily
"All hits are history,
All misses mystery,"
but this new humiliation was very discouraging.
We followed the elephant trail until it crossed the Teckadee
Kiver and entered the Government Leased Forest, where we had
no right to follow it, and then went home in disgust On the way
home we saw a sambur, but could not get a shot at it, and thus
ended a day of disappointments.
For the next four days I had fever. My cook and interpreter,
Michael, also came down with it, and declared that unless sent
home at once he would die. I doctored both him and myself with
quinine so successfully that in a few days the fever was broken, and
we were once more able to work. Every day it rained from two to
four hours, and the forest was very dark and damp.
Eight days after the above fiasco, I had another experience of
rather a different nature, and was considerably scared by an old
cow elephant who took it into her head to run me down. The mo
ment of danger in hunting a dangerous animal is when it " charges "
the hunter, as the saying is, at which time nothing but the hunter's
140 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNGLE.
steadiness and presence of mind can save his life. It is enough to
make any man shudder and turn pale to see an infuriated bear,
bison, tiger, or "wild elephant rushing down upon him to tear him
in pieces or crush him to a jelly. Then the rifle must not miss fire
nor the bullet fail to do its work in time. The charge must be
stopped, or the hunter goes down. It is a very difficult matter to
MU an elephant when in the act of charging, but a well-planted
shot will turn him aside and make him glad to run away.
On that particular day my gang and I tramped about five hours
through a drizzling rain, and finally overtook a herd of elephants,
which we found to our disappointment contained no tusker at all,
only females and young males. One of the females, however, had
a cute little calf at her side, in which I soon became deeply inter
ested. He was a canning little rascal, only about three feet high,
as demure and consequential as any pigmy could well be, and^
hiding safely behind a large tree, I watched his movements for some
time. His hide was smooth, shiny, and of a dark brown color, al
most black it seemed at first. He wandered all around his colossal
old mother who caressed him occasionally with her trunk, and oc
casionally he stood directly under her body, swinging his little
trunk and tail from side to side just as naturally as the older
elephants. A wild elephant is never still a. moment when awake,
swinging first one foot and then another, and both trunk and tail
almost constantly. I never saw a more demure and cute looking
animal than that absurd little elephant, and I fairly ached to steal
up and grab hold of his trunk, and have a tussle with him.-
I knew very well that, like most wild animals, the female elephant
is very suspicious and dangerous when she has a young one to pro
tect, but in watching that little calf for a good half-hour at a dis-
tance of only forty paces, I must have grown rather careless. The
herd was huddled together in a thick clump of small trees, and
my men were hiding near me, waiting patiently for the sahib to see
all he wanted to see. At length the little baby elephant wandered
off to the other side of the herd from me, and I determined to
work round to that side also. Immediately around the clump of
trees which sheltered the elephants, the ground was level and the
cover very thin indeed. I saw that to reach the other side of the
herd I would have to cross a small patch of open ground ; but I
thought the elephants would not notice me if I crouched low and
^ent very slowly. Moving back a few paces I started to make the
circuit, crouching almost to the ground, but keeping a careful eye
<J
fe
O
g
ELEPHANT HUNTING. 141
upon the herd. Just as I reached the middle of that small open
space, I heard a profound rustling among the thick branches that
screened the herd ; in another instant the branches parted suddenly,
and a huge old female came rushing down upon me.
She had sufficient distance to get under full headway, and al
though my breath stopped and my heart stood still with sheer
-fright, I yet realized she was the grandest living object I ever saw
*nd the most terrible. Her head was held high and her trunk
<urled up under her mouth to be uncoiled when within reach of
/ne, I suppose ; her ears seemed to stand straight out from her
head with the tips curled forward, and the strides of her massive
legs were perfectly enormous. Luckily she came on in dead si
lence, or I should have been frightened out of my wits. As it was,
I felt as if I was going to be run over by a locomotive. I knew it
was useless folly to run, for in a few strides she would have been
upon me. "When I saw her coming I stood up quickly and faced
her, threw my gun up to my shoulder and fired both barrels, at
the base of her coiled-up trunk in the direction of the brain.
She was within fifteen paces of me when I fired, but the thunder
ing report, the smoke, and two zinc balls crashing into her skull
close to her brain, stopped her charge, for she sheered off suddenly
and rushed into the forest, trumpeting shrilly once or twice. Di
rectly there was a grand crash and a rush in the thicket as the
herd broke away and started ofi^ and that was the last we saw or
cared to see of it.
Then I had time to reflect upon what " it might have been " had
my caps failed to explode, or my powder been damp. Once when
walking on a railway track in a snow-storm, I was very nearly run
over by a locomotive coming down a grade in muffled silence, and
my sensations then were precisely the same as when that old female
elephant came charging down that grassy slope. The approach of
the powerful machine and the living monster seemed exactly alike.
CHAPTER 2IIL
MONKEYS, BEARS, AND ELEPHANTS.
tho Black Langur. Monkey Shooting. A Startling Cry. Absurd Encounter
with. Three Bears. A Stern Chase. Death of Number Two. A Woful
" Slip 'twixt cup and lip. "Surprise Number Two The Old Bear Dies.
Habits of the Species. A Typical Elephant Hunt. Hunters Hunted.
Wonderful Manoeuvring of the Elephants. A Stealthy Retreat. A
Double-barrelled Attack." Shavoogan 1 " Panic-stricken Hunters.
Failures, Fever, and Scarcity of Food,
FEOM the day we entered the forest we began to collect speci
mens of the black langur (Semnopithecus cucullatus), which actually
swarmed in the tree-tops wherever we went. We often saw more
than a hundred and fifty in ,a day, and had we desired, might easily
have killed fifty every week. They are usually found in troops of
five to ten individuals, and are very noisy, uttering a most diabol
ical cry which can be heard a mile in the densest forest. Often
when out hunting with my gang, stalking like silent shadows
through the forest, every eye and ear keenly on the alert to detect
the presence of large game, we would be suddenly startled by
hearing exploded thirty feet above our heads, a terrific guttural
" wah I wah ! ! wah I f I " followed by a loud " a-Aoo-oo-Tioo-oo-
/ioo-oo," making the forest ring. On looking up we would see a
jet-black face encircled by a ring of long, white hair, grinning and
making faces at us from the fork of a tree. The moment we raise
a gun the whole troop starts up, and the branches are alive with
leaping and climbing black forms, each of which tries to make the
quickest time on record in getting out of range. Once fairly
started, they go galloping off through the tree-tops so fast that we
have hard work to keep in sight of them, and mark down the larg
est one when he stops. But after about two hundred yards or less
the flying column calls a halt to rest, count noses, and see how we
below are getting on.
MONKEYS, BEARS, AND ELEPHANTS. f|3
As we hurry up, rifle in hand, my swiftest-footed Mulcer starw^s
there with a long, bare, black arm, pointing upward into the top of
a hundred-and-twenty-foot blackwood tree, and we begin to peer
and dodge about to catch a glimpse of the largest monkey in the
troop. All the men gather round the tree and peer and point, and
try to show me just where he is. At last we see his head, and a
pair of black eyes staring stealthily down at us. The rifle is up in
a second, and we are about to pull the trigger when adios ! the
monkeys are up and off again, and the chase begins anew.
The very same performance is repeated again, and perhaps two
or three times more, the monkey running away just as I catch
sight of him and raise my rifle. But at last he waits a little too
long, the rifle cracks, the monkey starts up violently, clutches des
perately at the branches around him, loses his balance, and with
outstretched legs and arms, the big, black body comes flying down
through space without touching a single limb to break his fall, and
strikes with a terrific thud upon the earth. We naturally think
such a fearful fall has broken every large bone in his body, but we
find only a humerus, or perhaps a femur snapped in two. If he is
not dead, or likely to die quickly, I take from my shot-bag a knife
with a very slender blade, thrust its sharp point into his occiput,
give it a slight turn and presto ! he is dead. Then the Mulcers
peel a long strip of bark from a tree near by and tie together the
legs of Semnopithecus cucullatus, sling him under the pole with the
deer or other small game and we start on.
It would seem that this black langur utters his diabolical cry at
any animal of which he is particularly afraid, and it is well known
that a troop of them will sometimes follow a tiger for some dis
tance, hooting and swearing at him just as they did at us. The
whereabouts of a tiger has often been discovered in this way, for
instead of running from him they follow him up. After the explo
sive "wah! wah!" the remainder of the cry is continuous, every
alternate syllable being produced by drawing in the breath, so that
the sound is very much like that made by sawing an empty barrel
in two. Many times the startling cry above our heads, and so very
near, has caused us all to jump and involuntarily grasp our weap
ons, causing much amusement afterwards. At such times it always
seemed to me that the monkeys were swearing at us, and the fiend
ish expression of their faces strengthened the belief,
From first to last I shot about forty-five langurs, out of which I
got twenty skeletons and eight skins. The tree-tops were so lofty
144 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
I was obliged to shoot them all with my rifle, and in order to get
a skeleton having no broken bones, I had to shoot one monkey
through the head and take its body and legs, and shoot another of
the same size through the body for the sake of its skull. The
Mulcers ate the flesh of every one I killed, and had it not been that
deer were plentiful I should have been tempted to try it myself.
The black langur is a very handsome monkey. The fur is fine
4nd glossy, black throughout, except that the head and nape are
gray or grayish brown, the face is encircled by a ring of long gray
hairs, and in old individuals there is a large gray patch on the
rump. The largest of my specimens measured, head and body,
29 inches, tail 37 inches. But this was a giant in comparison with
all the others, a good sized one being, head and body 23 inches,,
tail 35, and weight 23 pounds, which should be set down as the
average size of this species.
One morning when out looking for elephants, we had a rattier
amusing adventure with a party of bears. We had tracked down
and killed a sambur, but unfortunately it was too young to furnish
either skin, skeleton, or skull, and so the game fell a prey to the
Mulcers, who joyfully cut it up and loaded themselves with the
flesh, while I looked on in disgust. On the way home we were
strolling stupidly along in Indian file, utterly listless and inatten
tive, when, happening to cast my eyes to the left, I was amazed at
seeing three bkck bears loping slowly along, one behind the other,
and only thirty yards away. They were going to cross our path,
and had we all been a trifle more stupid, we would have actually
come into collision. The bears were wholly unaware of our pres
ence and so were all my men of theirs' until I awoke the whole
crowd by throwing up my rifle and firing at the largest bear.
Directly there was a terrible uproar. The bear fell to the
ground, howling and bawling with all her might, while the other
two pitched right upon her, snapping and snarling viciously, and
all three yelling in concert I had a rubber blanket tied around my
shoulders to keep off the rain and the fever, and owing to my en
cumbrance and sudden excitement, I made most awkward work in
getting reloaded. The wounded bear tried her best to charge us,
although I saw her spine was broken, and as quickly as possible I
gave her another bullet through the shoulders, which seemed to
satisfy her rattier better. By the time I had again reloaded, the
two tmwounded bears had taken in the situation and started up
the hill as hard as they could go. A hundred yards away they
MOKKEYS, BEARS, AND ELEPHANTS. 145
stopped, and one stood up on his haunches to have a good look at
us. I fired at the yellow crescent on his breast, but missed, and on
they went again.
Telling Arndee to come on, I started after them, throwing away
my hat and rubber blanket as I ran. We could see the low bushes
shake a hundred yards in advance of us, and occasionally we
caught a glimpse of a black form, but could not get a shot We
the top of the ridge, ran down the other side and found
bears were gaining on us. We crossed the ravine at the foot
of the hill and started up the other side, which was very steep and
in places thickly overgrown with brush and clumps of bamboo.
Near the top of the hill we came to an unusually thick patch of
underbrush, in which we heard the two bears grumbling and
swearing as they paused to rest a little. Keeping a sharp lookout,
we soon sighted a glossy black form, at which I fired.
' Evidently the shot took effect, for directly one of the bears set
up a terrible bawling, and came rolling end over end down the
steep slope, clawing right and left, and yelling "bloody murder"
at every tumble. He rolled down to within twenty feet of where
we stood and finally lodged in a clump of bamboos, where he re
mained motionless and quiet Arndee exclaimed that, "he was
dead ; " I thought so too, and so we started on after bear num
ber three.
We found his trail at the top of the hill and followed it a little
way, when I discovered that my head was aching and throbbing
terrifically, so we abandoned the pursuit and went back to bear num
ber two. We reached the spot, but lo and behold ! we beheld not
the bear. He had evidently concluded, on thinking the matter over,
that he was not quite dead enough to skin, so he had picked him
self up and gone off about his business. He left a few " foot-prints
on the sands of time," and a drop of blood here and there, but that
was all. We followed his trail for a mile or so, abandoned it finally
in disgust, and went back to the scene of our first encounter.
We expected to find the dead bear, four Mulcers, and my cast-
off garments all there together, but to our utter amazement we
found none of them ! The whole affair began to look like a dream,
but while I was trying to study it out, Arndee found where the old
bear had gone offj dragging her hind-quarters, and my gang had
loafed off home. Vowing vengeance on those heedless rascals
we started to follow up the broad and bloody trail left by our
wounded quarry.
10
146 TWO YEAKS IN $HE JUGGLE.
Going up a brushy hillside close by, we came suddenly upon her,
and were within twenty feet of her before we knew it. She saw us
first, wheeled around and came charging at us, dragging her hind
quarters, jaws wide set and eyes glistening, while her angry growls
told us she was desperate and meant mischief. Arndee shouted a
warning and vanished, but I stood still until she got within ten feet
of me, then fired at the centre of the yellow crescent on her breast,
which shot finished her.
This specimen was an old female ( Ursus labiatus), no doubt the
mother of the two smaller bears ; but, unfortunately for science, she
had been living in a rocky cavern which had a very low front door,
for the hair was worn off her back until the skin was quite bare.
She furnished a fine skeleton, however.
The Indian black bear inhabits all India south of the Ganges,
and also Ceylon. It lives chiefly in rocky caverns and fissures and
feeds upon ants, both black and white, the larvae of certain longi-
corn beetles which it forcibly sucks out of the ground, and various
fruits, especially that of the mohwa tree (Bassia latifolia). Like
our American bear, this Indian species is very fond of honey. Dur
ing my hunting on the Animallais I never came upon any other
bears than those mentioned above, but Mr. Theobald has killed a
good many there. Ursus labiatus is found in many other parts of
the Madras Presidency, viz. : the Neilgherries, the Shervaroy Hills,
Pulneys, the Wainaad, and also in Mysore.
In due time another herd of elephants visited our forest, and
we lost no time in hunting it down. The trail led us a merry-go-
round of between twenty-five and thirty miles before we came to
the end of it. Taking it up in our forest, it led out of that across
the Teckadee Eiver into the Government Leased Forest, made an
immense circuit in that and recrossed the river again. Presently it
led once more out of our forest, across another river, and this time
entered the native territory of Cochin. "We hoped the herd would
recross the river higher up, and once more enter our hunting-
grounds, so we took off our clothes for the third time that day,
waded the river and kept on. Up hill and down the trail led us,
through wet marshes, open glades, and dense forest, the signs
growing fresher every mile, but still it went farther and farther
into Cochin. At last, as it led us up a very steep and very slippery
mountain-side which fairly took our breath away, I vowed we had
fairly and squarely earned one of those elephants, and we were
going to have it, too ! The fine for shooting an elephant in Cochin
MONKEYS, BEARS, AND ELEPHANTS. 147
was even greater than for the same offense in the Coimbatore Dis
trict, but we wanted an elephant terribly. We started our game
in our own forest, and being thoroughly excited by the chase, we
determined to kill an elephant out of that herd if possible, and risk
the consequences.
We gained the top of the mountain at last, and then Arndee de
clared that the elephants were a great way off yet, it was a long
way back to camp, and we had better abandon the chase. I said
"No," very decidedly. The men started on, grumbling as they
went, and in less than ten minutes more we sighted the herd!
There was a very fine tusker in it, but he was feeding in a bit of
open forest, and it was impossible to stalk him successfully.
Before we were aware of it, Arndee and I had walked into dan
gerous proximity to a group which included three female ele
phants and two calves. Out of a thick patch of underbrush, forty
yards from us, there came up the end of a huge trunk with the tip
bent in our direction. Then another trunk came up, and sniffed the
air suspiciously, first in one direction and then another. Presently a
movement was made in our direction, and two of the elephants
emerged from the brush and stopped short, scenting the air in
every direction. Arndee and I shrunk our bodies up as small as
possible and cowered closely behind the foot of a tree, while I
cocked both barrels of my gun and made ready to meet a charge.
For fully four minutes a very long time under such circum
stances those two elephants stood there within twenty-five paces
of us, listening intently, watching every object, and scenting the
air very suspiciously, actually trying to discover where we were.
They knew we were somewhere near them, and they deliberately
searched for us to attack us. Every moment we expected to be
discovered and charged by both the elephants, which would have
been disagreeable, if not fatal. At last, one of the pair started
straight in the direction of the other men, who had climbed trees,
fifty yards off. When the elephants started for them, Arndee made
a frantic signal with his arm, and the Mulcers went on up like
squirrels. The old scout walked directly under them, then turned
and came back, and during this diversion Arndee and I lost no
time in beating a safe retreat In returning, he came directly to
the spot where we had been concealed, paused, and stood motion
less as a statue for about two minutes, then quickly but noise
lessly vanished in the thicket, and all was silent.
We moved up again and waited to see what the herd was going to
148 TWO YEABS IN THE JUNGLE.
do next. Not a sound was heard for some minutes, not a movement
seen. At last we stole up cautiously, and to my utter amazement I
found that the entire herd had taken the alarm and stolen on*
through the thick undergrowth, without making a single sound that
we could hear at a distance of fifty yards! Not a rustle, not a
broken twig, nor a noisy footfalL
I was really amazed at this exhibition of sagacity and almost
military manoeuvring. "We saw them deliberately
1. Reconnoitre dangerous ground by sending out scouts and
spies.
2. Communicate intelligence by signs, or sign language.
3. Ketreat in orderly silence from a lurking danger ; and
4. March off in single file, like the jungle tribes of men.
How different was this stealthy, noiseless retreat from the wild
stampede which follows an open attack, in which the crashing and
tearing through the jungle is at first appalling. This time the foe
was still in ambush when discovered, and the order signalled was,
"Retreat in silence and good order."
And yet there are intelligent people who believe that none of
the lower animals are capable of reasoning.
I have often been led to admire the perfect silence in which the
elephant goes through the densest jungle, particularly when fleeing
from an enemy. The sambur goes tearing through the forest when
alarmed, smashing dry twigs and galloping over the ground with
so much noise that he can be heard more than a quarter of a mile
away ; a herd of bison makes the earth fairly tremble during its
first burst ; but the lordly elephant, largest of all terrestrial mam
mals, glides away like a gray shadow, without breaking a twig, or
scraping against a bough. His foot is like a huge, india-rubber
car-spring, and is literally shod with silence.
Upon finding the elephants had decamped, we immediately made
after them, and in half an hour came suddenly upon them, feed
ing quietly in thick underbrush. By great good luck the old
tusker was nearest us, and facing in our direction. Without a
moment's delay, I crept up in front of him, hid behind a tree con
siderably smaller than my body, and at a distance of twelve paces
waited in anxious suspense for "him to face me a trifle more fully.
Presently he swung around just right, and presented as beautiful a
front head-shot as any hunter could possibly ask or obtain. I fired
instantly, both barrels of my No. 10 with twelve drachms, aiming at
the base of the trunk in the centre of the face. The gun kicked
MONKEYS, BEARS, AND ELEPHANTS. 149
fearfully, nearly knocking me over, and I thought it had killed
both the elephant and myself, but to my disgust I found it had
done neither. The elephant wheeled around, and in doing so fell
upon his knees, but while I was recovering from the stunning
effects of my shot, he regained his feet and made off slowly and in
silence.
Wiping the tears from my eyes and the blood from my nose, I
started after him as fast as I could run, reloading as I went. At
every new turn I expected to come upon him lying dead, but some
how I didn't "We were sure of having him down within an 'hour,
and as we went puffing up that steep mountain-side, I planned just
how we would skin and skeletonize him and get his remains to the
nearest road. We were pushing along at our best speed, all excite
ment and eagerness, determined to bring down that elephant before
we stopped, no matter whether he ran one mile or twenty, when
suddenly we heard, " Hi-yoh-ho I " shouted out loud and clear a
quarter of a mile directly ahead of us.
At this clap of thunder from a clear sky, we stopped dead short
and looked at each other. " Hi-2/o/i-ho !" Again and much nearer !
The men turned almost pale with fear, and with one voice exclaimed
in a most tragic stage-whisper, " Shavoogan ! "
It was the only time I ever saw those rascals really terrified.
Without another word, they wheeled about, turned off the trail and
fled down the mountain at full speed ; of course I followed to see
that they all got safely back to camp. We went down the steep
slope about six feet at every step, fleeing in dead silence from that
terrible " Shavoogan," whatever that was. We went as though
the great dragon was close behind us, and never paused a moment,
nor uttered a word, until we were at least three miles from that
awful "Shavoogan." Then we enjoyed a laugh at our own expense
over the sudden and ludicrous manner in which the ^tables were
turned upon us.
I need scarcely add that that elephant escaped, or that we did
also, and that I added another word to my Tamil vocabulary.
"Shavoogan," is the Tamil word for "watchman" or "peon," and
the one we heard belonged to the service of the Rajah of Cochin.
To my dying day, I shall never understand how I failed to kill
that elephant in his tracks. I had a fair shot, had done my very
best and failed, and was therefore at my wit's end. Such failures
as that and my first one are, of all others, the most disappointing
and discouraging. I hacl done all I knew how to do, and what
150 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNG-LE.
could I do more ? Those were the bitterest failure? I ever made in
hunting.
During my first six weeks in the hills, all circumstances seemed
to combine against me. Several times we found the fresh tracks of
elephants, and followed them diligently for several hours, only to
find where the trail crossed over into the Government Forest,
where we had no right to follow. It seemed at last as if the ele
phants knew that when we got after them, they had only to cross
the Teckadee Eiver to get beyond our reach, and finally we almost
despaired of ever coming up with elephants in our forest.
During all this time I devoted myself almost exclusively to ele
phants, killing no other game of any consequence, save enough
deer and sambur to supply the camp with meat. Indeed, I fired as
few shots as possible to avoid frightening away the larger kinds of
game, particularly the elephants. I had had two glorious chances,
and each time failed to kill, although I had done my best. In fact,
I was trying to shoot an elephant according to the recipe given me
by my friend Theobald, and it was uphill work. Every week or
ten days I had an attack of jungle fever, but it was always of the
mild, intermittent type, and after about three days I would have it
broken up with quinine, so that I could go hunting every day
again until it returned. Several times the fever came on me when
out hunting, several miles from camp, and I would have to crawl
back as best I could, with my head throbbing like a steam-engine.
My remedy for the fever was ten grains of quinine dissolved in half
a wine-glassful of clear brandy, taken two or three hours before the
fever was expected, then the same dose morning, noon, and night,
until once more able to travel.
My provisions became exhausted all too soon, and I came down
to plain bread, rice, and venison, with a potato now and then, by
way of luxury. My cook was a failure at making curry, that "dish
fit for the gods," without which India would be uninhabitable for
either natives or Europeans. Being heavily handicapped on curry,
I had to live upon deer and sambur tongues, with venison steaks and
roasts by way of variety, and dry boiled rice. Once a week Mr.
Theobald and I sent a coolie to Coimbatore (50 miles), for a basket
of bread, but by the time the loaves reached me, they were always
mouldy. A dozen bananas or potatoes were a positive treat, so
scarce were fruit and vegetables during that long period of semi-
starvation. After a while, there came upon me an intense craving
for vegetables, which could only be satisfied by Crosse & Black-
MOHKEYS, BEARS, AKD ELEPHANTS. 151
well's mixed pickles. But I cared very little about my inner man
during those days ; and, as nearly as could be possible, he was left
to take care of himself.
After my second failure at shooting elephants, I determined to
hunt smaller game for a time, and give that persecuted animal, as
well as myself, a rest. Very soon after this my luck took a turn
for the better, which now makes it necessary for me to say some
thing about tiger-hunting,
CHAPTEK XJLV.
A TIGER HUNT.
Tigers. The Game -killer. The Cattle-lifter. The Man-eater. Reign of Ter
ror. Eight Hundred Victims Annually. Modes of Tiger-hunting. How-
dah Shooting. Machan Shooting. Shooting on Foot. An Impromptu
Tiger hunt. The Trail.- A Light "Battery."- The Game Overhauled.
A Good Shot. Death of a Superb "Game-killer."- Dimensions and
Weight. A Proud Moment. Struggle to Preserve the Skin.
ACCORDING to their habits in procuring their food, tigers are divided
by the people of India into three classes.
The least harmful is the " game-killer," who lives in the hills
and dense forests where wild game is abundant, and leads the life
of a bold, honest hunter. He feeds chiefly upon deer and wild hog,
and so long as he remains a game-killer he is a real blessing to the
poor ryots, who have hard work to protect their crops from the
droves of deer and wild hog which sally forth from the jungle at
nightfall to depredate upon them. But the trouble is, there is no
knowing when this striped sportsman will take it into his head to
try his teeth and claws on cattle or men : in fact, he is not to be
trusted for a moment.
The "cattle-lifter" is a big, fat, lazy thief, too indolent to pull
down fleet-footed wild animals, who prowls around the villages after
nightfall, or the edge of the jungle where the cattle are herded, and
kills a bullock every four or five days. The annual loss to the cat
tle owners whose herds are thus preyed upon by the cattle-lifter, is
very great for poor natives to bear, since each tiger destroys in a
year, cattle worth at least four hundred dollars.
But even the most greedy cattle-lifter sinks into insignificance
in the presence of the fierce "man-eater," the scourge and terror
of the timid and defenceless natives. Until a tiger has once had
his fangs in human flesh, he has an instinctive fear of man, and un
less attacked and brought to bay will nearly always retreat from
his presence. But with his first taste of human blood that fear
A TIGER HTJKT. 153
vanishes forever. His nature changes, and he becomes a man-
eater.
Tigers who prey upon human beings are usually ex-cattle-lifters,
who, from long acquaintance with man have ceased to fear him, and
find him the easiest prey to overcome and carry off. A large pro
portion of the man-eaters are mangy, superannuated, old tigers or
tigresses, whose teeth and claws have become blunt with long use,
and who find it too great an exertion to kill and drag off bul
locks.
The presence of a man-eater causes a perfect reign of terror in
the district which he frequents, which lasts until he is slain. It is
almost invariably the case that the brute confines his operations
to a few square miles of territory, and perhaps a dozen villages, so
that each one becomes a walking scourge whose form, habits, and
foot-prints become thoroughly known to the terrified villagers. At
first, perhaps, he carries off a herdsman instead of a bullock, by
way of experiment, and soon after an unlucky woodcutter at the
edge of the jungle shares a similar fate. Finding that he can
easily and with perfect safety kill men, he gradually becomes
bolder, until finally he enters the villages after nightfall and seizes
men, women, and children from off their own door-steps. No one
is safe save when in his house with the door shut and barred. The
herder no longer dares to take his hungry herd to graze in the
jungle, and for the woodcutter to go forth to his task in the forest,
would be to literally walk into the jaws of death.
The man-eater may be seen in the evening near a certain village,
and before morning carry off a man from another five miles away.
No one can say that he will not be the next victim. When the
people go to sleep at night the last thing they think of is the man-
eater, and he is first in their thoughts when they awake in the
morning. It is a horrible feeling to live in constant fear of being
suddenly pounced upon by a big, hungry, wild beast that can carry
you off in his jaws and eat you up clean at one meal.
But, thanks to English sportsmen, improved fire-arms and the
liberal rewards offered by the Government, man-eating tigers are
now rare compared with what their numbers once were. It is not
now possible for a single tigress to cause the desertion of thirteen
villages, and throw out of cultivation fifteen sqwre miles of terri
tory, as once occurred in Central India ; nor for another to kill one
hundred and twenty-seven persons before being laid low. And
yet, in spite of breech-loading rifles and zealous British sportsmen,
154 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUKGKLE.
poison, and pitfalls, the man-eaters still devour over eight hundred
human beings in India every year.
The tiger inhabits all India from the Himalayas to Cape Com-
orin, and is hunted in three different ways.
The first, the best, and most interesting plan, is howdah-shoot-
ing. In this, the hunter is perched on an elephant's back, high up
out of harm's way, in a comfortable square box called a howdah, with
his weapons and ammunition placed conveniently around him. Of
course the elephant is managed by a mahout, who sits astride his
neck with an iron goad in his hand, a very exposed position, in
fact. When it is possible, a large number of elephants are mus
tered for the hunt, to assist in stirring up the tigers. Now and
then a grand party is made up of four or five English sportsmen,
and twenty or thirty elephants ; and perhaps five or six tigers and
much other game may be killed in a week. But this is a very ex
pensive method, and cannot be practised except by the wealthy or
the influential few. This is an eminently safe method, too, the
greatest danger attending it being the running away of one's ele
phant and the wreck of the howdah. Ladies often attend hunts of
this kind, which tends to place this once noble sport upon a level
with lawn tennis and badminton.
Tiger hunting with elephants is most extensively practiced in
Central India where the jungle is in low, scrubby patches with bare
ground between, and in the Terai, a wide stretch of grassy half-
forest skirting the base of the Himalayas. In Southern India there
is 'little chance to employ elephants in this way, because of the wide
tracts of dense jungle * and forest in which no tiger can be effect
ually marked down and "flushed." Elephants can be used to
great advantage, however, in following up a wounded tiger, a pur
suit too dangerous for even the most reckless sportsman to prose
cute safely on foot
The second and most general plan of tiger hunting, is called
" machan-shooting." A machan is a platform of poles, fifteen to
twenty feet high, erected in the daytime near a recently killed
bullock, a live bait, or a pool of water. Usually it is placed in the
top of the tree nearest the spot or object the tiger is expected to
visit.
In Central India where the jungles can be beaten for tigers, the
* In the East Indies the term * 4 jungle " is applied to all kinds of arboreal
growth lying in large tracts, whether it be composed of heavy forest, low'
"brush-wood, or a scattering growth of scrubby trees in tall grass.
157
A TIGEE HUNT. lo^
sportsman builds his machan in the most favorable position, takes
his place upon it, and waits while the tigers are actually driven
toward him by a grand army of beaters from fifty to three hun
dred native men blowing horns, beating tom-toms, firing guns and
shouting, and then, when the tigers come running past his posi
tion, he kills them if he can. When a tiger kills a bullock, the
hunter quietly builds a machan in the top of the nearest tree, takes
up his position in the afternoon, and waits patiently until the tiger
returns to his feast at nightfall ; then he shoots him, or at least
shoots at him 3 in the dark.
It is very seldom that accidents occur in hunting tigers by
either of the above methods, for usually the sportsman is not in
the least danger.
Shooting on foot is the third method of tiger hunting, but it is
so dangerous that it is not regularly practised except as a last re
sort, and the most reckless hunter never dares follow it up for any
length of time. Nine-tenths of all the tiger "accidents," as they
are called in India, occur to sportsmen who are shooting on foot.
The Collector of the Coimbatore District acknowledges the superior
dangers and risks of this method by paying a reward of one hun
dred rupees for a tiger shot on foot, whereas he grants only the
minimum reward, thirty-five rupees, for a tiger shot from a machan
or poisoned. When a hunter attacks the tiger in open ground, he
must shoot the animal in the brain or else break his spinal column,
for nothing else is sure to stop his furious charge. A tiger is but
a gigantic cat, endowed with the traditional nine lives, and even
though shot through the heart, the lungs, body, neck or shoulders,
he often has strength enough to spring upon the hunter and give
him a terrible mauling or a mortal wound before falling dead.
Tigers often become so enraged by the pain of their wounds that
they attack the hunting elephants with the greatest fury.
The Animallai slope was one vast, unbroken forest, with such
endless cover that successful beating for game was simply out of
the question. There was such an abundance of it that no men or
cattle were ever killed by tigers, and hence our only chance for
finding them at all was to track them up on foot, or trust to meeting
them by chance. Either plan was risky, but I had enough faith
in the accuracy of my little Maynard rifle, and my own steadiness,
to believe that between us we could floor a tiger if we ever got
a fair chance. In tramping through the forest I often wished I
could come face to face with a tiger and get just one fair shot
TWO YEABS IK THE JUNGLE.
I thought I would like to "be a little above Trim, if possible, so aa
to get a better -view of his face, and be more certain of hitting the
brain. I spun my theories very finely, and all I asked was a. chance
to give them a trial
We often tried to follow up the " pugs " we found in the forest,
and it was in this way I finally made the acquaintance of "my
first tiger." It was during one of my fever-spells, too, when I was
feeling rather low-spirited. I had been seven weeks in the hills,
hunting constantly when not down with the fever, but had killed
neither elephant nor tiger, and was beginning to think I never
would. I had shot nothing for several days, and consequently there
was no meat in camp. The old women grumbled, the little children
cried for it, and, in fact, I wanted some fresh venison myself.
On that particular day, I had an attack of fever due at 2 P.M.,
but I thought I could stroll out and shoot an axis deer before it
came on. It happened that three of my men had been sent away
on various errands, and there remained in camp only Pera Yera,
my second tracker, afterwards my head man, Nangen, a very quiet
but courageous young fellow, and a small boy. I took along these
three for general purposes, my little Maynard rifle for the deer,
and my No. 16 shot-gun, loaded with bird-shot, for jungle fowl.
Not a very heavy "battery," certainly, when compared with the
formidable array of double rifles from the 4-bore, throwing a 4-
ounce ball, down to the double .577 Express rifle as the least
deadly weapon which every genuine English sportsman in India
possesses and carries with him when after big game. It takes
twenty-nine of my Maynaxd bullets (calibre .40), to make a pound.
We hunted all the forenoon, and found a herd of axis deer
feeding in a glade, but I had not enough energy to make a suc
cessful stalk, and so that chance was lost In fact, I did not care
much whether school kept or not.
We strolled through the Government Forest until nearly noon,
when, just as we were about returning to camp, we heard a fearful
growling and roaring a few hundred yards in advance, which set
us instantly on the qui-vive. We hurried in the direction of the
sound, which continued at intervals for some minutes. I said,
"Tiger, Yera? "and he replied: "No, sahib, panther. Shall w.e
go for it ? " "Of course," and on we went.
Presently we heard trumpeting and branch-breaking half a mile
beyond us> and then Yera said the low roaring, or growling, noise
had been made by the elephants. On our way toward the ele
A TIGER HUNT.
plants, to have a quiet look at them, we came to a little nullah,*
and there, in the level, sandy bed of the stream, was the trail of a
large tiger.
The men carefully examined the huge tracks in the wet sand,
compared notes a moment, and declared the trail was fresh. Then
I examined it for myself, looked wise, and said ; " Oh, yes, it is ;
very fresh, indeed." Vera looked anxiously about a moment, ex
amined the bore of my rifle doubtfully, tried to measure it with
the end of his little finger, and finally asked me very seriously
whether I would dare to fire at a big tiger with that small rifle. I
said, " Yes, certainly ; just show me one and see." I did not for a
moment allow myself to hope for such good luck as a meeting
with the animal that made those huge tracks, and a shot at him.
But without a moment's delay we started to follow up the trail.
The little creek ran through perfectly level and very open for
est. Its bed was about eight feet below the level, forty feet wide,
and almost dry. The tiger had gone loafing leisurely along down
the bed of the stream, walking in the shallow water every now and
then, crossing from side to side, and occasionally sticking his
claws into the bank, as if to keep them in practice. Vera led the
way as usual, I followed close at his heels, and we stole along as
silently as shadows.
We had followed the trail about a mile, when we came to a
dump of bamboos growing in a sharp bend in the stream. Yera
stopped short, grasped me by the arm, and pointed through the
clump. He had the habit of grasping my arm with one hand, and
pointing with the other whenever he discovered any game, and I
could always tell the size and ferocity of the animal by the strength
of his grasp. This time he gave my arm such a fierce grip I knew
he must have found a tiger.
Sure enough, there was Old Stripes in all his glory, and only
thirty yards away ! The midday sun shone full upon him, and a
more splendid object I never saw in a forest. His long, jet-black
stripes seemed to stand out in relief, like bands of black velvet,
while the black and white markings upon his head were most
beautiful. In size and height he seemed perfectly immense, and
my first thought was, " Great Caesar 1 He is as big as an ox t "
* *" Nullah 1 is an Indian term of the most comprehensive signification,
used in speaking of any channel or water-course, and applied alike to a small
river or deep ravine, to the sandy bed of a dried-up stream, or a wet gutter. 11
A* C.
158 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE;
When we first saw him, lie was walking from us, going across
the bed of the stream. Knowing precisely what I wanted to do, I
took a spare cartridge between my teeth, raised my rifle and
waited. He reached the other bank, sniffed it a moment, then
turned and paced slowly back. Just as he reached the middle of
the stream, he scented us, stopped short, raised his head and
looked in our direction with a suspicious, angry snarl. Now was
my time to fire. Taking a steady, careful aim at his left eye, I
blazed away, and without stopping to see the effect of my shot,
reloaded my rifle with all haste. I half expected to see the great
brute come bounding round that clump of bamboos and upon one
of us ; but I thought it might not be I he would attack, and before
he could kill one of my men I could send a bullet into his brain.
Vera kept an eye upon him every moment, and when I was
again ready I asked him with my eyebrows, " Where is he ? " He
quickly nodded, "He's there still" I looked again, and sure
enough, he was in the same spot, but turning slowly around and
around, with his head held to one side, as if there was some
thing the matter with his left eye ! When he came around and
presented his neck fairly I fired again, aiming to hit his neck-bone.
At that shot he instantly dropped upon the sand. I quickly
shoved in a fresh cartridge, and with rifle at full cock and the tiger
carefully covered, we went toward him, slowly and respectfully.
We were not sure but that he would even then get up and come at
us. But he was done for, and lay there gasping, kicking, and
foaming at the mouth, and in three minutes more my first tiger lay
dead at our feet. He died without making a sound.
To a hunter, the moment of triumph is when he first lays his
hand upon his game. What exquisite and indescribable pleasure
it is to handle the cruel teeth and knife-like claws which were so
dangerous but one brief moment before ; to pull open the heavy
eyelid ; to examine the glazing eye which so lately glared fiercely and
fearlessly upon every foe ; to stroke the powerful limbs and glossy
sides while they are still warm, and to handle the feet which made
the huge tracks that you have been following in doubt and danger.
How shall I express the pride I felt at that moment ! Such a
feeling can come but once in a hunter's life, and when it does come
it makes up for oceans of ill-luck. The conditions were all ex
actly right. I was almost alone and entirely unsupported, and had
not even one " proper M weapon for tiger-hunting. We met the tiger
fairly, on foot, and in four minutes from the time we first saw him
A TIGEE HUNT. 169
he was ours. Furthermore, lie was the first tiger I ever saw loose
in the jungle, and we had outwitted him. I admired my men quite
as much as I did myself ! They were totally unarmed, and they
had seen me miss spotted deer at sixty yards ; but instead of bolt
ing, as I should have done had I been in their place, they stood
right at my elbow like plucky men, as they were. What if they
had been of the timid sort ? They would never have consented to
follow the trail of that dangerous beast.
I paced the distance from where we stood to the dead tiger
and found it to be just thirty yards. My first was a dead centre
shot, striking him exactly in the left eye, scarcely nicking the edge
of the lid. I had intended that that bullet should enter his brain,
but owing to the narrowness of the brain-cavity it only fractured
the left side of the cranium. However, it rendered Tn-m quite
powerless either to fight or run away, and he would have died very
soon from such a terrible wound. In fact, I now think my second
shot was really unnecessary. Owing to the position of his head
I could not possibly have placed a bullet in his forehead so that
it would have reached the brain, but had I been using a regula
tion "No. 8-bore rifle," throwing a 2-ounce ball, I could have
blown the whole top of his head off very neatly (!) and utterly
ruined him as a specimen. My second shot struck one of his
neck vertebrae and cut his spinal cord, killing Tri-m instantly, a favor
ite shot with me when I can catch an animal at rest.
He was a splendid specimen every way, just in the prime of
tiger-hood, fat, sleek, and glossy. Up to that time I could not make
myself believe that a tiger can pick up a man in his mouth and run
away with him as easily as a terrier does with a rat But when I
measured that great brute, I saw and realized just how it is done.
Before touching him with a knife we measured him carefully, twice,
and recorded the figures in my note-book. His dimensions were
as follows :
Felts tigris.
ANHIALLAI HELLS, September 27, 1877.
Length from tip of nose to end of tail vertebrae .... 9 feet &J- inches.
Length of tail alone ............................. 3
Vertical height at shoulders ... ................... 3
Girth ............................ . ............ 4
Circumference of neck ........ s.
6
7
2
8
m
Circumference of fore-arm 1 foot 8
Width of fore-paw 6
Weight (by standard American scales) 49 Iba,
Circumference of head around the jaws ........... 3
160 TWO YEABS IK THE JUNGLE.
My experience with that specimen will serve as a good illustra-c
tion of the difficulties I had to contend with in curing skins in that
rainy jungle. In a climate that is dry and hot, skins can be cured,
sometimes, almost without preservatives ; but in the moist and
hot tropics, every bit of skin which does not feel the effects of a
powerful preservative at the right time will simply decompose be
fore it will cure in the least When the powdered alum does not
reach the epidermis, the latter slips off in about four days, taking
the hair along with it, leaving unsightly bald patches on the skin.
Thick skins must be thinned down with the knife, so that the alum
will strike through at once to the roots of the hair, and harden the
whole skin. For the benefit of the sportsman and the general
reader, I am tempted to give brief directions for skinning a tiger, so
that it may be mounted as a first class-museum specimen ; for
which see the Appendix. We removed the skin of our tiger, ap
plied the preservatives, and hung it over a pole to dry, expecting
that such glorious sunny weather as we were then having would
allow it to cure in a very few days. That same evening it began to
rain, and for the next ten days it was either a steady down-pour or
a dreary drizzle. Of course, no skin could dry in such a vapor
bath as that, and, worst of all, I was very short of alum.
For a week I played a game with the elements, with that tiger
akin for a stake. I hung it out in the air whenever the rain ceased
for an hour ; I built a fire before it, and came near roasting one leg.
I had a wide shed built, near my hut, under which I hung the skin, .
spread out and stretched so that the air could reach every portion
of it freely. I applied to it all the alum I had, both in the dry state
and made into a warm bath, but still the skin would not and could
not harden in the least, nor get dry so long as I remained there.
Determined not to lose such a specimen we broke up our camp
hastily and hurried off half a day's march to a spot that was higher and
more open, and where less rain fell. There we found the sun shining,
not hotly by any means, and unpacking our tiger skin we spread it
out widely in his gracious beams, which saved it at the last moment.
Mr. Theobald sympathized with me very heartily during my
troubles with it, and congratulated me upon my final success, in
forming me as he did so that he had once lost two fine tiger skins
nnder aJTrnlar circumstances, in spite of all he could do to save them.
I had nearly the same trouble with every large mammal skin I
prepared -in ife*- rs^^ iungle, and I re&**d .more than ever
" eternal vigilance is the pncto ^! " a, collection
CHAPTER X.V.
SKELETONIZING AN ELEPHANT.
Mischievous Elephants. Chase of a Large Herd. Death of a Tusker. Forbid
den Ground. A Secret. The Mulcer's Oath. A Change of Base. Skel
etonizing an Elephant in Sixteen Hours. Cacheing the Bones. The Traces
of our Guilt* Moral Aspect of the Affair. The Spotted Deer. A Pretty
Picture. The Indian Elk or Samhur. Bad Case of Protective Coloring.
Serenaded by Sambur. The '* Brain-fever bird. "Tree Eats. The
Muntjao. Delicious Venison. The Neilgherry Goat. Wild Hogs.
WHEN we returned to Tellicul after our absence while drying the
tiger skin, we found all our huts a total wreck. A large herd
of elephants had visited the spot and walked through them from
one end to the other, tearing them completely to pieces, smashing
tables and cots, and even pulling up a few of the posts, and throw
ing them some distance. All this just for pure mischief, just to be
doing something, and to show us what they could do. Many a
night in those hills I have heard the trumpeting and squeaking
of elephants near our camp, and I would never have been at all
surprised to have been awakened by an elephant pulling my hut
down over my head. I never went to sleep without Theobald's ele
phant-gun standing loaded within reach of my hand, and other
weapons close by, so that in case any wild beast made us a mid
night call we could give him a cordial reception. I also had a
hole cut in the end of my hut, at the foot of my cot, so that in case
a mischievous elephant should come and knock at my door in the
middle of the night, I could get out at the opposite end to receive
him in due form.
Three weeks after the death of the tiger, another herd of ele
phants visited our forest. The moment we found the trail, we
set out upon it as fast as we could go, and strained every nerve to
come up with the animals before they could get out of our hunting
ground. But once more we were doomed to disappointment and
aggravation. An hour before sunset^ the trackers declared that
11
162 TWO YEAES IN THE JTJK&LE.
the herd -was only a half-hour in advance of us and the trail crossed
the river into the Government Forest, of course ! We gave it up
that day, but the next morning we took up the trail where we had
left it the previous evening, and followed it rather leisurely for
some hours, just to see where it would finally lead to. That herd
was the largest I ever saw on those hills, containing between forty
and fifty elephants, five or six of which were tuskers. In some
places it left a trail like the track of a small hurricane, mowing
down the tall grass in a swath a hundred feet wide, pulling down and
smashing scores of old bamboos in one place, just for the fun of
the thing, and, stranger still, we saw several saplings the size of a
man's arm or larger which had been half uprooted and borne down
to the ground.
The herd had made a wide circuit through a corner of the Gov
ernment Forest, and just before they quitted it they had done
still further mischief. They visited a camp of wood-cutters on the
bank of the Toonacadavoo Eiver, where there were four large huts
for the accommodation of over fifty men. We found the huts torn
and smashed all to pieces, and of the long row of round stones on
which the men set their chatties of rice to cook, every stone had
been displaced and rolled about by those rascally elephants.
From the huts, the elephants had turned off westward and
headed straight for Cochin. In one place we saw where an old
tusker had been barking a tree with his tusks, just for amusement,
and once where he had thrust them into a bank of earth for a foot
or more. Again we came to where he had lain him down to sleep
and left a very perfect impression of his right tusk in the moist
earth. The trail led us through all sorts of places, and finally
crossed the boundary into Cochin. At last, we overhauled the herd
as it was feeding along a rather steep, grassy hill-side, which was
strewn here and there with rugged rocks, a capital situation. But
alas ! we were on forbidden territory again, Cochin this time, and
once more that fine loomed up before our eyes. Apart from the
fine, I had no conscientious scruples about the matter, for when an
elephant roams through four territories in one day, to which does
he belong more than to the others ? I argued the question, gave
it up, and decided to kill one of those elephants if possible, take its
skeleton for my collection, and if caught, pay the fine and call it
square, although financially it might prove a losing game.
We posted ourselves among some large rocks, well in advance
of the elephants, and waited for them to feed up toward us.
<1
o
SKELETONIZING AIT ELEPHANT. 163
On they came, and we saw there were five tuskers. This time I
made my calculations more carefully than before, fired confidently,
and my victim sank down in his tracks without a groan, and died
without a kick. Being well below our position, he received my
spherical zinc bullet high up on the left side of his head, whence it
ranged downward, passing through eleven inches of bone and
eleven inches of brain, and came out well below his right ear.
I regret to say that he was not the largest tusker in the herd,i
being surpassed by one other which was so surrounded by other
elephants that he was practically inaccessible, and therefore the
victory was not as great as it might have been.
We returned to camp directly, and ordered all the women and
children to start at once for Toonacadavoo. We had a big secret
to keep, and preferred to manage it without any of their assistance.
Women can keep a secret very closely, but it usually requires a
great many of them to accomplish it. As soon as the women had
been bundled off, bag and baggage, I told my men, through my
cook-interpreter, that no other person besides ourselves must ever
hear anything about that dead elephant, for should it get found
out we would all get into trouble. They declared the secret should
die 'with them. Then my new servant, Mullen, a private peon lent
me by Mr. Theobald, resorted to a little device to play upon the
superstitious feelings of the Muleers.
Mullen was a Mohammedan, and a very shrewd fellow every way.
He took my two big guns, laid them upon the ground, one across
the other, with the hammers at full cock, and kid my largest hunt
ing-knife an infant broad-sword, which I never once carried upon
the guns, where they crossed each other. Then he ordered my five
Muleers to walk up on one side of the altar, and told the first man,
Channa, to hold up his hands. Channa did so, whereupon the
peon administered a sort of double-geared, self-acting oath or in
vocation, which translated ran about as follows: "Everybody sees
that Channa promises before his sawmy (i.&, his favorite god) and
these horrible makers-of-dead-animals, that he will never tell any
man, woman, or child anything about the dead elephant, and what
the 'Merican sahib is about to do with it ; and that he (Channa)
begs his sawmy to remember, and if he ever does tell about it he
prays that his sawmy will send a man to shoot him with one of
these guns and stab hi with that knife, or one just as large."
Channa repeats the oath, steps over the " makers-of-dead-animals,"
and the ceremony is complete. Each of the others followed in
164 TWO TEARS IN THE JUGGLE.
tiirn, while I stood by with a very straight face to lend an air of
owlish solemnity to the scene.
Without a moment's delay we broke up our camp and hurried
off to the dead elephant, which lay in a wild, unfrequented spot be
tween two ranges of hills. We had a small tent, which we pitched
in a lovely little valley, beside a running stream, a quarter of a mile
from the elephant The men cleared a place between three bamboo
clumps and piled bamboo branches in the openings, so that a wild
animal could not walk over them as they slept without their know
ing of its approach. Shortly before sunset our camp was settled
and we were ready for work. I e < harangued " the men for a mo<
ment, telling them we had hard work ahead of us, and that for the
next two or three days I would expect them to work hard, and I
would double their wages. Then I served out arrack and tobacco
all around, got out the skinning-knives, grindstone, oilstone, lan
tern, etc., and we lit down upon that carcass like a flock of vultures.
The elephant had fallen upon his side, back down hill fortu
nately, and we took his dimensions very easily. He was eight feet
four inches in vertical height at the shoulders. As he lay there the
top of the carcass was just on a level with my chin, and our task
was to quarry the entire skeleton out of that great mountain of
flesh and blood. "We decided that we did not dare to attempt taking
the skin, for under the circumstances we would have all we could
do to take even the skeleton and get away with it without being
seen by any of the Cochin people. Besides, I wanted the skin of a
larger animal than that proved to be.
First, we stripped the skin from the upper side of the animal, to
have it out of the way, then cut off the two legs which were upper
most, the one at the shoulder and the other at the hip, and set two
men at work upon them to cut off the flesh, piece by piece. We
found that it required the strength of two men to roll the fore-leg
over as it lay upon the ground. From the first we worked very
systematically, cutting off the flesh in huge chunks and tumbling it
down the hill out of the way. The viscera soon swelled to an enor
mous size, and when we cut open the abdomen they burst out in a
huge, unwieldy mass, that cost us three hours' hard tugging and
lifting to detach and move out of the way.
When night came we lighted our lantern, built a large fire near
fee carcass, and while one man held the lantern and piled dry wood
the fire to keep it blazing brightly, the rest of us toiled OP
midnight, like so many bloody vampires. At last we were quite
SKELETONIZING AN ELEPHAJST. 165
tired out, and haying made an excellent beginning, we left off work,
went down to the little creek and bathed, after which I again served
out arrack all around to the men and finished a quart of Bass' ale on
my own account. With our tracking, marching to and fro, and work
on the elephant, we had had a hard day of it ; but the Mulcers had
grown quite plump and vigorous on a two months' diet of game, I
had been free from fever for nearly two weeks, and little cared we
for any amount of hard work which did not quite kill us.
At sunrise the next morning we were again at our task, and after
cutting the flesh from the entire upper side of the body, cutting
off the head and as much as possible of the lower legs, we procured
levers and, by dint of great exertion and no small amount of en
gineering, turned the carcass over. After the greater portion of
the flesh had been removed, we cut out the sternum in one piece,
cut out the ribs one by one, divided the massive spinal column into
four sections, and cut each leg in two at ankle and knee. Then all
the parts of the skeleton were cleaned neatly and carefully, one by
one. The skin of each foot I saved to mount as a footstool, and
the tail also was kept as a trophy.
By 4 P.M., after about sixteen hours' hard work, my five Mulcers
and I had cut out all the bones of the skeleton, cleaned them neatly,
painted them over with strong arsenical soap and tied them up
into bundles suitable for carrying. Being anxious to leave that
neighborhood as soon as possible, we carried all the bones about
three hundred yards and hid them away amongst some large rocks,
after which we spent an hour in making that spot look like a dense
thicket. We cut green boughs and stuck them up in the heap of
bones, and in the clefts of the rocks all around it, making young
trees grow up and green branches droop over with a naturalness
that was quite artistic. A stranger might have passed within twenty
yards of the cache without even suspecting its presence.
But at the scene of action there was about an acre of meat,
pieces of skin, blood, brains, and viscera which showed unmistak
ably that some great animal had been wrecked. That we could nt
hide, and one of my men, the peon who administered the oath to
the Mulcers, proposed that we get several pairs of bison horns and
throw them down there, along with a few bones, to mislead any of
the Cochin people who might happen to pass that way. It was a
good suggestion, but I thought we could risk the matter as it was.
Then we (( folded our tent like the Arabs and as silently stole away/
first obliterating all traces of our camp, a&d mardied boldly
166 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNGLE.
to Toonacadavoo but we persistently refused to be interviewed on
the subject of wild elephants.
The next day I sent the men back with a week's provisions, by the
end of which time they had carried off all the bones without being
seen by any one, and deposited them in a safe place in the Kulun-
gud forest. I may add in this connection that they were faithful
to their oath, at least to a great extent, and I doubt if the people
of Cochin have even yet heard of that affair. I suppose I did not
do altogether right about that elephant, and many severe moralists
will condemn me. When they do, I shall reply with the well-worn
formula, " It was all in the interest of Science."^ Verily, science, like
charity, covers a multitude of sins. I hate a scientific thief as much
as any one and the world is full of them but if any one can
steal aught from me, that was not mine yesterday, and may not be
mine to-morrow, and which I shall never miss nor ask for, he is
welcome to it.
" He that's robbed, not wanting what is stolen,
Tell him not of it, and he is not robbed at all."
I am positive the Kajah of Cochin never missed that tusker from
the vast herds which roam through his territories, and, considering
the purpose and the circumstances, I think I was justified in tak
ing it.
During the month of September I spent a good share of my
time in hunting smaller kinds of game, deer of all kinds in par
ticular. Being still desirous of taking another elephant for its
skin, I left my old camp at Tellicul, moved farther up the Teckadee
River and camped in a fine open spot called Moochpardi. The
hunting ground about this place was, excepting for elephants, all
that we could ask, and we endeavored to make the most of it.
The commonest animal in the Animallais, after the black monkey,
is the axis deer (Cervus axis), or "spotted deer " of sportsmen.
It was an understood thing between my men and me, that we could
go out any day and bring in one of these beautiful animals, and we
counted it exceedingly hard luck if we ever went out for deer and
were obliged to return without one. Had we been so disposed, we
could have slaughtered a great many of them, for they were very
numerous, but we never shot even one which we did not positively
need, either for skin, skeleton, or venison. From first to last we
killed about twenty, a very moderate score, considering the num
ber of tempting opportunities we had. I hate to see game
O
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fc
H
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SKELETONIZING AN ELEPHANT. 167
slaughtered to no purpose, and I hate all such game-butchers as
those of our Western Territories who have already nearly extermi
nated the American bison.
All around Moochpardi are numerous grassy glades in the
forest, usually of three to five acres in extent, where the ground is
low and moist, and the grass is sweetest and. tenderest. In these
beautiful little pastures, hedged around by the tall, dark bamboo
forest, the spotted deer love to feed in the early morning, before
the sun gets too hot, and in the late afternoon when the shadows
lengthen. We always found them in those places between four
and five o'clock in the afternoon, although, to be sure, we used to
happen upon them in all kinds of forest, and at all hours of the
day. After a few hours' hard work on specimens and a quiet mid
day snooze in my hut, I would get on my hunting gear, call up Vera,
and tell him that' we would " go out now." Ten minutes later we
would be on the look-out for game. We would go to one glad
after another, always coming up to them against tip wind, until at
last we reached the right one, and our eyes would be gladdened by
the sight of a dozen spotted beauties, grazing quietly, or lying at
rest upon the green sward.
One particularly beautiful scene of this kind is stamped upon
my memory with photographic accuracy. There was a small glade
about the size of a city square, quite surrounded by dense bamboo
forest, which was a favorite feeding ground for spotted deer.
Stealing up to this through the dark jungle, late one bright after
noon, we espied in the centre of the open space a number of
spotted forms which were a feast for the eyes of any lover of
nature. Creeping up quite close to the edge of the opening, we
crouched behind a thick clump of bamboos and gazed in silent ad
miration upon the lovely picture before us.
Grouped together in a most charming fashion, were about sixty
deer of all ages, and sizes, from a tiny fawn up to a splendid stag
with horns measuring but I must not anticipate. How lithe,
graceful, and beautifully clean they jOl looked ! The slanting rays
of the sun shone full against their beautifully spotted sides, bring
ing out the white spots in striking contrast against the bright fawn-
colored ground." Some were leisurely cropping the short grass,
giving an occasional glance into the dark and treacherous forest, and
others lay about at their ease, blinking lazily, and patiently grinding
away at their cuds, now and then drawing a long breath of content
ment Surely, the axis deer is the most beautiful of all its tribe.
168 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE.
It seemed a pity to spoil ^uch a pretty picture by shedding blood \
but after all, death from bullet, knife, or spear is the most fitting end
for any wild animal. Why should I not slay that noble stag in a
moment's time and preserve it to be admired by thousands of other
men, rather than leave it to be pulled down and torn to bits by a
tiger ? Without further argument, I sent a Maynard bullet through
his shoulders, and he was mine. The next moment the herd dashed
away at a great pace, but I managed to get in another shot, which
brought down a fine doe.
The dimensions and weight of both specimens are given in the
table of measurements, and may be taken as the average size at
tained by this species. This deer is difficult to approach within
fair shooting distance, but a careful hunter can, in nearly every
case, stalk a herd successfully in such forest as that upon the
Animallais. At the same time they are exceedingly wary, and in
brushy ground would be very difficult to kill. A stick breaking
under the hunter's foot is quite sufficient to send the herd oflf
flying, and their sight is usually quite as keen as their sense of
sound. I have noticed that the buck never leads a herd, as many
suppose, but lags along toward the rear, while an old doe leads the
van. The flesh is always good eating, and that of young indi
viduals is very fine indeed, fine-grained and sweet, ^but, like most
venison, a little dry. The tongue is of course a choice tit-bit.
The axis is not easily frightened by evidences of civilization,
and at times they are guilty of the most barefaced impudence.
Once at Mpochpardi, a solitary stag came up close to our camp,
but on the other side of the river, in broad daylight, and uttered
his loud, clear note of defiance. He repeated it so often and so de
fiantly that I finally went out with my rifle, waded the river,
stalked my challenger successfully, and made a clean miss. But
that was not the only time we heard spotted deer calling near our
camp.
The sambur, or Indian elk (Rusa aristotelis), is abundant in the
Animallais, although not seen so frequently as the axis deer, nor in
anything like such numbers. Usually they are found solitary, often
two or three are found together, and once I saw seven in one herd.
The sambur is the largest animal of the deer tribe in the East In
dies, and is in many respects the oriental counterpart of our Ameri
can elk, or wapiti (Cervus canadensis), although the former is not
nearly so large and noble looking an animal as its American con
gener. The sambur stands about four feet six to ten inches in
SKELETONIZING AN I^LI^PHAiSTT. 169
vertical height at the shoulder, the length of head and body is from
six to seven feet, and the tail twelve inches. Its body color varies
from dark brown to slaty gray, according to the season and local
ity, the under parts are pale pinkish yellow, and upon the oldest
stags the hair is long upon the throat and neck, forming a bristly
mane.
The horns have but three points, a stout, thick brow-antler
springing forward directly from the base or burr of the horn, and
the beam is bifurcated near its extremity, sometimes the inner and
sometimes the outer tine being the longer. The horns of adult
stags average thirty-six inches in length, although they often far
exceed that size. Mr. Dawson, of Ootacamund, showed me a splen
did pair which measured forty-four inches from base to tip.
I cannot call the sambur a handsome animal by any means.
Certainly a stag without its horns is the homeliest deer I ever saw,
and as one rushed heavily away from me in the forest it always re
minded me of a mulley cow. The body is heavy, the hair thin and
coarse, and, to judge from the amount of noise made by a running
sambur, it struck me as being a heavy-going and rather clumsy
animaL
When lying down or standing motionless against a bamboo
clump, a sambur is very difficult to see, at least for my eyes. I
once afforded my men a ludicrous and aggravating illustration of
this fact. I found that the eyes of my Mulcers differed from mine
in their being able to pierce through underbrush and make out an
object which I could scarcely see at all, even when pointed out. On
the other hand, I could detect a moving object, even were the mo
tion ever so slight, just as quickly as any of them, and a little quicker
than even Vera, as was several times fairly proven.
One day we were hunting through the bamboo forest for what
ever game we could find, when Vera stopped, uttered his low game
signal, " tut-tut-tut," and pointed into a low thicket fifty yards away.
He said it was a sambur. I looked intently, made up my mind I
saw it, and blazed away. The object I fired at did not move. Vera
said, "It is there yet, sahib ! " and I fired again at what I thought
was it. The same result as before. The sambur did not run. I
fired two more shots at an imaginary deer, and the men began to
laugh at me. I was disgusted with myself, and exclaimed, "Blast
my eyes ! " with far more fervency than any sailor.
Presently a twig moved, I saw the sambur and my fifth bullet
struck it, but not quite fatally. It rushed out of the thicket, ran a
170 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNGLE.
short distance and stopped behind some bamboos. Vera took me
up quite close to it and tried to make me see it. I looked and
looked, and he pointed and pointed, saying, "There, sahib ! there !"
but I couldn't make it out. The men all grinned from ear to ear,
and I blasted my eyes more heartily than ever. Finally I sighted
a brown object in a thicket fifty yards away, and fired at it through
the clump of bamboos near "which we were standing. Imagine my
feelings when the sambur sprang up from the ground on the other
cide of the bamboo clump, almost under the muzzle of my rifie, or at
least only twenty-five yards away ! He had been lying down, and
I fired directly over him. As he ran off slowly, I hit him again and
brought him down, but this did not atone for my former stupidity.
It was a bad case of protective coloring, which I had noticed
many times before. The summer coat of the sambur is precisely
of the same dull gray color as the branching, scraggy base of a
bamboo clump.
Sambur hunting in the Animallais is a mere question of patient
tracking and straight shooting. The game is easy to stalk and easy
to shoot All around Tellikul, sambur were very plentiful, and
many a time during the night some daring old buck would come
up within fifty or a hundred paces of our camp, and blow one blast
after another on his dinner-horn. I know of no sound which the
so-called " bark " of this animal so nearly resembles, as a short,
strong blast on a deep-toned tin horn. What sounds can be more
pleasant to a hunter's ears than such a midnight serenade in the
heart of a grand old forest !
There was one serenader, however, who often annoyed me by
his outlandish song. It was the hawk-cuckoo (SRerococcyx varius,
VahL), also called the "brain-fever bird," partly because its cry
sounds like " brain/euer," and also because of its fancied tendency
to produce that painful malady. This bird would perch quite close
to my hut, and begin with a low whistling cry of "hew-ee,"but
with each repetition it was given louder until it reached the high
est pitch of the bird's lungs, about like this :
liewH?e/ Tiew-m, ! mnw-JEtf / HEW-EE ! HEW-EE ! "
About every five minutes, or less, it would begin at the bottom of
the gamut and keep getting louder and louder, until at the last it
would end in a shrill shriek, like a steam-whistle, and the exhausted
bird would stop to rest This serenade was a great annoyance to
SKELETONIZING AN ELEPHANT. 171
me sometimes, especially when I was feverish and inclined to be
wakeful.
While I lived at Tellikul, two tree-rats (Mm rufescens) used to
come into my hut from the jungle, nearly every night, and gallop
over the floor and climb all about the place, rattling papers con
tinually and rummaging around, until I would get so nervous and
irritated that for hours I could not sleep. I tried every plan I
could think of to kill those two rats, but somehow my schemes all
failed. I tried to poison them, smash them in a deadfall, shoot
them, blow them up with gunpowder, and even to spear them ; but
something happened every time so that they escaped. At last, to
my great relief, their nightly visits ceased.
When I first came up to the Hills, Mr. Theobald was living in the
Deputy Conservator's bungalow, which had a very thick roof made
of layers of cocoanut leaves. This thatch literally swarmed with
tree-rats, and one or two other species, and at night, after we had
retired, they would come down to the floor by dozens, and go gallop
ing and rummaging all about, fighting and squealing until daylight.
Several times rats ran over me as I lay in my cot, and once one
jumped from a beam and alighted upon my forehead as I lay
asleep. At last they annoyed me so much that I had to keep my
light burning all night, which kept them away to some extent
Mr. Theobald had got accustomed to them, as I should in time, and
it was well he had, for so long as that thatch roof remained upon
the house it would be swarming with rats. We tried to poison
them, but they were too smart for us. We caught a great many
in different kinds of traps, however.
One of the most interesting of all the small deer is the muntjac
(Cervulus aureus), which we frequently met in hunting on the Ani-
mallais and studied with unusual interest. This curious little ani
mal is found in nearly all the thick forests and jungles of India,
from an elevation of nine thousand feet in the Himalayas * to Cey
lon, and also throughout the Malay peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra,
and Java. The muntjac is really the connecting link between the
Cermdce and Moschidce, or musk deer, having the antlers of the
former and long upper canines of the latter.
Jerdonf gives the height of the muntjac as 26 to 28 inches,
but out of ten adult specimens which I shot in various parts of the
East Indies, the largest was only 22 inches in vertical height, with
* Jerdon. t Mammals of India.
172 TWO YEAES ITT THE JTHTOLE.
length of head and body 35 inches. The body color of the ani
mal is a clear, bright reddish bay. The antlers, which are 4 to 5
inches long, are set up on two round pedestals of bone 2 inches
high, covered with skin -and densely hairy. There are two long,
black ridges of skin and two corresponding furrows extending
down the face, which, together with its curious antlers, give the lit
tle animal a very strange appearance. The legs are short, the hind
quarters round and heavy, and it can neither run fast nor far. The
head is always carried low, which enables the defenceless little
creature to creep through tangled jungle faster than its enemies
can follow. It has a very peculiar cry, which is really a bark, like
the yapping of a small dog. The first time I heard it in the jungle
I thought, until told otherwise, it was a dog barking. Twice by its
cry alone I have found and shot this "barking deer." Each pecu
liarity of this Strange little animal has caused it to receive a sep
arate name, so that, besides muntjac, it is called " rib-faced deer,"
"barking deer," "red hog deer/' and worst of all, "jungle sheep/'
from the manner in which it carries its head and neck. The flesh
of the muntjac is the finest venison I ever tasted, and in fact, aside
from birds, I know no wild meat equal to it. Could it be placed
upon the table of an epicure, I am sure it would be counted a great
delicacy. The meat is very fine-grained, tender, but seldom fat,
and possesses an exquisite game flavor quite peculiar to itself,
which is indescribable. The most delicious soup I ever tasted was
made from the flesh of a muntjac.
The Neilgherry goat, or " ibex " of sportsmen (Hemitragus Jiylo-
crius), inhabits various precipitous places in the Animallais, and is
now quite abundant A sportsman on the Neilgherries does well if
he kills one or two in a week, but here I was told of two gentlemen
killing six in one day. Once we went after goats to a rocky cliff near
Sungam, the elephant camp, six miles from Toonacadavoo, and
after a long, laborious climb to the summit, we found one lying
on a narrow ledge of rock, half -way down the side of the precipice,
and far out of range. We took a good look at him through
the glass, and watched him until he finally got up and sauntered
out of sight, but we never saw him again. How he ever got down
to that narrow ledge on the face of a smooth, perpendicular wall
of rock, was more than I could see ; nor could I divine why he
chose to go in the most dangerous place he could find, unless to
escape his enemies. The only specimen of this wild goat I secured
was shot for me by Arndee and brought in quite fresh. With so
SKELETONIZING AN ELEPHANT. 173
many other interesting animals around me, I was not ambitions to
wear my body out, and perhaps break my neck, in trying to get one
or two more goats.
In the course of our -hunting large game, we occasionally fell in
with droves of wild hog, or "pig" (Sus'Indicus), but somehow I
succeeded in killing only two good specimens. We always started
them in brushy forest, where the bushes were so thick it was almost
impossible to hit a hog running through them. One day, while
ve were in camp at Moochpardi, we went out in the afternoon,
<ind in less than an hour brought down a fine doe axis deer and a
buck muntjac, which we told Nangen and Gorlee to carry home.
In returning, Yera and I were alone, walking along a path which
led along the edge of a long, open glade with thick, dark jungle
on one side. All at at once Vera stopped, knit his brows, focused
his keen eyes upon some object among the thick bushes, and the
next moment pointed at a large boar standing motionless as a rock
behind a tree, with only his head and ears visible. The old fellow
thought he was fully screened, but the next instant a rifle bullet
went through his ear and into his brain, and we had another fine
specimen to add to the day's account. He weighed two hundred
and thirty pounds, but Yera and Channa slung him under a pole
and trotted home with him in fine style.
CHAPTEK XVI.
THE SECOOT) YEAR OF THE MADRAS FAMINE.
Sickness in the Jungle. Temporary Absence from the Hills. A Starving
Waif. The Spectre of Famine. Famine-stricken Natives. Cause and
Effects of the Famine. The Belief Camp at Animallai. A Review of the
Hungry. The Government and the Famine. "Money Doles." Mortal
ity." Be ye Warmed and Fed 1 "End of the Drought.
TOWAED the end of September, my supplies of all kinds were quite
exhausted, and having a huge pile of skins, rough skeletons and
skulls to care for, I determined to go down from the hills for a
few weeks, pack up my collection for safe-keeping, and see if a
change of air, water, and diet would not benefit my health, I would
have quitted the hills then for good, had I not felt in duty bound
to bring away the skin of a really large elephant.
During my three months on the Animallais, I had nine sepa
rate attacks of fever, and all the time there were from five to ten raw
ulcers on each of my ankles, which I had to dress daily with court-
plaster and cotton before I could wear my hunting shoes. Many
times I had to stuff cotton in my shoes all around my ankles, so that
I could make out to walk without severe pain. Those ulcers re
mained unhealed as long as I stayed in Southern India, and did not
get well until I had been some time in Ceylon.
At this time Professor Ward kept writing to me, " Take great care
of your health, and run no risk of losing life or limb. If you are
attacked by fever, leave that country at once." But I was not go
ing to be beaten by a little fever. What I constantly dreaded was
dysentery, for an attack of that would perhaps have forced me to
abandon my enterprise. I was told it is almost impossible for a
European to recover from a severe attack, of it without taking a
long sea-voyage, or going to England.
Early in July, Mr. Theobald, who was thoroughly fever-proof, was
attacked by it, and in a week he was reduced to a gaunt, colorless,
hollow-eyed ghost of his former self. I feared he would never re-
THE SECOND TEAR OF THE MADRAS FAMINE. 176
cover from it without going to England ; but he did. To my sur
prise and admiration he cured himself, with a little advice from an
other doctor, and that, too, while the Deputy Conservator, who had
occupied the Animallai post with him, was on his way to England
to get rid of the same disease.
Mr. Theobald used to doctor the natives very successfully, curing
their fevers and other ailments, one after another. I never saw a
man more universally liked by all the natives who knew "him than
was he. He was particularly kind and charitable to the Mulcens
and Karders, poor wretches to whom a powerful friend in the Gov
ernment service was a perfect godsend. He treated them like so
many children, and they in return would have done and endured
anything to serve him.
When the time came for me to leave the hills, I sent for about
thirty coolies from Animallai, to carry my collection down to the
foot of the ghaut, where some bandies were waiting to take it the
remaining ten miles, to Animallai. Theobald gave me his horse to
ride, but at the top of the pass I dismounted and gave him in
charge of the syce, while I started to make the descent on foot
The weather was simply perfect, and a more glorious afternoon I
never saw. From the winding road which leads down the steep
mountain side, one catches occasional views of the plain, which
stretches out from the base of the mountain, mile after mile, a vast
sea of bare, brown earth dotted with green fields, clumps of trees,
and red-tiled villages as far as the eye can reach, until in the dis
tance all are blended together. From my cool eyrie, I could easily
trace the course of the Animallai Eiver by the fringe of green trees
along its banks, and before me, at the end of a long stretch of
straight road, lay the village of Animallai. ATI hour later I was
trudging along that dusty highway, with the sun beating down upon
me and the perspiration pouring off my face like rain.
Two miles from Animallai there is another village, and as I ap
proached it, my attention was arrested by a little child about four
years old, entirely naked, of course, hobbling slowly about in the
sandy bed of a dried-up pond. Its feet and legs were swollen with
" famine dropsy," as if they had elephantiasis, the ankles being as
large as the thighs, and the miserable little thing could step only a
few inches at a tima Its sunken cheeks, hollow eyes, and protrud
ing ribs told of starvation, and it was plain to be seen the helpless
waif would soon die, unless eared for. I told my boy to take up
fche child and carry it to the village, or else find some one else to
176 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
do it. He declined to touch it, and it was some time before we
found a coolie who was willing to take the wretched little waif in
his arms and carry it along, even under promise of liberal pay for
his services.
As we stood in the road trying to carry out our intentions, peo
ple stopped out of curiosity, and presently there came toward us,
from a clump of bushes, a man in the last stage of starvation. He
was entirely nude, except a dirty rag around his loins, and being
naturally tall, his gaunt appearance was all the more striking. He
was indeed a living skeleton, literally skin and bone. He was nearly
six feet high, but I could have picked him up in my arms and car
ried him like a child. Every large bone in his body was sharply
outlined through his dark, unhealthy-looking skin, and his stomach
was shrunken in as though he had been disembowelled. This ghastly
apparition, with a stick in one hand and an old earthen chattie in
the other, slowly hobbled up on trembling limbs, and stood before
me, with WANT written on every feature. As soon as it came close
up to me I say it, because it seemed more like the gaunt spectre
of Famine than a living man it slowly went down upon its knees,
then \ipon its hands, feebly and painfully, and finally pressed its
forehead to the dust at my feet and lay there grovelling. Its only
word or exclamation was " Saw-mee-ee ! " repeated with a despair
ing moan on the last syllable.
It meant the same as " Oh, lord ! " in our language, and was
addressed to me personally, as to an idol ! The wretched man had
been brought so low that he could forsake his idols and cry to a
white man for succor. I never felt so utterly mean and helpless.
The above is no fancy picture, nor overdrawn for the sake of
effect, but only one out of ten thousand such experiences occurring
daily during those fearful times. It was the second year of the
famine, and hundreds were dying every day of starvation and fam
ine diseases. Every time I stopped at the bungalow in Animallai,
men, women, and children came flocking to the doors with that
dismal wail of " Saw-mee-ee/' often rising in perfect chorus. They
were mostly old men, and women with children, sometimes babes
which were nothing but little black skeletons. The old men would
pat their hollow stomachs with one claw-like hand, and extend the
other, and the women would point to their emaciated children and
hold up their bony arms. At first I began to give the people cop
pers, and sometimes rice, but I soon found it would not do. They
came to me in such continually increasing crowds that I was quite
THE SECOISTD TEAR OF THE MADRAS FAMINE. 177
overwhelmed, and compelled in self-defence to refuse them entirely.
Had I obeyed the dictates of my feelings, I would, in a week's time,
have been wholly bankrupt About that time, however, efficient
measures for the relief of the famine-stricken people were adopted
by the Government.
The child we found wandering, and the starving man who ap
peared at the same time, we took with us to Animallai, where there
was a relief camp. We were told that the parents of the former
were both dead, and there was absolutely no one left to care whether
it lived or died. A coolie carried the child along with me, and the
man, being unable to walk, was left to get into one of my bandies
when they came along. On reaching the relief camp I gave the
child into the charge of the doctor, who placed it in a hospital shed
and promised that it should have every attention.
A wide-spread famine of a year's duration, in a country as thickly
populated as India, means the death'of thousands in spite of all help.
But when it extends over two years, as did that of Madras in 1876-
77, it means the death of millions. In April, 1876, the southwest
monsoon failed to bring rain, and none fell until late in the follow
ing year. The ground became literally baked, and refused to yield
either grass or grain, the wells and tanks dried up, the people con
sumed all the grain remaining from the previous crop very little
at most and soon became wholly dependent upon the grain im
ported from Calcutta, Burmah, and Ceylon, and landed at Madras.
The ever-poor agricultural laborers, and equally poor ryots, who are
all the slaves of the money-lenders, and the small shop-keepers of
every description, were the ones who soonest ate up all they
owned and sold everything they could spare for food. In the
Madras Presidency and Mysore there are thirty-five million people,
of whom about twenty millions were directly under the famine
scourge. Think of it. Not a few thousand people in the State of
Kansas, or Wisconsin, or the burned districts of Michigan, but
more than one-third as many people as there are in the whole
United States, to be fed upon imported food for nearly two years,
and that, too, at famine prices.
In a comparatively short time, thousands were wholly dependent
upon charity, and each succeeding month the number was increased
by thousands more. Private charity exhausted itself, and had not
the Government taken measures to save life regardless of cost,
it would now be easier to count the living than the dead. The
treasury of India was opened to supply the starving people with
178 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
food, physicians, and medicines. Belief camps were organized in
stricken districts, to which the low-caste people flocked in thousands
for food and medical treatment ; while thousands more, of higher
caste, stayed away and lived upon the " money-doles " which were
distributed faithfully and judiciously by the missionaries.
I very frequently visited the relief camp at Animallai, and studied
its internal economy with much interest. As it was a type of many
such, I will try to describe it as I saw it for the first time. On a
stretch of open ground near the river stood a rectangular enclosure,
about four hundred feet long and two hundred wide, divided in the
middle by a wall, so that the whole formed two hollow squares.
Kough pole sheds with roofs of thatch extended all along the sides
of the enclosure, and afforded dry sleeping rooms for the people.
In one corner of the yard was the kitchen, in which was a long row
of huge, earthen cooking-pots, and next to it was the doctor's officer
Outside the camp was another shed which served as a hospital
I passed into the camp in the evening, just at meal-time. One
yard was empty, but the other was filled with men, women, and
children, squatting upon the ground in three divisions, each sub
divided into ranks of ten or twenty. There were about three hun
dred people present waiting to be fed. At a gate near the upper end
of the wall dividing the two yards, stood the huge earthen pots ; one
containing pepper-water, the other a kind of soup made of gram,
and some baskets full of boiled rice pressed into' balls. Those for
the children were about the size of large pop-corn balls, those for
the men and women were three times as large, and weighed two
and a half pounds each. In each of the pots was a ladle made of a
cocoanut, shell with a piece of bamboo for a handle.
The food was steaming hot, and the people were not only ready
but anxious for it. When the word was given, the children rose,
approached the gate in single file, and I took my stand beside
the jar of pepper-water and prepared to serve it out. The children,
most of whom were absolutely naked, came up closely one after an
other, each carrying a receptacle for his portion of food. Some had
earthen chatties, some had joints of bamboo or old tin cans, and
others had only shallow pieces of broken crockery or leaky tin.
Each received a ladle full of soup, another of pepper-water and a
ball of rice, and they all filed through into the other yard. The
children, as a rule, looked quite well cared for, and some were quite
plump.
Next came the men, and with them we had %ur hands full
THE SECOIO) YEAE OF THE HABEAS FAMESTE. 179
They crowded up to the gate like wild beasts, and several times the
attendants had to seize them by the hair of their heads and hold
fchem back, to save the pots from being overthrown. Some begged
for a double allowance until they were hustled off ; some came up
with a bewildered, dreamy air, and would have gone away without
any food had we permitted them. Such a review of beggars, such
a procession of hollow stomach, protruding ribs, and fleshless arms
and thighs I never saw before. Many were very old, wrinkled, and
skinny, bent almost double and barely able to hobble along ; some
had famine dropsy ; some were deformed, several limped, many
were blind of one eye, but all were desperately hungry.
At last the review of the hungry was over, and in the adjoining
enclosure we presently found them all sitting quietly on their hams
devouring their food. Twice a day was that same scene enacted,
each time decently and in order, and in that camp and village but
few people died. But this was only a very small camp in compari
son with many others. All were closely inspected, and frequently
by the specially appointed Famine officers. The Government quick
ly responded to calls for more grain, or for medicine, surgical instru
ments, blankets or additional assistance.
The Vice-regal Government (at Calcutta) did not fully awake
to the urgency of the situation in Madras until what seemed to
me about the eleventh hour. Then the methods of the Madras
Government were found fault with, a large amount of executive
talent was exported from the Northern Presidencies for the benefit
of Madras, and friction was the result. Toward the close of the
famine, a host of civil officers were sent from Bengal at great ex
pense, many coming even from Assam, to do duty in the famine
districts. I knew one enterprising officer who travelled by rail
from Calcutta to Bombay and thence down to Madras, instead of
coming direct by steamer, in order to make a snug little surplus
of about four hundred rupees on his mileage allowance.
The difficulty of dealing with a famine in India cannot be iilly
understood, save by those who are familiar with the character of the
people. Natives of high caste would rather die of starvation than
go to the relief camps and receive food with the common people.
A Brahmin would rather die by inches than partake of food pre
pared by the hands of the fairest missionary lady in all India. I
knew of one case of this kind. A Brahmin lay dying of starvation
by the roadside in Bangalore, when a kind-hearted lady living near,
passed by and saw him. She had some conjee (rice-soup), pre<
180 TWO TEARS 1ST THE JUNGLE.
pared immediately and taken to him, but the dying bigot refused
to touch it and expired the next hour.
Instead of allowing all those to starve, who, on account of caste
prejudices refused to come to the relief camp for food, the ever-
patient, long-suffering government officials caused money to be dis
tributed among them, in sums sufficient to purchase daily food. To
the missionaries fell the important and arduous work of ascertain
ing which were the deserving ones, and distributing the funds
among them. At the Animallai bungalow I had the pleasure of
meeting the Rev. Mr. Hutchison and lady, English missionaries
from Coimbatore, who had for months been engaged in going from
village to village with their native Christian helpers, and distrib
uting the "money doles" among those whom they found to be de
serving of help. If I remember rightly, he distributed about four
hundred rupees every day while he was in Animallai. How I envied
him the satisfaction he undoubtedly felt in handing out hard cash
to those hungry wretches.
It would be impossible to say too much in praise of the energy
and activity displayed by the Madras Government in fighting for
the lives of the millions under its charge. I do not see how a
government could have done more. Month after month a perfect
torrent of grain was poured into Madras from seaward, and for
months the entire resources of the Madras railway systems were
strained to the utmost to carry it into the famine districts fast
enough to keep the people from dying by thousands.
But, in spite of all efforts to afford relief, the mortality during
the famine was very great. Many died from sheer starvation, and
more still from diseases engendered by the long scarcity of food
and water. The official report places the number of deaths from
the famine in the Madras Presidency and Mysore, at 1,400,000, but
the most careful reckoning made by private individuals, who could
have no reason to mislead, shows that in reality the number oi
deaths was over five million. It is highly probable that only a mod
erate proportion of the deaths that really occurred were officially
recorded and reported. The total cost of the famine to the Govern
ment was about thirteen million pounds sterling. England contrk
buted, by the donations of private individuals, 800,000 ($3,840 r -
000). The churches of the United States have spent millions on
missionary work in India, but so far as I can ascertain, the Great
Eepublic contributed only $800 for the relief of the starving peo
ple in Madras. Verily, this is a case of " be ye warmed and fed ; *
THE SECOISTD YEAR OF THE HABEAS FAMESTE. 181
for the souls of the perishing Hindoos were liberally cared for,
while their bodies were left to shift for themselves. At present
there is, in my opinion, nothing which needs so much care, in every
respect, as the body of the Hindoo native, and nothing which de
serves so little attention as his souL If he is only out of debt and
well fed he is happy, and no amount of Christianity can better
his moral condition in the least, for he simply will not be con
verted (!) unless he can make money .by it.
The Madras famine ended in the autumn of 1877 with the re
turn of the monsoon rains, and when I quitted the Coimbatore Dis
trict in December of that year, the relief camp was deserted, the
special famine officers were returning to Bengal, and the ryots were
reaping a reasonably good harvest.
CHAPTEK XVH.
THE POETRY OF FOREST LIFE. BISON SHOOTING-.
Return to the Hills. Benighted in the Jungle. Native Meanness. Doray<
sawmy, the " Gentleman's God." A Jewel of a Servant. Prospects.
Fever again. Bass' Pale Ale. Glorious Weather. Fine Forest The
Poetry of Life in the Forest. Our Mode of Hunting. A Bison Hunt.
Death of a Solitary Bull. A Noble Animal. Characters and Habits of
the Species. Another Hunt. Four Bison in Five Shots. The Bison as an
Antagonist. Mr. Morgan's Encounter with a Wounded Bull. A Close
Shave. A Typical English Sportsman and his Battery. How to Preserve
a Bison-skin for Mounting.
LEAVING my collection stored at Palghaut, I went by rail up to Co-
imbatore, laid in a full stock of provisions and preservatives, and on
the 25th of October returned to Animallai village. Arriving there
I learned that Mr. Theobald's health was very bad, that he had been
granted leave to change posts, and was soon going ta leave the
Animallais for Nelumboor. Being attacked by fever again myself,
I was detained at Animallai until he came down, bag and baggage,
and we had our farewell visit there. During this short delay, I
collected my old hunting-gang, gave the men an advance of money
and rice, and sent them to Moochpardi to erect a good large hut
for me. We were certain there would be plenty of elephants around
that camp by the time I should return to it.
When I made ready to return to my old hunting-grounds, Mr.
Theobald fairly loaded me with favors. He insisted upon lending
me a fine young milch cow and calf, which he could not well take
with him, his elephant gun, as before, and quite an array of camp
conveniences which I had before done without. On November 3d
we were ready, and loading our baggage upon six pack-bullocks,
six coolies, and a bandy, we started about noon, which was as early
as those wretched natives could be pulled together and shoved off
"We tried to start the day previous, but owing to an unusual devel
Qpment of native cuasedness, failed utterly.
THE POETRY OF FOREST LIFE. BISOK SHOOTING. 183
After ten miles of slow but terrible jolting behind the meanest
pair of bullocks I ever saw, we reached the foot of the Teckadee
ghaut, a terribly steep, rocky pass, and began the ascent. For three
hours my boy and I worried with those coolies and bullocks, carry
ing one pack after another, until we finally reached the top of the
pass and started for Moochpardi. Eecent rains had made the road
very muddy, and the coolies and bullock-drivers grumbled and
complained unceasingly. At sunset, five miles of muddy road
through thick forest, and a swollen river, lay between us and our
camp. The man with the cow and calf, and the coolies with my
outfit chest, I allowed to turn off at Teckadee for the night, but the
bullocks and their loads were obliged to go on.
As we passed a large camp of timber-cartmen, I tried hard to
hire a cart to carry us to Moochpardi, or even a man to show us the
way ; but neither could I get for love or money. They would see
us get lost in the jungle and perish, too, for that matter, before they
would, of their own good will, stir a step to aid us. No one is
more cringing, fawning, and servile than the Indian low caste native
when he is hungry, and no one is more arrogant, disobliging, and
inhuman when he is well-fed and housed. I am not ashamed to
say that I hate the " gentle Hindoo," and if you, my reader, ever
fall into his power, or have actual need of his good will, you will
soon say the same.
And so we had to go on, and trust to luck to find the road. We
lit the lantern, and my new servant, acting as an advance guard
carried it and one df my guns ahead ; after him came the file of bul
locks and coolies, while I carried a naked candle shielded by my
hat, and marched along as a rear guard. It was a tedious and toil
some tramp through the mud and the black darkness, all the time
harassed by the fear of a drenching storm and of missing the road.
When we reached the river, we undressed and waded it, the men
carrying the packs on their heads how chilly and swift the water
was ! and kept on, until at about nine o'clock we dragged wearily
into our. old camp at Moochpardi.
My old gang was there, and hailed our arrival with delighi^ while
they proudly led me to the fine new bamboo hut they had erected
for me, at a total cost of precisely $2.50. And then I found once
more what a priceless jewel to the jungle traveller is a really good
servant. I had a new one whom I had picked up in Coimbatore in
this wise : I had determined to discharge the servant I had brought
down from the hills, a clumsy, old, gray-haired man not fit
184 TWO YEARS IJST THE JUNGLE.
life, and while I was waiting an hour at Pothanoor Junction for the
train to Coimbatore, I went to the butler, or "head-boy," of the
refreshment station, and asked him where I could find a good
servant.
" Why sir, you got one servant already. What you want with
one more ? " " That's none of your business. I want another and
a better one. Can you find one for me ? " " No, sir ! " " Where do
you think I can find one ? " "I don't know, sir." " Now look here.
If you will find me a good ' boy/ that can cook and speak a little
English, I will give you a rupee ! "
You should have seen him brighten up. Telling me to wait
there for him, he ran off and in fifteen minutes returned with a fine-
looking young man wearing a magnificent black mustache, and rub
bing his eyes in a bewildered way. The butler recommended him
strongly and offered to be "secruit " (security) for him to the extent
of twenty rupees. I looked at the boy keenly, and he at me, asked
him a few questions hurriedly, answered a few, and in five minutes
we had struck a bargain. The train was nearly due. He dashed
off to where he had been sleeping, in five minutes ran back with a
moderate sized white bundle ; I handed him his ticket and three
minutes later we were off.
I saw that the idea of going into the jungle on a hunting spree
had stirred him up profoundly, and I knew he was my man. His
name was Doraysawmy meaning "gentleman's god!" and he
was worthy of his name. After my other three Madras servants, he
seemed almost worthy of adoration. He was a capital cook, a
first-rate tailor in his way, clean, neat, and industrious as any New
England housewife. Of my own accord I nearly doubled his wages,
and at last paid him at the rate of eighteen rupees per month ;
but he was worth it. He was a perfect jewel of a boy.
When we got to my new hut that night, he showed his good
qualities at once. First, he tore the cover off a bos, fished out a
cork-screw and a cup from the camp chest, and in a moment
handed me a brimming cup of Bass' pale ale, the most celestial
stuff that ever warmed the midriff of a tired and hungry traveller.
In return I gave him a dram of arrack, which helped him also.
Then he flew around and undid certain of the packs, made the men
build a fire, and in twenty minutes a supper of bacon, eggs, and
hot chocolate was ready for me. While I was busy with these, he
siting my hammock, and got out my pillow and blanket I sat and
watched him in dumb astonishment ; it was so totally unlike any-
THE POETEY OF FOEEST LIFE. BISON SHOOTING. 185
thing I had been accustomed to. Such was Doraysawmy's style,
and he kept it up right along.
During the first few days following our return to Moochpardi,
wiiich is in the Kulungud forest, I sent my men all over the terri
tory searching for elephant signs. Every year previous to that,
there had always been from one to three herds roaming about that
territory in October and November, but to the surprise of every
one, we found none at all. At first I stayed in camp, husbanding
*rny strength for the grand crisis when it should come, and every
day we kept hoping a good herd would pay us a visit. A week
after our return I was attacked by hard chills, a high fever and a
horrible vomiting, which was repeated again and again, until I felt
as limp, exhausted, and dry as though I had been run through a
clothes-wringer.
The quinine I took for the fever acted like tartar emetic, and this
time I actually threw up my jungle fever, for after the ninth inn
ing (or rather outing), it left me suddenly and did not return in
full force for a month.
It is strange how quickly one recovers from such sharp attacks
of fever. I always made it a rule to eat heartily right along, no
matter whether I felt hungry or not, and at the last I leaned upon
Bass' ale and port wine as if they were a pair of crutches. Until
my last two months upon the hills, my habits had always been
strictly temperate, never using tobacco in any form, nor drinking
any kind of spirits, wine, or beer, or even tea or coffee when at
home, where good cold water is procurable. During my former
trips to the tropics I was never sick a day, nor took a dose of medi
cine, but I took to coffee, temporarily. When I was told, on reach
ing India, that I would have to drink ale, or brandy-and-soda, or
else wine, right along, I said "Never," and for the first six months
I stuck to coffee, chocolate, and water. After three months of fever
and fasting I tried Bass' pale ale, and found it always created an
appetite. After a long, exhausting tramp through mud and rain, a
pint of that immortal stuff was equal to a four hours' rest I
strongly recommend it to every "temperance man " whose lot may
be cast in the jungles of the East Indies. To me it was a glorious
medicine, and whenever I was ready to drop down, it was always
ready to pick me up.
While hanging on at Moochpardi, waiting for some elephants to
pay us a visit there were plenty of them across the river in the
Government Leased Forest we decided that we would never have
186 TWO YEABS IK THE JUNGLE.
a better opportunity to kill a few more bison and prepare their
skins ; so at them we went.
During the whole month of November we had simply perfect
weather, clear, sunny, and rather dry, just warm enough to be
comfortable in the shady forest. Then we enjoyed the very poetry
of forest life. Every morning we rose early, ate a good hearty
breakfast, packed away a bottle of ale and a substantial luncheon
of bread and meat into one side of my cartridge-bag, and called up
the men*. In a few words I informed Doraysawmy what I wanted
him to do during the day, and what I myself wanted to do, which
last he would interpret to the men, with many injunctions to take
good care of the sahib. I always carried either my rifle or a larger
gun. Channa always came behind me with another weapon and
my large shot-bag ; another man carried my rubber blanket and a
sharp hatchet, another carried a bundle containing six skinning
knives, a whetstone, and a coil of half-inch rope, while very often
the fifth man carried another gun. Vera nearly always led the
party, but sometimes Channa, while I followed at his heels.
It was Yera's special business to sight the game, but at the
same time every other man, save myself, was always on the lookout,
and the hindmost men often took pride in calling us back to point
out an animal the leading trackers had not noticed. I did not try
to keep a sharp lookout, but reserved all my powers for the game
when found. I take a little pride in the fact that I always carried
a gun, no matter how many miles we tramped in a day. In going
through the forest we always went slowly and in perfect silence,
no talking save an occasional word in a very low tone, no stick-
breaking, every sense keenly on the alert. Whenever any one
saw an animal he would instantly utter a hiss or a low, rapid, " tut-
tut-tut-tut," made by pressing the tongue against the roof of the
mouth, and suddenly withdrawing it with a sucking noise, a signal
which was never made under any other circumstances, and at which
every one would instantly stop and look sharply about him. Often
we would get so near our game that no one dared make even that
low signal, and then Yera or Channa would quickly grasp me by one
arm and point at the animal
What a romantic life it was to hunt with such men, through
those noble teak and bamboo forests, in such fine weather as we
had most of the time, knowing that we were liable at any moment
to fall in with some large animal, though, whether it would be
axis deer, muntjac, bear, boar, sambur, bison, tiger, or elephant,
, THE POBTEY OF FOREST LIFE. BISON SHOOTI<CTGL 187
we could not possibly tell. There was a great charm in this glori
ous uncertainty. At noon, we would sit down beside some dear,
cold, running stream, put away the lunch and the bottle of ale, and
rest for half an hour. We always managed to get back to camp at
least an hour before sunset, either with one or two dead animals
borne upon a pole, or else a big skin or skeleton, and a few choice
pieces of meat. Near our hut was a fine sheet of bare rock, where
we cleaned skins, and the clear, running river near by, in which we
had our bath when the day's work was done. Ah me ! those were
indeed halcyon days, each one of them worth a whole year of
every-day life, and I would gladly have them back again, fever and
all
Around Moochpardi, bison were very abundant The death of
our first one there occurred as follows : We were hunting through
fine bamboo jungle one morning, hoping to find a fresh bison trail,
when, glancing down a long narrow opening through the trees and
bamboos, I thought I saw a pair of horns move, down in a ravine
fully two hundred yards away. Yera was ahead of me, but had
passed along without noticing anything. I called him back and
pointed out what I had seen, and directly he declared that it was a
bull bison. We stalked down to where we had seen him,, in a most
picturesque little glen, but he was not there. He had not seen us,
and we knew he could not be far away. As we surmised, he was a
solitary bull, which was a sort of guarantee that he was a fine
animal.
We at once set upon his trail, and in ten minutes came full upon
him at the top of a bushy ridge. Vera seized my arm, pointed
ahead quickly, and crouched down to be out of the way. Not
more than forty paces from us, head proudly up and looking full in
our direction, stood the noblest bison I ever saw. In an instant I
took a quick aim at his shoulder, well down, and fired with the No.
8-bore.
He wheeled around and tried to dash away, but it was hard work
He fell once, but picked himself up, and went staggering down the
slope at a terrible pace. Near the bottom of the hill he stumbled,
went down upon his knees, and then pitched forward upon his
side, legs in air and kicking furiously. To put a speedy end to his
sufierings I fired a bullet from my rifle into his heart as he lay
there, and a moment later his earthly troubles were ended.
What a splendid animal he was every way ! He had a very
handsome head and horns, an intelligent, noble-looking face, and a
188 TWO TEARS IK THE JUNGLE.
beautiful mild blue eye. Even my men remarked upon the beauty
of his head and face. His measurements were as follows :
Peet. Inches.
Height to top of hump ' 5 10
Height at shoulders 5 4-J-
Length of head and body 11 5
Length of tail 2 7
Girth 7 IQi
Extreme width of horns 2 9
Circumference at base 1 5^-
Distance between the tips 1 4
Length on outer curve 2 6
After all, this was not a bison of the very largest size, for .the
largest bulls are said to measure 6 feet in vertical shoulder
height. Somehow, I can never kill an animal so large but that
some one else has killed a far larger one. The " Old Shikaree "
tells of killing a bison measuring 6 feet 4 inches at the shoulders,
and 6 feet 9 inches to the top of the hump ; but it is my opinion
the ' " Old Shikaree's " rule slipped back very frequently when he
was measuring game.
The Indian bison (Bos gaurus) is the largest of all the Bovidce
or hollow-horned ruminants, and is in every way a noble animaL
It is much larger than its American congener, the buffalo (Bos
Americanus), but, unlike the latter, it has no mane whatever. The
hair is short and thin, and upon the hind quarters of old bulls it is
so scanty that the skin is almost bare. Its body color is a dark
mahogany brown, deepening to black in old bulls ; the forehead and
legs below the knees are dirty white, while the inside of the fore
arms, thighs, and ears, both skin and hair, are of a rich ochre yellow.
The iris is pale blue, the end of the nose and the lips dirty white.
The hump of the bison is nearly in the middle of the back, from
which the dorsal ridge drops abruptly four or five inches to the loins.
The legs are very neat and tapering, and the hoof is small, compact,
and deer-like, indicating that the bison is intended for a life upon
hard ground and among hills and rocks. The foot-print of the
large* bull mentioned above, measured only 4 inches long by 3J
wide, a remarkably small foot for so heavy an animaL
Unless they have been thoroughly alarmed, bison are very un
suspicious, and are easily stalked and shot They usually go in
herds of from ten to thirty individuals, sometimes more, and, when
feeding, can be approached within easy gun-shot without much
THE POETRY OF FOREST LIFE. BISON SHOOTING. 189
difficulty. I never found much " sport M in shooting a bison out of
a herd, except in following the trail, for there is so little difficulty
and danger connected with it that I felt no more pride in attack
ing a herd of bison than I would a herd of bullocks. In fact, when
in a drove they seemed too much like ordinary cattle. To show
what tame sport bison shooting is when once the game is found,
I will relate the following :
Two days after the death of the solitary bull mentioned above,
We went out and found the trail of a similar individual, but just as
we came to the end of jhis trail we found he had joined a herd of
about fifteen others. I stalked up close to the herd, and fired
across a little grassy glade at a fine bull, bringing him down
promptly with a shot in the shoulders, Then I fired my remaining
barrel at another bull standing among the bamboos, eighty paces
distant, but he did not fall Not feeling very murderously in
clined, I leisurely reloaded my gun, the No. 8 muzzle-loader, and for
fully three minutes the two bison stood on the opposite side of the
glade, watching my movements with the stare of curiosity. When
I was ready to fire again the herd sensed the danger and made off,
but having one bull I /declined to follow.
The next day I shot a large cow, and the day following an
other, making four bison bagged in five shots. I am sure we could
have killed a bison every day for a month or more, had we been so
inclined ; but my fixed principle is never to kill a harmless animal
which I do not actually need as a specimen, or else to eat.
Judging from my own experience with bison, I consider them
very timid and inoffensive animals, except under circumstances of
great provocation. lYom first to last I killed only eight, five bulls
and three cows, no one of which made the slightest attempt to
charge us. Indeed, in my bison-hunting I never took into ac
count the fact that a bison could charge and make mischief; bat at
the same time the natives of India regard the bison as a dangerous
animal, and many experienced English sportsmen also have a thor
ough respect for him. I saw one native on the hills, who had been
attacked by a bull-bison a few years previous, and so badly mauled
that his left arm was almost useless. In Coimbatore I met a
young Englishman, Mr. Khodes Morgan, Deputy Conservator of
Forests, who once had a severe taste of a bison's horns, and at my
request he kindly furnished me the following account of how it
happened :
" It was in June, 1874, when I was inspecting a low range of
190 TWO YEABS IN THE JTOTGLE.
hills some twenty miles from Coimbatore, that I was going through
a forest with a party of Irulars, and suddenly started a young soli
tary bull bison. After a long, stern chase we came up with him,
and saw him standing still and looking at us, eighty yards off. I
was armed with a .500 express rifle, and instantly fired at his nose ;
but, unluckily, he dropped his head as I fired, and the ball, instead
of penetrating his brain, passed through his palate and tongue.
It evidently severed some large blood-vessel, as the bushes were
covered with blood, and we had no difficulty in tracking him. After
following him about a mile, we came suddenly upon him, climb
ing a little, grassy hill some thirty paces above us. The instant
he caught sight of me he turned to charge, when I gave him both
barrels in the shoulder, which made him gallop madly off into
the forest. Tracking him on, I soon saw him standing still and
looking at me, some twenty yards off, and instantly gave him an
other bullet behind the shoulder. He now went crashing down the
hill-side and apparently fell, as we heard him kicking, and then he
uttered a faint bellow.
"When a bison bellows after being wounded > it is almost al
ways a certain sign of death, but in this instance it was not.
"We followed the bull down the side of the hill, where he had
evidently rolled, and I was looking about trying to make out where
he could have gone, when I suddenly caught sight of his nose
not two feet from me ! He had backed himself into a dense mass
of creepers, and was lying in wait for me ! Nothing was visible
but his nose, and the instant I saw it, I felt that I was caught
" In half a second, with a snort like a steam-engine, he sent me
flying through the air. I lit on my back, and was immediately
struck a blow on my ribs that made them spring inward as the
top of a hen-coop would with a heavy man sitting on it. I felt
ihat my last hour had come. He struck me with his head again
and again, sometimes on my breast, back, and sides, sometimes
on my thighs, while sometimes he struck the ground only in his
blind fury. The blood was pouring in a stream from his open
mouth, and the hot breath from his nostrils sent the blood in
sprays all over me.
"I lay quite still, and he presently stopped and looked at me.
Imagining that I was dead, he walked slowly away a short dis
tance, and stood there eying me. There was the stump of a huge
tree near me, and I thought that if I could only drag myself be
hind it I would be safe. I began to draw myself along, bit by bit
THE POETRY OF FOREST LIFE. BISON SHOOTIKCk 191
toward it, but in an instant the bull rushed at me again and struct
me several fearful blows. I felt now that nothing could save me.
He tried to turn me over with his nose, that he might get his horns
into me, and getting one horn under my belt he lifted me up bodi
ly. Luckily it was an old belt, and the buckle snapped. He then
endeavored to rip me up, so I seized his horn and held on to it
with all my strength. In trying to shake himself free he took the
whole of the skin off the under side of my right arm with his horn.
" The whole of this time, no fewer than six Irulars had been
calmly looking on, and I heard one of them say : ' Dear me ! the
bison is killing the gentleman ! ' and another said : * Send for the
shikaree to shoot it.* (The shikaree was two miles away with my
tiffin basket !) One of the Irulars now uttered a most diabolical
yell. The bull threw up his head, then turned tail and dashed
down the hill. Had they only yelled at first, I might have been
saved from being pounded almost to a jelly.
"The Irulars all ran forward now to help me to stand up. One
of them picked up my rifle, which was lying stamped into the mud
and broken by the fall. I was then supported to a large rock,
where my first act was to feel myself all over to see if any bones
were broken. After lying on the rock for an hour, my shikaree
came running up, lamenting. I must have presented a horrible
spectacle, for I was one mass of black mud, and smeared all over
with blood. The shikaree gave me a drink of water, and, having
washed off the blood and dirt, I felt so much better that I deter
mined to kill that bull if possible.
"An Irular climbed a tree and reported that the bull was
standing close by, and that if I could get to a certain large rock I
could have a good chance at him. Getting upon the rock, I saw
him standing just below me, and immediately let him have both
barrels of my No. 12 smooth-bore, but my aim was very unsteady.
He then went down the hill, crossed a small stream, and stood
again on a bit of level ground. I got up within twenty yards of
him, when he charged, and I gave him two more barrels. He now
attempted to cross a small nullah, when he fell from weakness, but
regaining his feet, he went a little farther, and fell between two
rocks, where he got firmly jammed. A bullet through the heart
then finished him.
"The next day I was carried into Ooimbatore, where I was
confined to my bed for a fortnight, my whole body being blade
and blue."
192 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE.
I may remark in passing, that Mr. Morgan., who was about such
a youngster as myself, in many respects, showed me at his house
a really wonderful collection of hunting trophies, all shot and
mounted by his own hands. Banged around his dining-room were
about twenty well-mounted heads of bison, among which was the
young bull which mauled him so severely, and the walls were liter
ally covered with skulls, antlers, and stuffed heads of sambur,
axis deer, muntjac, boar, bison, bear, etc., etc.
In his parlor were two mounted tiger-heads, two splendid ele
phant tusks, a tiger-skin mat, a cabinet of bird's eggs, and many
smaller specimens of great interest. It is truly refreshing to meet 9
sportsman who is such an industrious saver of trophies, and who,
like myself, cannot bear to kill an animal and let it go utterly to
waste.
Among other things, Mr. Morgan showed me his " battery, " con^
sisting of eight deadly weapons! The largest was a smooth
bore, B. L., C. F. gun, No. 4-bore with a barrel 3-J- feet long, carry
ing twelve drachms of powder and a four-ounce ball. This is the
calibre recommended by Sir Samuel Baker, Sanderson, and other
noted sportsmen, for elephant shooting ! It requires three coolies
to carry this gun, turn and turn about on a day's shooting, and Mr.
M. fires it from a small tripod-stand he has invented for the pur
pose. Such a weapon is really a young cannon, and is perhaps
such a one as Professor Ward had in mind when he wrote me at the
last to " get a howitzer if you can't bring down elephants with your
smaller ofdnance."
It is a difficult matter to prepare, in the jungle, a large bison
skin so that it can be mounted successfully, and for this reason I
will describe how I accomplished the task.
My largest bull was killed about 10 A.M., and, being fully pre
pared, we measured and skinned him immediately. We removed
the' skin in the same way as described for the tiger, except that to
skin the head, we cut the skin loose from around the base of each
horn, then slit the back of the neck and head into a perfect Y, with
the long limb extending along the back of the neck, and each of
the short ones reaching up to the base of one horn at the back.
The head can thus be skinned very easily and lifted out through
this hole. We carried the skin home slung under a pole a heavy
load for 'four men and after spreading it out on a bit of bare
ground we all went at it with our knives, to thin it down. On the
back, and sides of the neck, the skin was more than an inch thick,
THE POETRY OF FOREST LIFE. BISOK SHOOTING. 193
which, we had to pare down until we could see the roots of the
hair. This was a very laborious task, requiring thin-bladed and
very sharp knives.
Late in the afternoon, we rubbed the inside of the skin very
thoroughly with arsenical soap, then sprinkled over it about twelve
pounds of coarse salt and rubbed it in vigorously with a flat stone.
In a short time the salt drew quantities of water out of the skin so
that it stood all over in puddles. We then rolled up the skin, let
It lie over night, and the next morning thinned it down still more,
HO that the preservatives could strike the roots of the hair at once.
Next we sprinkled powdered alum all over the skin and rubbed it
in, using about seven to eight pounds.
After letting the skin lie spread upon the ground for a few
hours, fairly pickled in its own moisture, we hung it over a pole in
a shady place, spreading it widely with sticks placed cross-wise in
side, and the legs were pulled out in various directions and tied
fast to stumps. Every night we took it down and put it inside my
hut to keep it from the dew and rain. After one very rainy day,
two very fine ones, and one that was rather damp, the skin was al
most stu% and quite dry enough to fold up permanently. This
skin has since been mounted very successfully at Professor Ward's
establishment, and the old bull now stands in the Museum of Com
parative Zoology, at Cambridge, Mass.
13
CHAPTER XVIIL
A MEMOBABLE ELEPHANT HUNT.
A Knn of Hi-luck. The Climax. Strained Belations with an Official. The
Turn of the Tide. My Last Card. An Official Favor. Permission to Kill
a Tusker. Move to Snngam. A Memorable Elephant Hunt. A Bad
Shot. Dangerous Ground. A Bold Advance and a Disorderly Betreat.
Muloer Philosophy. A Long and Tiresome Chase. Desperate Character
of the Jungle. Luck at Last. The Attack. An Anxious Moment. Vic*
tory. The Dead Tusker. A Sell on the Mulcers. Skinning a Nine-and-
a-half Foot Elephant. The Modus Operandi. Camp on the Field of Bat*
tie. Surrounded by Wild Beasts. Getting up a Scare. Burning Bam
boo. A Tiger about. An Accident. Back to Sungam. A Mulcer Row. .
Fever again. Mutiny in Camp.
DUEING the first two weeks I spent at Moochpardi, after my return
to the hills, my luck went steadily against me, and I soon found
myself in a " sea of troubles." In the first place, we saw there was
simply no hope of our finding a wild tusker in the Kulungud for
est before the close of the season. My funds had become so nearly
exhausted that at last, in spite of economy, I had not ten rupees
left, and utter bankruptcy stared me in the face. Mr. Theobald was
out of reach, or I could have borrowed. Three months before, I
had received from Professor Ward a first bill of exchange for 100,
with the information that the second would follow by the next mail ;
but it had failed to turn up, and I 'was embarrassed. I had written
all over India about it, and also home, but it might be weeks longer
before I could trace it up, and until I got it, my first of exchange
was utterly worthless. My twelfth attack of fever came on and
floored me in short order, and for two days I tried my best to throw
up my stomach. My ankles were still covered with raw ulcers, six
or eight in number, which at times were very painful.
To cap the climax of my difficulties, one day while I lay on my
back with fever, I received an official document, bearing the legend
" On Hex Majesty's Service," from Mr. Gass, officer in temporary
at Toonacadavoo. The communication politely, but firmly,
A MEMOBABLE ELEPHANT HUNT. 195
requested me to send lam all my men, to work for the Government
He claimed that during my absence from the hills, he had made
advances of money and clothing to the Mulcers, and therefore their
services properly belonged to the forest department.
Here was a pretty fix. The loss of the men I had trained to
assist me meant nothing less than the destruction of all my plans.
When told the contents of the letter and the mission of the Govern
ment peon, my men with one accord declared they would not stir
a step, and were fairly enraged at the demand. They stoutly as
serted they had received no advances from the Government, and no
one save myself had any claims upon them. After careful reflec
tion, I made up my mind as to the course I should pursue. It was
risky, but I had faith in its success, and acted immediately. I re
plied to Mr. Gass' letter very politely and respectfully, without ex
pressing any of the indignation I felt, and had all my men except
Yera, accompany my communication. But I firmly insisted that the
services of the men properly belonged to me, and were only given
up that I might avoid even the appearance of doing anything to
hinder government work. I also stated that I had made advances
of blankets and money to the men, which would therefore be a total
loss to me. My gang marched off with the peon, but they privately
assured Doraysawmy that after two days, they all intended to run
away and come back.
When my men had gone, I began to review my situation, and
calculate the chances of ever getting the skin of a big tusker out of
the forest in good condition. I noticed that for some time all
things had combined against me, and it made me mad. I repeated to
myself my always-encouraging doctrine the only sure thing about
"luck " either good or bad, is, that it is bound to change. A long
streak of bad luck always rouses the bull-dog element in my nat
ure, and I feel like fighting it until it gets tired enough to quit.
With my fever still burning, and my men all gone but one, I was
only able to solemnly declare to Doraysawmy that I would " have
an elephant before I left those Hills, or die." A sensible resolu
tion for a sick man !
The very next day my run of bad luck came to an end, and
from that moment it steadily improved. While I was taking a bath
in the river, my Mulcers suddenly ran down the opposite bank and
waded across to me in great glee, with a letter from Mr. Gass, in
which he relinquished his claim upon them, and expressed his re
gret at having proposed to deprive me of their servicfi*. unds* tlie
196 TWO YEARS IN THE JUGGLE.
existing circumstances, of which he had not been fully aware.
Three days later, a coolie from Animallai brought me the letter
from Professor Ward, which contained the truant bill of exchange,
and it was at once dispatched to Madras to be cashed. I was
now ready to play what was very nearly my last card.
There were no elephants in our forest, but across the river, two
miles away in the Government Forest, there were two herds. One
day we undertook to drive the smaller herd about a mile and make
it cross into our forest, so that we might kill one of the tuskers.
The plan was a good one, but I needed sixty men instead of six,
and practically it wouldn't work. Then I determined to ask the
Madras Government for permission to kill an elephant in the
Government Forest It was truly a forlorn hope, with all the
chances against its success. A month previous, ^oung Mr. Wed-
derburn, a son of the Collector of Coimbatore, had assured me
that it would be useless to ask his father for permission to kill an
elephant, because he was very much interested in "keddah opera
tions" (elephant catching) and had never granted such a per
mission to any one, although often asked to do so. I had no letters
of introduction, and no personal reputation whatever to recommend
me to the favorable notice of the Government authorities. If they
granted the request I proposed to make, it would be only from
motives of pure charity, and not by reason of any claim I could es
tablish. Without daring to hope my request would be granted, I
sat down and wrote the following letter :
CAMP INT THE AKTMALLAI HILLS*
November 8, 1877.
To A. "WEDDEKBTTKsr, ESQ., Collector of Coimbatore District.
DEAR SIR : At last I find myself compelled to address you on the subject
of wild elephants. Mr. Douglass * advised me to do so when I first came to
these hills, but I have refrained until now, hoping it would not be necessary.
Under the present circumstances I am forced to make a virtue of necessity and
beg your permission to shoot one or two male elephants in the Government
Forest. I feel justified in doing so by the following reasons :
Although I am located in the forest belonging to the Rajah of Kulungud,
and have his written permission to kill two elephants in his territory, there are
no elephants here now, none have been here for weeks, and the chances are,
I will never find a herd in this small forest so full of people. On the con
trary, there are two herds in the Government Forest that are likely to remain
some time, having already been there some days.
Hy bfting a naturalist and not a sportsman, and working directly in the in
* Deputy Conservator of Forests.
A MEMORABLE ELEPHANT HUNT. 197
tercsts of science, should, I think, give me a claim to consideration that I
would not think of asking were I shooting merely for the sport and glory of
the thing. I shoot nothing that I do not want as a musenm specimen. Pro
fessor Ward, whose Natural History Establishment I represent, has tried long
and hard to purchase specimens of the Indian' elephant, but without success,
and at last I have been sent out here at great expense and trouble, with the
elephant as the main object in view. But for the generosity of the Rajah of
Kulungud I should have been obliged to make this application to yon long
ago.
I have come up here again solely for elephants and find none where I ex
pected. The season is rapidly coming to an end, when I shall be obliged to
leave these parts, and the chances are that, unless I am permitted to shoot an
elephant in the Government Forest as soon as possible, my work is doomed to
end in failure. I wish to kill a full-grown tusker, of which I would prepare
both skin and skeleton complete.
Hoping that you will consider an exception in my favor justifiable under
the circumstances, I remain, dear sir,
Tours obediently and respectfully,
WM. T, HOBNADAY.
Everything depended upon this letter. Had I only been a
" Dr." or " Professor," or the possessor of any handle to my name,
I would have felt less doubtful of the result.
My letter was received by Mr. Wedderburn and forwarded by
him, with a favorable indorsement, to his Grace the Duke of Buck
ingham, Governor of the Madras Presidency. Almost by return
mail, it seemed, I received the following official document :
PROCEEDINGS OF THE MADRAS GOVERNMENT.
Eead the following letter from the District Magistrate of Coimbatore, dated
November 10, 1877. No. 248.
Order thereon dated November 14, 1877. No. 2670.
The Governor in Council sanctions Mr. Win. T. Hornaday shooting one
fulVgrown tusk elephant in the Animallai Forest.
(Signed) C. G. MASTER.
Secretary to Government.
This was extremely gratifying in more ways than one. Aside
from the success of my plans, it gave me great pleasure to know
that my arduous labors as a field naturalist were substantially rec
ognized, and that the Government had granted me a great favor
solely upon the merits of my case, in spite of the fact that I was
a nobody. While I felt really entitled to an elephant, and it was
198 TWO YEAES IK THE JUKGLE.
no great loss for the Government to give me one, as elephants
may never be caught on the Animallais, yet it would have been an
easy and natural thing for the Governor and Executive Council
to have refused my rather cool request. But the favor was granted,
cordially, gracefully, and promptly. And the people of Northern
India and Ceylon call this the Benighted Presidency ! Then my
worst wish for them is, that the same darkness may overtake them
soon.
Two days after the above-mentioned order came to hand, we
moved our camp to Sungam, a timber depot and elephant camp in
the Government Forest, near which were the wild elephants.
Learning the general whereabouts of a large herd, we equipped
ourselves for the chase with cooked food, knives, blankets, ham
mock, ropes, etc., and set out to find the trail, determined to bring
down a tusker before returning. It was a memorable chase, an
appropriate ending of my laborious work in those hills, and I am
tempted to narrate its chief incidents.
We found the trail where it crossed the road, within a mile of
Toonacadavoo, and led straight away into Curran Shola, a wide
tract of wild, tangled, and fearfully hilly jungle, which I had never
before penetrated. In one place Vera and Chann^ did some very
skilful tracking. This was in a bit of dense jungle where the earth
was as bare, smooth, and hard as a base-ball ground, upon which
the soft, rubber-like feet of the elephants left scarcely any impres
sion. In this spot, the herd had scattered and fed all around over
several acres, and the trackers had great difficulty in finding tlie
direction finally taken by the herd. But they ciphered it out at
last and on we went.
In passing through a stretch of fine, lofty, bamboo forest, we
came to a place where the elephants had apparently started to make
a clearing. On a space of nearly two acres in extent, nearly every
bamboo, old and young, had been pulled down and smashed to
splinters, and their long, green stems lay twisted, torn, and piled
in dire confusion. Whole clumps had been pulled down, a stem at
a time, just for fun. The place looked as if a small cyclone had
struck it.
About noon we came upon a portion of the herd feeding upon a
steep hill-side, and, taking up a position on the opposite slope but
quite near by, we rested and watched them. Unfortunately there
was no tusker in this lot, nor even a "muckna," or tuskless male.
As we sat on the steep Mil-side, the elephants fed toward us, but
A MEMORABLE ELEPHANT HUNT. 199
below our position, and finally they passed along the bottom of the
nullah almost at our feet, within ten yards of us. But we had seen
the marks of tusks on several trees as we came along, and we knew
there were tuskers in the herd somewhere.
Feeling sure these females would join the rest of the herd, we
followed them, and about two miles farther on came upon the en
tire herd feeding in a dense patch of dead and fallen bamboos, rank
weeds, grass, and young bamboo shoots. Curran Shola is full of
just such patches, where the fallen bamboos have destroyed the
shade and the moisture, and caused the place to grow up with rank
grass, thick thorn bushes and trailing vines, the very worst place
in the world in which to attack elephants.
We manoeuvred around the herd until the elephants began to
work out of that wretched brush patch into the open jungle which
surrounded it, and then by making a very risky stalk I got close
up to a splendid old tusker and fired at his temple. A total fail
ure. Fool that I was, I undershot the brain because the elephant
was below me. The tusker rushed into the thick patch, several
other elephants rushed out of it toward me, then stopped and
stood motionless for some seconds. Presently they turned about,
went back into the thicket, and began feeding again.
"We undertook to follow up the tusker, but it was very nervous
work. We could not get along at all save by following the elephant
paths, and a charge under such circumstances might easily have
been fatal to some of us.
I posted Nangen up in a small tree, whence he could see all over
the thicket, and with Vera leading the way and Channa at my heels
with a spare gun, we went in. The bushes, grass, and weeds were,
in places, nearly twice as high as our heads, and except for the ele
phant paths we could not see five yards in any direction. We kept
a careful eye upon Nangen all the time, and it was well for us that
we did so. All at once his arms began to fly about like the sails of
a wind-mill, as he violently gesticulated at us and looked unutter
able things. Directly we darted back to a place of safety, and the
next moment two large elephants walked rapidly across the very
spot from whence we first saw Nangen's warning pantomime. Then
we concluded not to risk getting amongst twenty-five or thirty ele
phants in such a place as that was.
After a time the herd quitted that thicket, walked rapidly
through the open jungle for a mile, and entered another of the
same nature, only much worse. For an hour the elephants wei&
200 TWO YEARS IIT THE JUNGLE.
feeding up and down in that thorny tangle, crashing over the fallen
bamboos, within thirty yards of us sometimes, but I dared not at
tack them. I supposed then that I was over-cautious, and that an
older hunter would have gone at them as they were without delay ;
but I resolved I would not do it, cowardly or not. I have since
found that even the oldest hands sometimes find their elephants in
such cover that they dare not venture into it, and my caution was
well-timed.
Once I screwed my courage up and ventured into the thicket
for about forty paces, alone, but with my gun ready for instant use.
Suddenly there rose, out of the thick bushes close before me, the
end of a huge trunk with the tip bent forward, scenting the air.
In an instant I was discovered, and the elephant gave a perfect
bugle call, loud, clear, and thrilling. Directly the elephants went
crashing wildly up and down over the fallen bamboos, making a
fearful noise ; I turned and ran for open ground, and at that mo
ment there came a sharp clap of thunder. For a moment I believe
my hair actually stood on end, for it seemed as if bedlam had
broken loose ; but I soon gained the shelter of a tree, and had a
quiet smile at my fright. Shortly after this it began to rain in tor
rents, and being within about five miles of camp we went home.
Doraysawmy expressed himself as having been deeply con
cerned lest I should come to grief under the feet of an elephant, and
my safe return took a great weight from his mind. That night he
held a solemn council with Vera and Channa, enjoining them to
take the greatest care of me. My trackers said to him, so h told
me, that "it would not do at all for the sahib to get killed, for if
he should, who would give them and their people rice and tobacco,
arrack and money, to say nothing of fresh meat ? " Yes, they said,
they would be very careful of him.
The next morning at daybreak, equipped as before, we set out
for the spot where we left the trail the previous evening. The
chase that day led through the worst jungle I saw anywhere in India,
and over the roughest ground.
Early in the day it took to the side of an immense ridge several
miles in extent, half a mile from top to bottom, and everywhere
very steep. The ridge was scored all along with deep nullahs, one
after another, and the whole slope was a tangled mass of dead bam
boo clumps, some fallen bodily and others still standing ; rank,
green bushes and vines, set with cruel, hook-like thorns, and tall
grass everywhere, making the tangled density more complete
A MEMORABLE ELEPHANT HUKT. 201
Ahead of us that ridge-side seemed to stretch out interminably, and
of the same desperate character all the way. Of course we could
not stir a step through such thick stuff without following in an ele
phant trail, and in case of a charge we could not have run ten paces,
except forward or back.
The dead bamboos lay in piles across our track, and, while the
elephants stepped over them with ease, we were obliged to climb
and scramble over as best we could. It really seemed that the trail
led up hill all the time, and that the jungle was all thorns and briers
to scratch and tear us.
About noon we overtook the herd, but in such cover we dared not
think of attacking it. For three hours we followed along within
hearing of it, hoping it would enter a more open tract somewhere
in which we could dare to move about. Once we spent a laborious
half-hour in trying to approach the herd from the upper side, but
utterly failed. At last I began to feel quite exhausted, and my men
also complained of being very tired. Getting fairly desperate, I
determined to bring matters to a crisis immediately, no matter
what the consequences might be, and then fortune favored us a
little. The herd dispersed and began feeding on the side of a
ridge which ran down the steep side of the mountain ; the cover
was more open, and the wind was in our favor.
I soon found three large elephants feeding together on the hill
side below me, and after watching them a few minutes I saw through
the leaves a gleam of white tusks. Bidding all the men stop at the
top of the hill, I went at the group alone, and five minutes later was
crouching behind a small bush, within twenty feet of the tusker's
head. He seemed to be a monster in size, and I thought his tusks
were very fine also. He was standing almost broadside to me, but
a thick green bough concealed nearly the whole of his head, and
prevented my firing. In anxious suspense I crouched behind my
little bush, with bated breath and finger on trigger, waiting for the
old fellow to move on a single step and pass that branch, But he
would not. I fretted and fumed inwardly, and was about to fire
through the leaves and risk it, when a young, half-grown elephant
pushed up alongside my tusker, reached out his trunk deliberately,
laid hold of that identical green bough and swept it down ! Thank
you, my young friend 1
In an instant I saw I had neither the fair temple nor forehead
shot, but just between the two. Aiming about six inches above the
eye, my old No. 8 woke the echoes the next moment, which was
202 TWO YEAES IN THE JUKGLE.
followed by a grand rush on three sides of me. I wheeled around,
ran up the hill a few paces to a small tree, and reloaded with all
haste. I listened to hear a "fall, but if there had been one the
noise made by the fleeing herd would have drowned it. Fearing
my shot had been a failure, and another laborious trial lay before
us, I hurried down the hill again.
Victory ! There lay my noble old tusker, stone dead ! He had
sunk down in his tracks and died without a struggle or a sound.
My zinc bullet had passed entirely through skull and brain, and
buried itself ten inches deep in the flesh of the neck. Our dan
gerous and tiresome chase was ended at last, successfully, and we
all rejoiced.
After the manner of griffins generally, I scrambled upon the
top of the huge carcass, and opened a bottle of Bass' best in honor
of the occasion. Then I called for a certain black bottle in one of
the Mulcers' bundles which, as they well knew, had been carried
for their especial benefit. There was a general smacking of lips as
I produced a cup, drew the cork, and poured out cocoanut oil !
There was a stare of blank astonishment, a general murmur of
disappointment and wrath at Doraysawmy, and the next moment,
despite our chagrin, we all burst out laughing at the absurdity of
the occurrence. My boy had simply given us a bottle of cocoanut
oil instead of the arrack the souls of the Mulcers yearned for.
Our first care was to measure our prize, which we managed to
accomplish with fair exactness. His dimensions were as follows :
Vertical height at shoulders 9 feet.
Height at middle of back 9 " 6 inches.
Length, tip of trunk to tip of tail 22 " 10 "
Length of tusks 3 " 6 "
Although our elephant was a large one, his tusks were in reality
rather short, but thick in proportion to their length.
It is no light task for six men to skin an elephant weighing four
tons or more, in thick jungle, miles from any road, and preserve it,
in spite of rain and sun, in a fit state to be transported and success
fully mounted afterward. Many of my friends in India, and at
home in the Establishment, had expressed the opinion that such a
task could not be successfully accomplished under such circum*
stances. Mr. Theobald was not only doubtful but quite certain that
it could not be done. It is a very difficult matter to remove and
preserve the skin of a large elephant, even in a menagerie, with all
W
PH
o
s
A MEMOBABLE ELEPHANT HTJKT. 203
possible assistance and appliances at hand, but it is infinitely more
so in a rainy jungle. In fact, Professor "Ward and I were about the
only persons who believed it possible to accomplish what I had un
dertaken. For my part, all I asked then was that the fever would
keep away from me for about ten days.
After a short rest, in which our previous fatigue was entirely
forgotten, we got out our knives and went to work. . The elephant
lay fairly on his side, and the top of the carcass was just as high as
the top of my head ; " a mountain of mummy.'* I decided that
it would be impracticable and unnecessary to remove the akin
entire, although we could have done it, had it been desirable. I
think it inadvisable to remove and handle an elephant skin entire,
even under the most favorable circumstances, and were I called
upon to skin an adult elephant in a menagerie, I should proceed
precisely as we did then. We decided to cut the . skin in three
pieces, in such a way that when mounted none of the seams would
show, and to this end we slit it open straight along the under side
of the animal, straight along the middle of the back, and cut off the
h6ad, as the third piece, just at the crease in the neck. Dividing
the skin along the middle of the back was terrible work, it being
fully an inch and a half in thickness and indescribably tough.
Then I congratulated myself upon having thin-bladed knives of
the best shear steel, made especially for such work.
Of course each leg was slit from the sole of the foot, straight up
the inside, to the opening along the breast and abdomen. When
the opening cuts had all been made, we began at the middle of the
back and skinned down the side which was uppermost, rolling the
heavy skin over as we went along. When we reached the hip and
the shoulder, we cut away a few cubic feet of flesh, cut off both the
legs, and worked on down to the cut along the abdomen. After
getting this half of the skin clear of the animal, we spread it out
upon the ground and skinned the two legs without much trouble.
By the 'time we had accomplished this it was night, so we
washed in the stream at the foot of the hill, built a large camp-
fire, slung my hammock, ate our rice, and prepared to be comfort
able. We camped just above the carcass, but quite near it, and
while the Mulcers sat around the blazing fire, piling on dry
bamboos and discussing the events of the day, I lay in my Ashantee
hammock, swinging gently to and fro, gazing up at the greek
leaves dancing in the firelight To be sure, I glanced occasionally
at the huge red and white carcass just below us within the circle of
204 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
light, and in thinking of its fine proportions all the fatigues and
dangers of the chase were forgotten, or remembered only with
satisfaction and pride. The night was clear and balmy, and the
stars came out and peeped down through the leaves to see what we
were doing. A light breeze came from the west, setting all the
leaves a-whispering, and the bamboos rubbing together with pe
culiar measured f< creechy-crawchy " sounds, like the creakings of a
ship's rigging. We were many miles from a human habitation of
any kind, in a wholly unfrequented part of the forest, and our
only neighbors were the wild beasts of the jungle ; but as I rolled
myself snugly in my blanket and surveyed the wild scene, I vowed
that this was " the jolliest life that ever was led."
Just as we were about to settle down for the night, we were
rather startled at hearing a loud, ringing trumpet-note issue from
the jungle on our right, and rather near us, too. This did not
greatly matter, only we hoped the herd would not come our way
just then. But a moment later this call was answered by a similar
note from the valley on our left, and then we knew we were just
between the two portions of the divided herd, and the elephants
were trying to get together again. Neither party was much more
than a quarter of a mile from us, apparently, and the Mulcers be
gan to grow uneasy. They built another large fire and piled on
dry bamboos until both blazed high ; and I concluded I would feel
more comfortable if I swung my hammock just between the two.
But the elephants kept trumpeting and answering back across
that half-mile of jungle, waking the silent echoes far and wide with
their shrill bugle calls, until at last we saw that they were unmis
takably approaching each other in a direct line for our camp.
Then we bestirred ourselves. The Mulcers piled a lot of blaz
ing fagots at the foot of a thick clump of dead and dry bamboos
which still stood upright close by. The dry branches and stems
caught fire directly, and the flames climbed to the very top of the
clump, roaring and crackling fiercely, and throwing out a great
light all around. Then the Mulcers began to yell like demons, in
which noise I also joined my gentle voice, and I am sure that,
could my reader have passed that way just then, he would have
taken us for a party of imps out on a midnight spree, and trying to
frighten all the wild animals out of their senses.
As might be imagined, the elephants gave us a wide berth, but
iiheir trumpeting was kept up at intervals 'all through the night.
The Mulcers sat up all night by turns, watching, and keeping up
A MEMOBABLE ELEPHANT HTOTT. 205
the fires. In the small hours of the morning, when all was still,
Channa quietly awakened me with the whispered words, " Naree,
sahib 1 " In another moment I heard the low, deep growling of a
tiger in the thick jungle near us, the second time I ever heard that
sound in the forest. It was repeated at intervals, in the same half-
angry, menacing tone in which a cat warns an intruder away from
its prey. I felt that there was little danger of the tiger falling foul
of us, because in the first place I knew he could not be a man-eater,
4nd it was evident that he had been attracted to the spot by the
tscent of warm blood and the flesh of the elephant. He evidently
recognized the fact that possession is nine points in law, and ad
mitted the superiority of our claims by keeping away ; but the
next day we found his pugs, and saw where he had made his lair
and lain him down to sleep within seventy yards of our camp.
The next morning we went at the carcass almost as soon as it
was light enough to see. We first cut out the entrails and vital
organs, and with indescribable difficulty dragged the unwieldy
mass a short distance down the "hill- That done, we cut off a quan
tity of flesh from the breast and pelvis, tllen went to work with a
series of levers, props, and ropes attached to the two remaining
legs, and after about two hours' hard work, we succeeded in rolling
the carcass completely over, with the head still on. One member
of my gang, Gorlee, had stayed at camp playing sick, so there
were only five of us to manage that elephant After rolling the
body over, which we considered quite a feat of engineering skill,
we soon removed the second half of the skin and partly skinned
the legs. That done, we spread out the two sides of the skin, in
side uppermost, covered them with green boughs so that the sun
should not shine full upon them, and leaving the head as it was,
started for Sungam about 2 P.M.
Just as we were starting, a misfortune overtook me. In picking
up our traps Vera stepped upon a sharp knife that had been
dropped in a pile of green leaves. The Mulcers are always bare
footed, and the keen blade made an ugly gash in Vera's foot, sever
ing a small vein which bl^L profusely. Being provided for all such
slight emergencies, I at once took two stitches in the cut, applied
court-plaster and cotton, bound it up, and we started for camp,
cutting a path through the jungle as we went along. As I feared,
the exertion made Vera's wound bleed profusely in spite of all I
could do, but he insisted upon going on.
"When within about two miles of camp we crossed a small rocky
306 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE.
stream, and I made Vera bathe his foot in the cold water while 1
cut a pair of forked sticks to serve him as crutches. A native of the
East Indies has no more idea of a crutch, and how to use it, than
of a quadrant. I was stooping down on a broad, sloping sheet of
rock, trimming a stick with my hatchet, with Vera standing above
and behind me, when he suddenly fainted from loss of blood, and
the first thing I knew, he pitched forward full upon my back,
knocking me flat upon the rock and half into the water. It was a
lucky fall for him, for had it not been broken by me as it was, he
would have pitched head first upon the rocks, and very likely
broken his neck or cracked his skull.
We brought him round in due time, and leaving Nangen with
him we started on to camp, to send back four men with my ham
mock slung to a pole to bring him in. I sent after him immedi
ately upon reaching camp, but the men met him half way, walking
slowly along, and a good dose of arrack helped him to accomplish
the remaining distance. But he was utterly incapacitated for work
for an indefinite time, and I lost his valuable services during the
remainder of our task.
This was the first of a series of unnecessary and unlocked for
misfortunes and difficulties which came upon me during the prepa
ration of that elephant skin and skeleton. That night there was a
social scandal and a grand row in the Mulcer camp, not far from
our huts. About bed-time, while I was writing in my journal a
record of the day's events, the usual murmur of voices in the huts
across the river gradually swelled into a loud jangle, which rapidly
increased in volume every moment until it became a perfect tem
pest of angry voices, pitched on their highest key. Very soon it
became evident that an unusual commotion was afoot, for the
lights suddenly went out, a bamboo hut was torn down, women
and children began to scream, and we distinctly heard the sound
of men struggling and blows falling upon bare flesh.
Thinking it high time to interfere, I called for Doraysawmy
and the elephant doctor, and snatching up a lantern, we ran down
the hill toward the Mulcer camp. The place was in total dark
ness, but the sounds which met our ears plainly indicated that the
Mulcers had gotten up a little hades of their own. Our sudden
appearance upon the scene, with a loud call for " order " from the
doctor, caused most of the Mulcers to fall back, but the principals
in the fight paid no attention. We soon pulled them apart, how*
ever, and commanded them to keep the peace. The boy Moresah,
A MEMOBABLE ELEPHANT HUNT. 207
had been punished most of all, winch afforded me no little satis
faction, for he had always been the worst grumbler in my gang,
and made me the most trouble. More than once I was tempted to
thrash him myself. After considerable trouble the camp was re
stored to a peace footing, and all hands settled down for the night.
The next morning, while making up the packs, I had a chill,
which of course was followed by fever and a splitting headache.
Can it be possible, I asked myself, that I am to lose that elephant
skin on account of fever? It really did seem possible. Nothing
short of my presence and assistance could save it from ruin within
the next twenty-four hours. As my fever increased, I began to be
discouraged. Doraysawmy finished making up the packs, consist-
ing of the small tent, necessary provisions, and about a hundred
pounds of salt and alum. When all was ready for a start I called
up the men and told them we were ready, whereupon they sat
down upon the ground, and all but Channa refused point blank to
go ! Here was a pretty situation for a man with the fever upon
him!
CHAPTER XIX.
END OF THE ANIMALLAI CAMPAIGN.
Balky Mnlcers Work on the Elephant again. Wild Beast versus Tramp and
Burglar. My Mulcers go on a Strike. Play ing a Lone Hand. Bringing
the Men to Terms. A Bloodless but Complete Victory. Another Tiger
about. Treatment of the Elephant Skin. The March out to Sungam.
The Season. The Last of my Hunting Gang. Descent from the Hills in
a Storm. Paradise Lost. Fever Again. G-ood-hy to the Animallais.
My Collection of Mammals.
THE kzy rascals knew there was hard work ahead, and I was soon
to leave the hills, and having accumulated a goodly number of
rupees in my service they shrank from further exertion. This, too,
in the face of the fact that I had doubled the wages of each man
on the evening previous ! "When we started on the hunt I prom
ised the men a present of five rupees each when we had killed an
elephant and skinned it, and the men demanded their money then
and there, declaring they would not go a step unless I paid it.
Knowing full well they would immediately desert me if I complied,
I firmly refused their demand, and declared that unless they all
went with me, and at once, none of them would ever receive a single
anna of the prize money.
They were stubborn as mules, and refused to stir. In the pres
ence of them all, I called up a messenger and told Doraysawmy to
order him, in their hearing, to start at once for AnimaUai village,
and bring me ten chucklers (tanners) before night He understood
my game, and started at once, apparently on the errand* Ani-
raaBai village was twenty miles away, and before a messenger could
g aa<l bring help from there, the skin of my elephant would be
ruined by decomposition. An tmcured elephant skin cannot He
long in hot weather without spoiling. While Doraysawmy and
titt elephant doctor were wrangling with the Mulcers, the sun kept
^imlrog higher and higher above the tree tops, and I knew that a
few feotirs more would seal the fate of the skin I had already worked
OF THE ANIMALLAI CAMPAIGN. 209
My little ruse set the men to thinking. Their wives soon found
out the situation, and with lame Vera to back them, came across
the river to where the men squatted sullenly around the door of
my hut, and attacked them with a perfect volley of abuse for their
laziness and stupidity in throwing away their claims upon the sahib'a
rupees.
The combined pressure was more than the men could stand,
and Doraysawmy soon announced their willingness to go. By the
time they had their packs ready I had passed the turning-point in
my fever, but felt miserably ill Knowing, however, that if I
showed how I felt, the men would refuse to go a step, and that I
must get to that elephant or lose it, I took a stick to lean upon, and
started on ahead at a snail's pace, with my brain throbbing and
jumping at every step. I determined to walk as far as possible,
and if I gave out entirely, would be carried the rest of the way.
The day was clear and fine, I bathed my head in every stream we
crossed, rested about twenty times, and finally climbed up the
steep hill-side to the scene of the wreck.
By that time I felt much better, and without the loss of a
moment, we got out our knives and went to work. We had a few
hours of daylight left, and all worked like beavers. I had Channa
and two others cut off the head and skin it carefully, while the
rest of us we were theA seven in all skinned the feet and cleaned
the inside of the entire skin, removing from it a quantity of adher
ent flesh* Half an hour before sunset we had the entire skin ready
for the preservatives. At that time it weighed not less than nine
hundred pounds (I believe eleven hundred would be nearer the
mark !), being in many places an inch and a quarter in thickness.
With a brush, I washed the skin over on both sides with a strong
solution of arsenical soap and water, and then sprinkled salt over
it in liberal quantities and rubbed it in vigorously with a flat stone.
Both sides were treated in this way, after which we folded it up
compactly and let it lie to absorb the preservatives. At sunset the
skin was safe.
Then we pitched the little tent, slung my hammock inside, the
men made a lair for themselves under a clump of bamboos dose
by, we ate our suppers and turned in.
During the night we heard elephants trumpeting in the valley
below us, reminding me of the distant band-music one often hears
in a city on summer evenings. This led me to wonder how many
elephants, tigers, bears, deer, and wild boars were at that moment
14
210 TWO TEABS I3ST THE JUGGLE.
wandering about the dark forest within a mile's radius of oui
camp. A goodly number, beyond doubt, enough to make my
reader shudder, perhaps, at the bare thought of being there. But
softly ! Wild beasts are far better company than the drunken roughs,
the thieves, burglars, incendiaries and murderers who surround
you in the city, or the tramps, combining all these disagreeable vo
cations, who infest the country generally. If I am to choose be
tween tramp and tiger, I will say, give me the tiger every time, for
lie is far more honest and respectable as a general thing, far lesa
revengeful, and a better member of society every way.
We had saved the skin of our elephant, or were in a fair way to
do so at least, but there remained the task of cutting out the bones
of the skeleton also. Our animal had been dead three days, and he
began to smell like Lazarus in the sepulchre. The carcass had
become a perfect ammonia-generator on a large scale and the vapor
soon became almost overpowering. It was necessary to cut out the
bones very quickly, or advanced decomposition would very soon
render it impossible.
My boy and I were up at daybreak, and after drinking a pint
of good strong coffee I called the men. Instead of getting up and
preparing to work, they merely sat up and stared at me in a sleepy,
stupid way, without offering to obey. Doraysawmy exhorted
them briskly to get up and go to work, for the carcass was be
ginning to smell bad.
The men replied, " How can we work on that stinking thing ?
It would make our stomachs sick ! " Moreover, they declared they
had only agreed to work on the skin, and that was done ; they did
not care to work on that thing for eight annas a day ! Then, ia
mj most commanding manner I commanded them to get up and
help me. I commanded in splendid style, but they wouldn't obey !
!Oiey merely gazed at me in sullen silence, stubborn as mules, and
after a while lay down to sleep again.
Ife was a regular strike, from sheer laziness, and was perfectly
exasperating. Should I take a stout stick and attempt to thrash
tkem into obedience ? If I did, they would of a certainty run away,
aad ifaat would be a calamity indeed. I thought of a milder and
far better plan, although I could not expect any results from it
1 tibe next day. An, Indian native is proud and insolent so long
stomach is full, and he lias you in his power ; but witen it is
, he is your humble servant I told Doraysawmy to take no
fetter B0Moe of the men in any way, and after sharpening the
OF THE ANIMALLAI CAMPAIGN. 2H
whole set of knives, I rolled up my sleeves, gave my olfactories
leave to suspend work for the day, and went at the huge carcass as
eagerly as if it had been a plum-pudding. It was high time, for
it was almost ready to walk away of its own accord.
It was not Doraysawmy's duty to do work of that kind, and,
being my cook, I greatly preferred that he should not ; but the
faithful fellow could not stand it to see his master work alone.
He threw off his jacket, lit his pipe, rolled his sleeves high up and
fell to work on the side opposite me. The Mulcers looked on in
wonder. We worked like a couple of steam engines, and the flesh
rolled off the skeleton in chunks half as large as ourselves. From
time to time, I fired up with Bass' ale and port wine, and the longer
the fever kept away the harder I worked. The Mulcers lay there
within twenty yards of us, wrapped in their cloths, sleeping the
sleep of innocence.
By four o'clock we had the entire body and pelvis roughed out,
and the worst was over. Then the Mulcers got up, yawned, shook
out their cloths and started down to work. We took no notice of
them until the first comer picked up a knife, and then I bawled
out at the top of my voice,
"Drop that knife!"
He dropped it. He did not understand the words, but the tone
and gesture were unmistakable. The Mulcers were astonished.
" But we are going to work ! " they said to Doraysawmy.
"The sahib says you shan't touch this elephant," he replied in
a savage tone.
" Well, then we -will go ! "
The boy told me what they said, and in their own language I
told them, " Go, you rascals ! "
Then said Doraysawmy impressively, " If you Mulcers go off
and leave the sahib alone in the jungle, Theobald Sahib will give
each one of you six months in jail ! "
There was far more truth than poetry in that statement, and the
men knew it well We knew they would not dare to go unless I
abused them. Somehow, European sportsmen and Government
officers have all natives so thoroughly trained that they have a
wholesome fear of the consequences when they are tempted to
abandon a white man in the jungle.- Usually they will not do it
under any circumstances, for I remember that when I wanted the
Mudumallay Chetties to leave me alone with a dead bull bison
while they went after more men, they refused point blank and
212 TWO TEAKS nr THE JTHTOLE.
obliged me to accompany them. The Mulcers feared a day of reek
oning would come, so they did not dare leave me in the lurch.
At nighty while my boy was preparing my supper, the men tim
idly asked him for rice. We always kept the rice in my tent, and
served it out every night, with their salt, tobacco, and money. To
save trouble, I paid my men their wages every day. Their request
was brought to me, and putting on an awful look I said et No ! "
Then the men were stricken with penitence and confessed their
sins, saying they had been very bad, their heads were all wrong,
and they would never be so lazy again. But they got neither rice
nor tobacco. As they were squatting around the door of my tent,
watching every mouthful I took at supper-time, a happy thought
struck me. I told my boy, and lie went almost beside himself.
He told the Mulcers to "bring the arrack cup/' and they said
** Oh I the sahib is going to give us arrack ! " How they smiled,
and smacked their lips ! They brought the cup instantly, I took
out a bottle of arrack, uncorked it, and poured out a good drink,
looked at the men and saw that they eagerly followed my move-
meats, then handed the cup to Doraysawmy. He drank it off, and
smacked his lips fervently several times, while I quickly corked the
bottle and put it back in the box. A murmur of mingled surprise,
disappointment, and remonstrance arose from the group outside,
and presently the men went slowly and sadly away to their own
fira
The next morning the Mulcers awoke hungry. They immedi<
aidy came to me and announced that they would work if I would
give them something to eat I replied, "How can I give you food
when yon do not work ? You must work before you eat my rice ! "
Seeing there was no help for it, they took the knives and fell to
wort upon the half-cleaned elephant bones as though their souls
liad yearned for that business. I sent Doray and Channa off to
Toony f or fifty pounds of salt, and all day I stood over the remain
ing mem, scowling fiercely but saying not a word, like a veritable
of slave times, grinding their knives at intervals, and
movements.
I newer saw men more devoted to their work. They could not
spare time to talk to each other, except now and then to speak
fe * low tone of " eomjee ** (rice soup), with the reverence accorded
4e tfee name of a departed friend. When sunset came I told
them to aiop work ; and afler the knives had been cleaned and put
TPOCK! collected for my camp-fire, and water brought from the
END OF THE AKIMALLAI CAMPAIGN. 313
little rivulet, I served out a day's rations of rioe and tobacco. They
had had forty-eight hours between meals, and never were strikers
more effectually cured. From that time until I left the hills, they
worked faithfully, with never a grumble, and when on final settle
ment, I partly carried out my threat by stopping a rupee out of each
man's prize money, they did not offer a word of complaint, but
frankly admitted they had used me very ill.
The next day being my birthday, I took a holiday, and wrote
up my journal The only incident of the day was our hearing a
tiger roaring in one of the ravines below us, not more than a
quarter of a mile away. I declined to go after him in that thick
underbrush, for had I gone in his neighborhood, he would prob
ably have done a little hunting on his own account
I had the men unroll the elephant skin, and we found it full of
water, but beginning to harden quite properly, and after keeping
them at work half a day, thinning down the thicker portions with
their knives, we freely applied salt and powdered alum together
upon both sides, and again folded it up. I found by experiments
that the best way to preserve a Yery thick skin without a bath in
which to soak it, is to treat it with salt first and let it lie a day or
two before putting on any alum. Salt strikes through a thick hide
where dry alum only goes half-way, leaving the other side to de
compose. After decomposition has been arrested by salt, then it is
best to apply powdered alum to harden the akin and dry it up com
pletely.
After the men got through with their little strike, I had them
clean all the elephant's bones very thoroughly, and after soaping
them they were tied up into bundles and made ready to carry out.
By the time we were ready to break up camp and move to Sungam,
a gang of about twenty coolies arrived from Animallai to assist in
carrying out our elephant skin and skeleton. Each of the large
sections was slung under a couple of stout poles, and eight men
were required for each section. Four more men carried the skin
of the head, while my Mulcers carried my camp equipage and a few
bones of the skeleton. Doraysawmy again showed his estimable
qualities in helping me manage the packing up. It was a queer
procession that marched down that steep hill and through the
forest toward Sungam. This time I brought up the rear, to see that
no valuable article was dropped and lost.
When we reached Sungam, the Muleers had scarcely time to
put down their loads before tfaef were set upon by their
214 TWO TEARS Itf THE JUNGLE.
who had heard all about the strike, and they were roundly abused
for their laziness and neglect of their families. The men looked
thoroughly ashamed, and each took his lecture very meekly. Poor
wretches ! it was probably the first time in their lives they ever
felt fat enough to strike, and they wanted to see how it would feel
to defy a white man and refuse to work.
The next day, part of the men went back and brought away all
that remained of the skeleton, while I set the remaining ten, who
belonged to the chuckler caste tanners at work upon the skin to
thin it down still more. They all worked upon it three days, in which
tin) e they cut off several hundred pounds of the tough fibre. We now
kept the skin spread out all the time, and it began to dry rapidly.
Having succeeded in adding to my collection of Indian mam
mals the akin of a full-sized male elephant in perfect condition,
I was ready to leave the hills. It was then the first week in De-
omber, and I had had all the hunting I wanted. Mr. Theobald
was gone, and so were nearly all the people attached to the Forest
Department "We were then in the middle of the northeast monsoon,
it rained a great deal, and the forest, being now almost deserted,
seemed really gloomy. On the other hand, however, the elephants
aad bison had conie down in great numbers from the higher ranges,
and were quite thick all around Sungam and Toonacadavoo, where
they were seldom seen earlier in the season. In many localities
where, four months previous, I had hunted through grass not more
than a foot high, it was then all of five or sis feet. It always made
me feel uneasy to walk through grass as high as my head, which
eauH conceal a crouching tiger so closely one might almost stum-
Ub over it before seeing il It is only the abundance of game that
preserves the defenceless hill-people from being eaten one after
another, and I have often wondered that the game-killing tigers do
not occasionally strike down a man by mistake. There are plenty
of tigers on the Animallais, for we often saw their pugs, but the
eower lor them is so continuous, and game so plentiful, that regular
tiger hunting is out of the question, and perhaps always will be.
As soon as the elephant skin was dry enough to be transported,
I sent lor three bandies to meet me at the foot of the hills, and
flm moer to cart my collection and camp equipage down. The
dqr we were to sfcart> we loaded the carts and were almost ready
for & HOTB, whan a terrific rain -storm came up and delayed us for
a JtJxHtt BOOB it cleared up, however, and being very
* 40 make & uao^ we set out My Mulcers marched with us
OF THE AOTMALLAI CAMPAIGN. 216
for about five miles, to show their good will, and even in spite of
their late waywardness I felt quite sorry to part from them. They
were bound to me by the ties which only a hunter can understand,
and I shall always have the " man-and-a-brother " feeling for my
faithful and courageous companions of the chase. Together we had
been in at the death of many a fine animal They had always shown
themselves plucky in the face of danger, and except in two instan
ces, they had always been faithful and obedient They begged me
to come back soon and shoot some more elephants, and loudly la
mented that I needed to go away at all Poor wretches ! it will
be a long time, I fancy, before they have another such a " continual
feast " of bison, deer, pig, and monkey as they grew fat upon dur
ing my four months' shooting on those hills. They are too poor
to own fire-arms, or even to use them, hence the greater part of the
time they hunger for flesh with game all around them.
"When our train reached the top of the pass and began to de
scend the winding, slippery, and dangerous road, heavy clouds
swept against the mountain side, enveloping us in their disagree
able mist, which very soon gave way to more serious moisture as
the rain began to descend upon us in blinding sheets. Luckily I
had packed into one of the bandies the articles which it was abso
lutely necessary to keep dry, and this load I effectually covered
with my tent-doth and rubber blankets. Of course we were all
drenched to the skin, and the rain was very cold. Half-way down
the ghaut, one of our bandies took a sudden slide in rounding a
sharp curve, and aame within two inches of going over a precipice
and smashing the whole outfit The road had become a running
tream and progress was very unsafe.
Thus was our Paradise lost. Like the pair that was driven
from Eden, we went down the ragged road in storm and darknftfSR,
into the cheerless and inhospitable plains. How different from the
gloom surrounding our departure was the balmy sunshine of our
first ascent, when all nature seemed to smile.
Just at dark we reached Ardivarum, at the foot of the ghaut,
thoroughly bedraggled, and chilled to the bone. The other ban
dies were waiting for us, and we lost no time in transferring our
freight to them. Doraysawmy was attacked with a severe chill
which made his teeth chatter for two hours. Luckily we found
at Ardivarum a fourth bandy, and I struck a bargain with the
driver to take my boy and me to Animal] ai. We put into it our
camp-chest and box of clothes, and, leaving the heavily loaded caais
216 TWO YEAES IN THE JUKGLE.
to follow on, we set out. It was a miserably cold and tedious ride oj
ten miles, "but we reached our haven at last, and at midnight landed
in a good, tight bungalow. We soon put on dry clothes, and aftet
a hot supper we found there was yet something left to live for.
But our ducking cost us dearly, or it did me at least. The next
day but one, after my bandies had arrived, everything been safely
housed, and the elephant skin folded up permanently, I began to
shake and burn. During the next five days the fever shook me up
more violently than ever before. The quinine I took to check it
feeted every time as an emetic, and I cast up accounts about six or
seven times daily. My boy became quite alarmed at last, and threat
ened to take the matter into his own hands, and have me carried
forthwith to Coimbatore to be doctored ; but I persuaded him to
wait a little. I say persuaded, because I had no power to prevent
his having me carried anywhere. A famine officer, Mr. Huddle-
ston, stationed in Palachy, heard of my unfortunate predicament
and came forthwith to see me. I had previously met him under
very pleasant circumstances, and it was with great difficulty that I
prevented his carrying me off, nolens volens, to his bungalow, to be
doctored and cared for. I persuaded him also to give me a little
time, and in a few days my fever began to abate. Mr. Huddleston
insisted upon dividing his choicest stores with me, and kept me
supplied with the best the country afforded. He, too, had hunted
w ravine deer," black buck, and nil-gai around Etawah in the ravines,
and had bagged several leopards in the same district. He was a
very keen sportsman, and while I was convalescing he used to
gallop over on horseback and spend his spare time with me, talking
of the chase, which I verily believe helped me more than medicine.
I remained at Animallai until I was able to get about again, and
then I gave my collection a final overhauling and packed it up in
some large packing-cases which I procured from Coimbatore,*
* I found that my Animallai collection contained the following mammals,
or skeletons: 2 Elephants (Slephas Incticu*) ; 2 Tigers (Fdk tigria);
cat (F&* chaw) ; 1 Tree oat (P^adoxurus mwanga) ; 8 Bison ( Bos
' f 4 Muntjae (Cermilm mww*); 5 Sambur deer (Eusa aristotdty ; 14
deer (Q@rmt& ms) 1 Keilgherrj wild goat (Hemitragv* fylocrius) ;
1 Black tear (Omw&toto); 2 Wild boar (Sus Indicu*}\ 3 Madras langur*
t&tc0pr$imiw) ; 38 Black langnrs (S&mnopifheaus Mwuttatus} ; 1
Motm} ; 1 Flying squirrel (Pterowys petaurista) ;
{Semrw Matobatricw} ; 22 Flying foxes (Pteropu* m>
tomiatt) | a Indian hares (Leput niffncdtis}.
END OF THE ANIHALLAI CAMPAIGN.
The elephant skin I had carefully folded before drying, so that I
was able to pack the whole of it in a box measuring 2 feet 6 inches
by 2 feet 6 inches by 2 feet, and the whole weighed only two
hundred and ten pounds. I may add here that in 1880 this ajri-n
was mounted at Professor Ward's establishment in Bochester, by
another taxidermist, Mr. J. F. D. Bailly, and myself, requiring
four months' labor, and the old tusker who fell under such ro
mantic circumstances on the Aniraallai slope now stands, still
"monarch of all he surveys," in the Museum of Comparative Zo
ology, of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
At last the day came for me to leave, bag and baggage, for
Madras. Usually, in my wanderings in the tropics, when the time
comes for me to turn my back upon a given locality, I am able to
do so without a sigh, or a single wish ever to return and have my
experiences over again. Very often, I am glad to think that I am
leaving a place forever ; but not so with the Animallais. When
the time came for me to take my last look at the precipitous range
which loomed up like a wall all along the south, shrouded in a soft
blue vapor, I felt the sad conviction that never again would I carry
a rifte into such another hunter's paradise as that. The jungles
had treated me kindly in yielding up so much, and from that day
until my last I shall always have a longing to fight those battles
over again.
By dint of the greatest determination, I managed to hold my
head up long enough to ship my cases of specimens at Ctoimbatore,
and take the train for Madras. I was not able to call on the Col
lector, Mr. Wedderbura, to express my thanks for his official Vfnd-
ness to me, and to report my success, but was obliged to make my
acknowledgments in writing. After enjoying another fever fit at
Madras, I shipped my Southern India collection, five wagon-loads
of big boxes, for Hochester, via Ixmdon, on a Peninsula and Orien
tal steamer, bestowed my blessing and twenty rupees backsheesh
upon Doraysawmy, the gentleman's god, and took passage on a
steamer bound for Ceylon.
CHAPTER XX.
THE INDIAN ELEPHANT.
Geographical Distribution. Indian and African Species Compared. The Cej<
Ion Elephant. The Capture of Wild Elephants. Breeding in Captivity.
Gestation of the Elephant. Duration of Life. Growth and Height Size
of Tusks. Classes of Elephants. Uses. Table of Values. Intellectual
Capacity and Temper. Elephants at Work in a Timber Forest. Feeding
Elephants. Cost of Keeping. u Must," or Temporary Insanity <k Rogue "
Btephanta How an Elephant Kills a Man. Swimming Power of Ele
phants.
3>OBiHG my stay in Southern India I was so frequently brought in
contact with elephants, both tame and wild, that I was able to study
them with some care. As a fitting appendix to the record of my
experience in the c< Elephant Mountains " (Ammall.ais), I will en
deavor to give a brief sketch of this interesting animal.
According to the classification of most naturalists, there are only
two species of elephants now living, the Indian and the African, both
of which are very much smaller than their extinct ancestors, the
mammoth (Etephas primogenius) of Europe and Asia, and the Ele-
phas ganesa of Northern India. The Indian variety (Elephas In-
dicus) is found in a wild state in most of the large forest tracts
from the Terai, at the foot of the Himalayas, to within a few miles
of Gape Comorin, and also throughout Assam, Burmah, and Siam,
and almost the entire length of the Malay Peninsula In Southern
India, elephants are most abundant on the Animallai Hills, in the
Wainaad Forest, Goorg, and part of Mysore, particularly the Billiga-
niBgan Hilla In the north, they are common in the Bhootan Hills,
Assam, and the mountains of Ghittagong, and in the Territory of
Seisngore, near the lower end of the Malay Peninsula they are so
Braaeroos and mischievous that an elephant hunter is welcomed by
Hie officers of the government and the natives as well Elephants
also Icmai in Ceylon in great numbers, and in Sumatra and
o wMeb hereafter.
THE INDIAN ELEPHANT. 219
The African elephant is still abundant in Africa generally south
of the Sahara, except that near the Cape they have been driven back
into the interior by the colonial settlements, extending from the
Orange River to the Limpopo, and likewise on the west from Sene-
gambia to the mouth of the Niger. On every side their numbers
are decreasing with great rapidity, and those that remain are being
rapidly crowded toward the heart of Africa. Even there the na
tives make war upon them, as far as they are able, for the sake of
l *heir ivory. Next to the traffic in slaves, ivory-hunting is the
most important business carried on in the interior of the continent.
Like the gold-hunters of California, those who engage in it pene
trate the most remote and dangerous wildernesses, braving the
dangers of death from starvation, fever, and poisoned arrows in their
adventurous search for tusks.
In a brief comparison of the two species, the following are the
most striking points of difference :
The African elephant is undeniably larger than the Indian. Sir
Samuel Baker informs us that both males and females of the former
average about one foot taller than the latter, of which not more than
one male in a thousand attains a vertical shoulder height of ten feel
The African elephant has a convex forehead, that amounts to a de
cided hump in the middle of the face, the head is peaked at the top,
and the ears are of such enormous size that they meet and overlap
each other above the shoulders. The Indian variety has a very
broad, concave forehead, and the head has a deep, central furrow
lengthwise along the top, by reason of which the crown is surmounted
by two large rounded humps. The ears are not quite half the size
of those which literally cover the entire neck and fore-shoulders of
the African individual, and the species are easily distinguiahable
by this point alone. There are various anatomical differences which
it is unnecessary to state here.
The Ceylon elephant differs from that of India proper in so
many points as to necessitate the belief that it is a distinct variety. *
Hundreds of new species have been founded, and acceptably, upon
far slighter differences than we find here. In the first place, while
nine out of every ten male Indian elephants have tusks, not cme
out of every fifty Ceylon elephants possesses them, and Sir Samuel
Baker goes so far as to assert that they are present in only one ani
mal out of every three hundred. The Ceylon elephant has tweaty
pairs of ribs and twenty dorsal vertebrae, against nineteen of eadi
in the Indian species, while the latter possesses one more sacsral
220 TWO TEABS IN THE JUKGLE.
vertebra th*m the former. The Ceylon elephant is, without doubti
of smaller average size than its congener of the peninsula, and I be*
lieve it could be proven that the same difference in size exists be*
tween these two that is found between the Indian and the African.
Strange to say, the elephant which inhabits Sumatra exactly re
sembles that of Ceylon in point of structure, and many eminent
naturalists regard this coincidence as strong evidence in support of
the theory that the two islands were once connected by a vast con
tinent It is, however, much easier to account for the presence of
the Ceylon elephant in Sumatra by supposing it to have been orig
inally transported from the former island in a domestic state and
afterward allowed to run wild.
The Indian elephant in a wild state is now an inhabitant of
Northeastern Borneo, but it is highly probable that in a few centu
ries all the records will be lost or obscured which now inform us
that more than a hundred years ago the East India Company sent
some elephants as a present to the Sultan of Sulu, and he, fearing
the huge beasts would devour the whole annual crop of his little
island, had them landed on the coast of Borneo, at Cape Unsang,
where they were to be car$d for by his subjects. It is easy to con
jecture how long an indolent Malay would exert himself to feed an
utterly useless animal with the appetite of an elephant, and how
soon the animals would be turned loose to feed themselves in the
jungle ; nor is it difficult to imagine the naturalists of the twenty-
third century regarding the presence of the Indian elephant in
Borneo as proof positive that that great island was once connected
with the mainland of Asia and Ceylon by a continent.
Up to this time, the African elephant has never been systematic
ally captured alive and trained to service by the natives, but in
Ceylon, India, Burmah, and Siam, elephant-catching has been car
ried on regularly from time immemorial About the time of the
B&gfish occupation, the island of Ceylon contained, almost beyond
as many wild elephants as the whole of the peninsula of
whole districts being completely overrun with them.
numbers were caught in corrals, sometimes as many as one
hundred and sixty head at a single drive, and even as late as the
lasfe decade but oae, the number exported annually amounted to
a& avetrage of oro hundred and ninety-three. Since the English
ooetrpaiiDn, thousands have been slaughtered by sportsmen, and
sm& sspted and exported, until finally, in 1870, the
authorities decided that the proper limit of destruction
THE IOT>IAH EMJPHATvTT. 221
had been reached, and a fine was imposed upon the shooting of
elephants.
In former times, elephants were so numerous in Southern India
that the Madras Government paid a reward of 7 per head for their
destruction. Had this law remained in force up to this time, it is
quite sure there would BOW be very few of the animals remaining
in the Presidency, and their complete extinction would be but a
question of a few years. In 1873 an act was passed to prevent
their destruction, and they are now protected in all parts of India
and Ceylon.
In Hindustan, elephants have been caught in the Coimbatore
District under the direction of the collector, Mr. "Wedderburn ; in
Mysore by Mr. G. P. Sanderson under government authority and
support ; and in Chittagong, also, an annual catch has been made on
government account for many years past Smaller operations have
also been conducted by private individuals (natives) in the same
region with official sanction. It is far cheaper, and more expedi
tious, to catch elephants for service than to breed and rear them,
on account of the fact that an elephant is from fifteen to twenty-
five years in coining to maturity.
The plan pursued in capturing a wild herd is, like the shooting
of one's first elephant, very easy to understand, but very difficult
to execute. In a tract of forest which is periodically visited by
large herds, a spot is selected with reference to the natural advan
tages of the ground, such as streams of water, or high banks, and
some days or weeks before the elephants are expected, a large force
of natives is set to work to build an enclosure. A keddah, as it is
termed in India, is constructed by enclosing several acres of forest
with a stockade ten to twelve feet high, built of stout posts set
close together and strongly braced on the outside, the whole
being firmly lashed together with green bark or creepers. At the
proper place, usually on aa elephant path, a wide gateway is left,,
and either a heavy gate is made and suspended above the opening,
ready to be instantly dropped, or else a number of stout sliding
bars are arranged. From each side of the gate, a long guiding
wing is built, similar to the stockade itself, the two diverging and
extending some distance out into the open forest.
When a wild herd wanders near enough to this huge trap^ and
on the gate side, an army of native teasers, from three hundred to
two thousand men, with tom-toms* r^sty firearms, and braae
ihroats, surround the elephants on three sides, and by j
TWO YEABS IK THE JUNGLE.
use of "fteir noises, drive them into the enclosure, after which the
gate is instantly closed and secured.
A keddah is never so strongly built but that the larger elephants
could "break through it anywhere, by a combined and determined
rush, and when a herd is caught, the defence of the stockade im
mediately becomes a matter of great importance. The beaters sur
round it with firearms, torches, and long poles, and whenever an
attack is threatened upon any given point, the men rally there
promptly, and frighten the assailant away. Judging from what I
hare heard, I should think native music (!) would be a most ,ex-
ceJlent thing to employ in defending a keddah. It is so thoroughly
frightful that I thin.Tr even the most determined elephant would
run from it,
"When the captives have finally abandoned their frantic efforts to
escape^ and stand huddled together in a terrified group in the cen
tre of ike enclosure, the tame elephants and the noosers are in-
at the gate, and one by one the wild ones are singled
and surrounded. Usually three or four tame elephants com
pletely surround one of the others and hold him in his place, while
Hie aoosers slip down, quietly tie his feet together with strong,
soli ropes, and before he is fully aware of the situation he is ready
to fee inarched ont of the keddah between two of the tame animals.
Host wild elephants are completely tamed, and ready for work,
m&in three or four months after capture, and not unfrequently
good4empered animals can be ridden with safety in a few days.
H i% however, a matter requiring more time to bring an elephant
up to ihe perfection of training. Sanderson declares that the lar-
geal and oldest elephants are frequently the most easily tamed, aft
tfa0y are less apprehensive than the younger onea
Tfe@re are other ways in which elephants are caught now and
tfeeu, namely, in pitfalls and by hunting with tame females. The
former method is no longer followed except among the most be-
nighted natives, and the latter can succeed only under the most
Q^p4iQgttal and favorable circumstances.
It is so much more economical and expeditious to catch wild
elephants and tedn them, than it would be to breed and rear them
j, no particular attention is paid to the ktter means of
Hf> Ihe supply of serviceable animals. Notwithstanding
fisaais ar frequently born in captivity, and have been
r fimee the days of Pliny. On the Animallais, five were born in
m SUB sind belonging to the Forest Department, aU of
THE IKBIAN ELEPHAHT.
which lived. Sanderson mentions the birth of eight calves (be
tween September and November) in a herd of fifty-five elephants
he captured in Mysore. Even in the United States, under the most
unfavorable circumstances for elephants, two have been born very
recently in a menagerie, and are still alive.
The period of gestation in the elephant is about twenty-two
months. The foetus at twelve months is almost jet black, the
teeth are destitute of the cementing cnista petrosa, and therefore
the enamelled plates, called lamina in the mature molar, are entirely
separate from each other, lying one upon the other in the cavity of
the jaw. At birth, the baby elephant is from thirty to thirty-six
inches high and weighs from one hundred and forty-five to two
hundred pounds. All those I have seen, both wild and in captivity,
have been of a dark brown color, several shades darker than adult
animals, and were usually quite hairy, especially upon the back and
head.
The female elephant reaches the age of puberty at fifteen years,
but continues to grow for several years after. An elephant may be
said to attain its full growth between the ages of eighteen and
twenty-four years in captivity, and between twenty-four and thirty
in a wild state. Although there is no possible way of verifying the
accuracy of this statement so far as the wild elephants are con-
cerned, it certainly stands to reason that those in captivity, by rear
son of overwork, underfeeding, exposure to the heat of the sun, and
irregularities in their treatment, win stop growing much earlier
than the wild animals. It is well known that captive elephants stop
growing between the ages first mentioned above, and more than
this, that elephants reared in captivity seldom reach the extreme
limit of size, which is found only in animals captured after their
full growth has been attained. It may therefore be made as a gen
eral statement, that the elephant acquires his perfection of form,
size, and general physique at about the same age as does a weM-
developed white man of the temperate zone.
At sixty years of age the elephant is considered to be in^he
prime of life. According to Sanderson, experienced natives beBeve
that elephants generally live to about eighty years of age, and but
rarely attain an age of one hundred and twenty years ; Ms own
opinion, however, is, that tinder favorable circumstances t&e mm-
mal attains an age of one hundred and fifty years.
As is the case with nearly aE large animals, the heigbiof ite
Indian elephant is usually reeoitlea m exceptional figroes, wi
224 TWO YEARS 1ST THE
"being far higher than the average adult animal, convey an erroneous
impression, Even the best scientific writers are apt to fall into the
habit of giving the largest measurements fairly attainable, which
therefore brings the average animal far below the standard they set
tip. I can scarcely recall an instance of having shot a mammal,
ven out of a score of the same species, which came up to the meas-
ttrements recorded by Jerdon in his "Mammals of India."
The height of the male Elephas Indicus should be recorded as
9 feet 6 inches, vertical measurement, at the shoulder, and the female
8 feet, for these figures represent the height of from eight to twelve
individuals to be found in every hundred ; in other words, animals
which can be seen without searching throughout the length and
breadth of India.
The height of the Indian elephant is nearly everywhere recorded
m b@ing from 10 to 10 feet. The largest animal of the species
ever measured by reliable hands was a tusker described by Mr.
Gorse in 1799 as belonging to Asaph-ul-Daula, a former Vizier of
Duett!, which really measured 10 feet 6 inches, perpendicularly, at
tlie shoulder. This animal was merely one out of ten thousand,
aad ii wocdd be quite as sensible to measure Chang, and record the
of Chinamen as being seven and a half feet, as to say that
elephant is as tall as the Vizier's giant.
the most positive and accurate information on this
pleasure in quoting the following paragraphs from
O. P. Sanderson's delightful book, "Thirteen Years Among
tba Wild Beasts of India," In this work the autter has given us
$m freshest, fullest^ and most accurate information ever penned
&mms*mg the Indian elephant, as well as the most charming story
f Jungle life I have ever read. On page 55 he writes as follows :
**Osl; of some hundreds of tame and newly-caught elephants
I have aee3i in fixe south of India and in Bengal, also from
the different parts of India, and of which I have care-
maaraned all the largest individuals, I have not seen one 10
Will wrtbal height at the shoulders. The largest was an ele-
phant in tk* Madras Cbmmissarrat stud at Hoonsoor, which meas-
ttftl t fa* 19 indies. The next large* are two tuskers belonging
the IWmrajah of Mysore, each 9 feet 8 inches,
re mem forty years ago and stall alive.
the large! I him* measured, two leggy animals m
at Dacca, wm mss&Qd&e&j 8 feet 5 tndbes, and 8 feet 3
. J* iloatzaiin^ k>w exeefttona! IMs iieighi is in femalea*
THU
ELEPHAKT.
I may say that out of one hundred and forty elephants captured
by me in keddahs in Mysore and Bengal in 1874 and 1876, the
tallest females were just 8 feet. The above are vertical measure
ments at the shoulder. . . . . There is little doubt that there
is not an elephant 10 feet at the shoulder in India,"
Mr. Corse also makes the following statement :
" During the war with Tippoo Sultan, of the one hundred and
fifty elephants under the management of Captain Sandys not one
was 10 feet high, and only a few males 9J feet high."
The following table, showing the rate of an elephant's growth,
has been compiled from sources of undoubted authenticity chiefly
from the two authors quoted above and is submitted in the be
lief that the figures are correct
TABLE OP GBOWTH OF A MAT.* ELBPHAKT.
Period of Life.
Height at Shoulder*.
Weight.
At birth
Feet. IncbL
S 11
3 10
4 6
5
5 5
5 10
6 H
6 4
7
8 6
9 6
Pocrod*.
200
"940
2,725
4,3is
8,804
When one year old ........ .. ...
When two years old ......
When three years old
When four years old .,
When five years old ......... ...
When six years old ...... . .... .,
When seven years old
When eleven years old
When eighteen years old
When thirty years old
As may readily be inferred from the relative size of the species,
the African elephant has the larger tusks. The largest tusk taken
by Gordon Gumming during his famous hunt for ivory was 10 feet
8 inches long and weighed one hundred and seventy-three pounds.
I have never seen a well-authenticated record of a larger single
tusk, although Guvier, on hearsay evidence, mentions a tusk sold
in Amsterdam as weighing three hundred pounds. It was very
probably a pair. The tasks of the Indian elephant are, in general
terms, about half the average length and weight of the African. Tfee
largest tusk ever taken in India, so far as can be ascertained* was 8
feet in length and weighed ninety porad, wMch may be
as one out of ten thousand. The lirgBst taken
of twenty elephants shot, was five feet in length and weighed
thirty-seven and one-half pounds, which may justly be considered m
15
23$ TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
tusk far above the average size. In a pile of nearly a hundred Indian
elephant tusks which I saw in the Custom House at Bombay, not
(me measured five feet in length, and most of them were under
four f eei
In Hindustan, all male elephants have tusks, except about one
out of every ten, which, on account of their absence, is called a
" muckna." The tips of the tusks project beyond the lip of the
male animal almost as soon as born, and I have even seen them
showing very distinctly in a half-grown foetus. Sanderson asserts,
well supported by the best of evidence, that these baby tusks are
never shed, notwithstanding the common assertion to the contrary.
The female elephants and the mucknas all have miniature tusks,
the points of which at first project a few inches beyond the lip,
but they are very soon broken short off at the lip, leaving a rough,
jagged end which is much used in barking trees, etc.
The natives of India divide elephants into three very distinct
castes, or classes, with as much precision as do the most captious
breeders of fancy animals, and all local prices are based upon
iM classification. Commercially, all tame elephants are divided
into two classes, those for use, and those for show. For the
same reason that every English gentleman of distinction has a
long retinue of choice initial letters marching in solemn pro
cession after his name, every Indian prince or nobleman keeps a
train of showy elephants to add to his prestige* Lately, however,
the elephants, besides being very expensive to keep, have become
very high-priced, and the English Government, with commendable
forethought, has commenced to distribute initials among the native
rajahs and raaharajahs to take the place of the animals. I believe
that among the more enlightened natives, < C. S. 1" is considered
equal to three first class tuskers.
All other things being equal, the price paid for an elephant in
tiie Indian market depends almost wholly upon the points of the
animal, or, in other words, upon his class. Sanderson says : "Ele-
|Jbaats are divided by natives into three castes or breeds, distin-
giaated by their physical conformation ; these axe termed in Bengal,
Kooniarial\ Dwasab, and Meerga, which terms may be considered
i^ %a% tboroagh-bred, half-bred, and third-rate.
** WWte fecte $mqm$$ oonsisl of Dwasaks, but never of Koo-
; ifeese, I have found, occur respectively in
, of fe&a tan k> fifteen per cent among ordinary
THE INDIAN ELEPHANT. 237
** The Koomeriah, or thorough-bred, takes the first place ; he
alone can reach extreme excellence, but all the points required for
oerfection are very rarely found in one individual He is, among
elephants, what the thorough-bred is among horses, saving that hi&
is a natural, not cultivated superiority. The points of the Kco
meriah are ; barrel deep and of great girth ; legs short (especially
the hind ones) and colossal, the front pair convex on the front side
from the development of muscles ; back straight and flat but slop
ing from shoulder to tail, as an upstanding elephant must be high in
front ; head and chest massive ; neck thick and short ; trunk broad
at the base and proportionately heavy throughout ; bump between
the eyes prominent ; cheeks full ; the eye full, bright, and kindly ;
hind-quarters square and plump ; the skin rumpled, thick, inclin
ing to folds at the root of the tail, and soft. If the face, base of
trunk, and ears be blotched with cream-colored markings, the an
imal's value is thereby enhanced. The tail must be long but not
touch the ground, and be well feathered.
" The Dwasala class comprises all animals below this standard
but which do not present such marked imperfection as to cause
them to rank as Meergas, or third-rates ; all ordinary elephants
(about seventy per cent.) are Dwasalas.
" A pronounced Meerga is the opposite to the Koomeriah, He
is leggy, lank, and weedy, with an arched, sharp-ridged back, diffi
cult to load and liable to galling ; Ms trunk is thin, flabby, and
pendulous ; his neck long and lean ; he falls off behind ; and his
hide is thin. His head is small, which is a bad point in any ele
phant ; his eye is piggish and restless. His whole appearance is
unthrifty and no amount of feeding or care makes him look fat
The Meerga, however, has his uses ; from his length of leg and
lightness he is generally speedy ; the heavier Koomeriah is usually
slow and stately in his paces." *
In India, elephants still form the most imposing feature of every
ceremonial procession which involves a display of the "pride, pomp
and circumstance " of a native ruler or prince. Of all created ani
mals, the lordly elephant alone was born to wear splendid trappings
of gold cloth surmounted by a magnificent howdah of gold and sil
ver, a perfect diadem in itself, and carry princes upon his back.
At such times the king of beasts is fairly crowned, and no momardb
in royal purple ever walks with more majestic tread or bears foim*
* Wild Beasts of India, p, $4
228
TWO YEARS IN THE JUKGLE.
self with more kingly dignity than he. Delhi saw a goodly sighi^
ihe like of which will probably never occur again, when it beheld
during the Imperial Assemblage of January 1, 1877, a procession of
elephants, the finest in all India, splendidly caparisoned and sur
mounted by magnificent howdahs, in which sat the swarthy princes
of a score of native states, bedecked with the most gorgeous colors
and glittering with jewels. On such occasions as this the elephant
is in his proper sphere.
Aside from the purpose mentioned above, the trained elephant
& of great value both to the government and private individuals for
dragging timber in forests and piling it at the depots, carrying and
drawing pieces of artillery, and also carrying stores on military
fcaunpaigns, particularly in mountainous regions.
In 1870 the government of Ceylon imposed an export duty of
Q per head on elephants, which has completely stopped the an
nual supply of India from that source, and caused a great advance
in prices in the Madras and Bengal markets. Since the prices of
elephants of the same size and age depend upon their class, it is
impossible to state more than their relative values. In the follow
ing table I have endeavored to give the ruling prices in India at
tfoifl date (1882) according to sex and size, indicating the range of
prices in each case.
I need hardly say that in the United States, elephants do not
figure either in Lord Mayor's processions or timber forests, and are
of value to the showman only.
Quality.
Height at
Bhcralders.
~V*lnin
India.
Value in
Amtrioe.*
B*foy, during first year .........
Feet. Inche*,
2|to 3
20to 40
$100,000
^Fenaale, four years old .........
5 6
5 to 35
2,500
JNmiaie, fl**ven years old
6 4
60 to 75
3,000
ViMMie, eleven years old
6 10
100 to 150
3,500
Female, eighteen years old .......
7 8
150 to 175
4.000
Fefiwde, over twenty-five years old.
!^8fer t four years old
S 3
5 6
200 to 275 ,
50to 80
4,500
3000
*f&ialErj seven years old
6 4
100 to 200
3,500
Wsafcar* slerea years old .......
7
300to 500
4,000
TffldcAT, eighteen years old
8 6
600to 800
5,000
5Wfc$r 0vr iweaty^ive years old.
Speaker, feicbesl: class. ...........
9 4
9* to 10
800 to 1,200
1,200 to ,000
7,000
15<,000
* Statement fnnm^d by Mr. P. T. Barnum.
THE INDIAN ELBFHA^T. 329
The elephant is the most patient and obedient of all
and by far the most intelligent. He has more ability to reason
from cause to effect than most other animals of docile temperament,
and he is, beyond all question, the most capable of being taught and
the most willing to obey after he has been taught To me it is a
matter of surprise that Mr. Sanderson, who has, I presume, more
personal knowledge of the animal both tame and wild than any
European living, should place so low an estimate upon his mind.
He declares that " its sagacity is of a Tery mediocre description,"
and also that " its reasoning faculties are far below those of the dog,
and possibly other animala"
Irom this view, which I think is due to the fact that " familiar
ity breeds contempt," I differ very widely. My acquaintance with
tame elephants has created in my mind a respect for their intellect
ual qualities which I never could have acquired in any other way.
A trained dog or horse is such a rarity, even among the thousands
of their species, that it is considered a proper object to exhibit at
a circus. A horse which will promptly back at the word of com
mand, or a dog which will bark or stand on its hind legs when told
to do so, is considered quite accomplished ; but in India, any well-
trained elephant^ at a word or touch from his driver, who sits astride
his neck, will "hand up," "kneel," "speak" (trumpet), "salaam"
(salute with his trunk), stop, back, lie down, pull down an obstruct
ing branch, gather fodder and "hand up" to his attendant, turn
or Eft a log, or drag it by taking its drag-rope between its teeth.
He will also protect his attendants or attack a common enemy with
fury. I think I am safe in asserting that there are in India to-day,,
scores of captive elephants who are capable of performing all the
services enumerated above. But of course there are many which
are not so intelligent.
Contrast this with the performances of our most intelligent
breed of dogs, the pointer. Even when taken young and trained
under the most favorable circumstances, they are at best capable of
being taught only a few things, as to " go on," to " charge," to go
in a given direction, and retrieve. The extreme difficulty of
teaching a dog anything after he has passed his puppy-hood is so
T3niversally acknowledged as to have given rise to the familiar prov
erb, "It is hard to teach an old dog new kicks." What a strong
contrast is seen in the wild " koomeriah " elephant, caught when he
was about sixty years old (by Mr. Sanderson), who " was easily man
aged a few days after his capture. 3 * Of all animate in the warH
23G TWO TEABS IN THE JITKOLE.
what other would have so quickly learned that mind is superior to
matter, that man is master of the dumb brutes, or would have suc
cumbed so gracefully to the inevitable ?
"While staying at Sungam. the elephant camp and timber depot
on the Animallais, I had a fine opportunity to watch the elephants
at work and to learn something of their management Many an
hour I spent in the timber yard, quite fascinated by, the sight of
those giants at work. The first work of the elephant is in the jungle
where there are no roads for carts. The teak-trees have been felled
and hewn into timbers from 9 to 12 inches square and 15 to 20
feet long, with a handle called a " drag-hole " at one end, through
which the drag-rope is passed and made fast The drag-rope is
about two and a half inches in diameter and eighteen feet long, and
is made by the Mulcers from the inner bark of a tree called " vaca
nar w (SiercuZia vttlosa). These ropes are very strong, unaffected
by wetting, but are also quite soft, so that the elephants use them
without injuring their lips. One end of the rope is made fast in
the drag-hole of the log to be moved, the elephant seizes the free
end with his trunk and places it between his huge molars, and with
the log almost by his side he bends his head toward it, grips the
rope firmly between his teeth, and drags it along. If he is a tusker
he puts the rope over his tusk nest the log, which gives him con
siderable leverage. When the rope is about to slip between the
teih, or the jaws begin to tire at a critical moment, I have often
seen fee elephant wrap his trunk tightly around the rope and pull
vigorously with it, apparently to assist his jaws.
This method of working elephants always seemed to me a
iieathenish and stupid one, and I do not see how it can be charac
terized in any other way. Instead of walking straight away with
the log, as the animal would undoubtedly do in proper harness, the
poor beast is obliged to stop every fifty yards to rest his jaws and
neck, upon which the whole strain comes. It is entirely unnatural
for any animal to draw a load from the head, with its neck bent
aKmad sMfeunse, instead of from the shoulder or the girth.
In turning square timber a tusker puts his tusks under the
edg% Mils upward and forward at an angle of forty-five degrees
throws it ova: ; but the female or muckna, having no
has to kneel, plaoe the base of the trunk, not the forehead,
against Hie side of the log, and by a downward and forward press
ure against Ifee n$$r edge of the log, push it over. In either
mm tfe# *wmfc m itoa m lees Hiaa a minute, if there be no special
THE IKBIAK ELEPHAHT. 381
difficulty to overcome. In the Sungam timber depot, all the wort
of piling and arranging the logs in regular order, at equal distances
apart, with the right side uppermost, was performed by elephants,
under the direction of their mahouts. A word of command, a silent
touch of the hand or knee was enough. There was no loud bawling
nor angry swearing at the laborers, such as would have been abso
lutely necessary had they been Barbadoes or Demerara negroes, nor
was there any insulting back-talk or insubordination, such as those
abominable scallawags are wont to indulge in. In fact, the elephants
worked like intelligent human beings of the better sort.
The elephants of the Forest Department were every night al
lowed to run loose in the jungle around the camp to feed upon the
succulent bamboo shoots and grass, by which they secured their
own green fodder, and rendered the services of the usual grass-cut
ters unnecessary. Every morning they were hunted up and
brought in by their mahouts and taken to the stream to batha
They were made to lie down where the water was deepest and en
joy a full bath and good washing, after which they were ready for
breakfast. Another attendant always remained in camp to prepare
the cooked food for the herd. The daily allowance of rice for each
elephant was one maund, or twenty-four pounds. The entire daily
allowance was cooked at once in a huge copper kettle, and when
thoroughly boiled, each elephant's share was made up into four or
five balls the size of a man's head, and the whole breakfast was laid
out on a mat spread near the kettle. The seven or eight elephants
then marched up and took their places around the mat facing in
ward, two on each side, and with the utmost gravity and perfection
of " table-manners," stood still to be waited upon in turn. One by
one, the cook lifted the balls of rice and placed them carefully in
the mouths of the elephants, who always gracefully elevated their
trunks while receiving them, and remained quietly until the meal
was finished. I often assisted in this interesting performance^ and
the huge n.T>i-ma.1p never showed me the least incivility.
"When a mahout wishes to mount his elephant* he gives a word
of command, at which the animal lifts one of his f ore-feet aiid bends
it upward, the bare-footed driver steps upon it nimbly, seizes the
elephant by the ear and scrambles up the foreleg to his place. On
account of my thick-soled shoes, I could not swarm up an elephant's
leg in that way, and being without a ladder the elephants always
knelt to enable me to reach the riding pad.
Except in forests like the A.T>iTn^TUi^ where there are BO cuM-
TWO TEARS IK THE JTTKGLE.
vated fields to be trespassed upon, elephants cannot be turned
loose at night to browse at will, but must be furnished with a daily
supply of green fodder, grass, leaves, sugar-cane, or in lieu of that,
dry fodder, in a smaller quantity. The daily government allow
ance in Bengal is 400 pounds of green fodder, or 240 pounds of
dry, while in Madras it is only 250 pounds and 125 pounds respec
tively for elephants of the same size and internal capacity. Mr,
Sanderson has proven, by careful experiments in feeding elephants,
that the government allowance in both the Presidencies is wholly
insufficient for the actual wants of the animal. He found that dur
ing eight consecutive days, eight female elephants consumed a daily
average of 650 pounds of green fodder each, and a large tusker
consumed 800 pounds of the same food in eighteen hours. In ad
dition to this the animals had each 18 pounds of grain daily.
The following figures show the cost of keeping an adult female
elephant in the Madras Commissariat Department, per month :
1 mahout (driver) 9 Eupees.
1 grass-cutter. 6 "
25 pounds rice per diem (30 pounds per rupee) 25 u
Salt, oil, and medicines .2 "
Fodder, average monthly purchase 6 **
48 "
The rupee is equal to about forty-four cents in gold, which
would make the cost of keeping an elephant about $21.12 per
month in our currency.
Male elephants which have passed the age of puberty, twenty
years or thereabouts, are subject to fits of ** must," or temporary
insanity, when they are not sufficiently worked or exercised, and
sometimes even when they are. According to all accounts, ele-
I^Ets of advanced age are most subject to these dangerous
paroxysins, and he fits vary in duration from four or five weeks
to four or five months. They also vary in intensity from dull leth
argy in one animal, to the most murderous fury in another. The ap-
proaeh of u must ** is indicated by the discharge of a peculiar yellow
Baator from a small orifice behind the eye, upon the appearance of
idndi ilie elephant is closely watched, if not chained up altogether.
1m Apfaiffit in a violent fit of "must" sometimes becomes the
of murderous and destructive deviltry. Many of the
iag0 w deptots are, no doubt, old males who from
and kzr? habits have been attacked by fits of " must"
" t aa elephant at MandH Bear Jubbulpore^ which
THE IKDIAK ELEPHAKT. 233
a few years ago " killed an immense number of people " before its
bloody career was ended by two officers.
In Mr. Dawson's fascinating volume, "Neilgherry Sporting
Reminiscences," there is a very interesting account from the pen of
General Morgan, of the doings of a "must" elephant at Mudumallay
(where I did my first bison-shooting), in January, 1870. The ele
phant went mad, almost killed his mahout, and had inaugurated a
perfect reign of terror at the karkhana when General Morgan ap
peared upon the scene. For fifteen days all work had been stopped,
and the station was almost entirely deserted. The vicious brute
had smashed down huts, upset carts, broken into the writer's bunga
low to get at some sugar (I wish he had caught Eamasawmy !) and
every person whom he scented was immediately charged, although
strange to say no one was killed. General Morgan was charged
almost immediately upon his arrival, but sent a bullet into the ani
mal's forehead above the brain, which caused him to retreat At
another time it required two bullets to stop a more determined
charge, upon receiving which the brute fled to the jungle. In the
meantime a number of elephants were sent for, and when they came,
ten days later, the vicious beast was surrounded and captured without
accident. General Morgan's account of the event concludes as follows :
" When he broke loose, I asked the mahout how it happened, aa
he was nearly killed at the tima He said : ' I was just going to
mount, when he knocked me off his foreleg and pressed me down
upon the ground across the loins with his tusk (he was a muckna).
I exclaimed, " O Rama I (name of the elephant), spare me, have pity
on me ! How often have I given you jaggery (sugar) and cocoanut f
Have I not ever been kind to you? Have I ever defrauded you of
your just rights ? O Rama ! remember I was always good to you and
spare me this time ! " On which Rama relaxed the awful pressure
on my loins and I got up, made him a salaam, and walked away,
though I felt as if my back was broken.' Apparently the mahout
had treated him fairly, or certainly the elephant had never let him
go. The cavadie, or grass-cutter, would have fared differently had
he fallen into Rama's hands, for the pain of many a prod from Ms
spear was fresh in Rama's memory, and he no sooner let go the
mahout than he took up the scent of the unfortunate cavadiet, and
hunted him like a dog. The man escaped that day with difficulty.
The elephant winded him at a distance of more than two hundred
yards, and he was nearly caught, so that finally the cavadie bad to
abandon the forest, and take refuge across a river ten miles sway.*
234 TWO YEABS IK THE JUNGLE.
Occasionally a solitary elephant, in nearly every case a male,
takes to tearing down huts, maliciously destroying crops and till
ing people, by which he speedily earns for himself the title of "a
rogue.** Judging from what I have heard about such individuals,
I believe it could be proven that no elephant becomes a rogue un
less he Is suffering from some acute ailment, or else a fit of " must."
A sportsman once showed me a tusk he had extracted from a famous
rogue, the condition of which afforded a ready explanation of the
animaTs vicious temper. At some late period of his life a heavy
ball had been fired into the base of his right tusk, shattering the
ivory, splitting the tusk and driving sharp splinters of it into the
medullary pulp. The pain must have been excruciating, and yei^
like human toothache, it could not kill
An angry elephant usually kiUs a man by treading or kneeling
upon his body, and crushing it to a jelly. Occasionally, however,
the victim is subjected to still more terrible torture, as the follow
ing passage from Mr. Sanderson's work will show :
"He (the Kakankote rogue) had now returned, evidently not im
proved in temper, and had marked his arrival by killing a Kurraba,
a relative of one of the trackers I had with me on our late expedi
tion. The Kurraba was surprised while digging roots in the jungle,
but would probably not have been caught had. he been alone. Two
youthful aborigines were with him, and it was after putting them
up a tree, and attempting to follow, that he was pulled down and
torn limb from limb by the elephant. The Kurrabas who found
the body, said that the elephant had held the unfortunate man
down with one fore-foot, whilst with his trunk he tore legs and arms
from their sockets, and jerked them to some distance."
This was the third mart killed by the ELakankote rogue, who was
himself speedily hunted down and killed by Mr. Sanderson.
One of the strangest features of the elephant is its swimming
power. With a colossal body and legs, and with feet almost wholly
nBad&pted to Trmfrittg progress through the water, the elephant
0wiios better than any other terrestrial quadruped. Upon t,"h4ft
pofo^ Mr. Sanderson writes as follows :
**A batch of seventy-nine (elephants) that I despatched from
Daoea fe> Bteackpur* near Calcutta, had the Ganges and several of
its 'fags tidal branches to cross. In the longest swim they were six
i&TOB m^icmi tondbiug the bottom ; after a rest on a sand-bank,
itejf 00jpi0fei $k& pidm m three more. Not one was losi I have
bffd of even more remarkable s^ims than this."
PART II. CEYLON.
CHAPTER XXL
COLOMBO.
Madras to Colombo, Farewell to Jungle Fever. The Queen of the Troploa.
The Singhalese. The Native Shops. Exorbitant Duty on Methylated
Spirits. An Appeal, and Its Resnlt Public Opinion. -A Protest. Leg
islation for the t( Odd Man." The Sea View Hotel. Natives as Collect
ors. A Morning's Work. How to Clean and Preserve Echini. The
Gatherings of one Day. The Fish Market The Colombo Mnsemn and
its Director. Native Taxidermists. Need of European Preparatettrs in
the East Indies. An Obliging Firm,
THE next day after leaving Madras, our steamer called at Pondi-
cherry, a little corner of only one hundred and seven squaie miles,
but the largest of the French possessions in India, which all told,
amount to only one hundred and eighty six square miles of territory.
The city of Pondicherry is a pretty little place, cleaner and whiter
than Madras and with the additional advantage over the latter citp
cf having no " harbor works." We lay at anchor in the open sea
a mile from shore, and discharged a portion of our cargo into
the heavy masnlah surf-boats common along the shelterless Ooro-
mandel coast.
The following day we called at Negapatam and went toougb.
the same programme. The sea was very rough and lyn/iing pas
sengers was no joke. It is not aa easy matter for any one excepl
an athlete to step from a ship's ladder into a boat which is rifting
and falling seven feet, three or four times a minute, and if a man
is inclined to be clumsy he had best decide before starting wiie&er
he prefers to fall on his back or his stomach.
T!he morning after leaving Negapatain found us on the coast of
Ceylon, the pearl of the East Indies. AH day we were in sight of
236 TWO YEABS IN THE JUNGLE.
its shore line of golden yellow sand lying below a bright green
fringe of palm-trees, while the forest-clad summits of the mountains
loomed up far in the interior. The narrow channel which separates
the mainland of India from Ceylon at Paumben is too shallow by
about ten feet to allow ocean steamers to pass through, and we
were obliged to sail three quarters way around the island to reach
Colombo. No one ever had a better opportunity to "scent the
spicy perfume of the cinnamon gardens " at long range than did
we on that occasion, but a stone image could not have failed more
utterly to detect anything of the kind.
For years and years, until the absurdity has become bald with
age, has it been asserted as a fact that the spice-laden breezes from
Ceylon proclaim the presence of the island to voyagers miles at sea,
and some writers have even had the hardihood to assert that they
noticed the aroma of the breezes before sighting land. It is time
this dear old delusion should be given up.
My first impressions of Colombo were never received. Early in
the morning while I was eagerly anticipating the delightful experi
ence of steaming up to the city and landing in Ceylon " at last,"
my head began to ache, cold waves began to sweep up and down
my back, my throat began to fire up and I was soon shivering as
though the equator had no existence. By the time we came to an
chor it was the fever's innings, and my only thought was to get
ashore and find a hotel
When I landed on the jetty I was half-blinded with the pain in
my head ; my brain was dizzy, and I was as sick at the stomach as a
drunken man, I looked and acted so much like one that the na
tives said, " Look ! look ! the gentleman is drunk ! " and immedi
ately collected around me to see the fun. A native policeman hov
ered obligingly near, to assist me or take me in charge as the ease
might require, and from his actions I could not tell which thought
was uppermost in his mind. But the thought of being in Ceylon
me up, and I presently crawled to a cool and comfortable
where I went to bed and enjoyed my fever with a certain de-
gne& of eomi ort.
Bie best physician in Colombo was Dr. White, the Artillery
Surgeon, although, by a strange coincidence his house stands with
& hospital em one side and a graveyard on the other. I sent for
M ^wifeotit delay, aad without delay he came, and told me I had
fiat Mte a &op b0 (to England), in order to get th^lever out of
thai such a calamity was not to be thought
COLOMBO. 237
of, and he must cure me on the spot. In five mirmtes he wrote a
prescription which proved the death-blow of my fever. It came
the next day and took leave of me forever, after having stuck to
me faithfully for nearly seven months and floored me sixteen times.
The Doctor advised me to keep out of the jungles for a month or
two, and remain dose by the sea, or upon it if possible for that
length of time. I followed his advice to the letter, my fever was
effectually stamped out in four weeks, and my former energy re
turned in full force. The prescription which wrought my salvation
I will record here for the benefit of suffering humanity in the East
Ladies. It is as follows :
5. Quin. sulph. (Sulphate of quinine) J j. *
Liq. strychn. (Liquor strychniae) J j.
Tinct. card, co (Tincture of cardamom, compound) .... 3iv.
Acid, sulph. dil. (Dilute sulphuric acid) 3 ij.
Aqua (Water in quantity sufficient to make) ad 5 am.
K. ft, Mist
Half & wine-glassful to be taken three times a day.
Colombo is by all odds the most beautiful city I have ever seen
in the tropics. Of course, parts of the Pettah, or native quarter,
are wholly uninviting, as is the case with nearly every oriental city,
and I leave them out of consideration. But take first, if you
please, the aristocratic section called the Fort, perched by itself on
a little peninsula formed by Colombo Lake and the sea, standing
proudly aloof from the Pettah. Here cluster nearly all the Govern
ment buildings, the banks, the hotels, all the European shops and
the high-class native ones. The streets are beautifully clean and
smooth, well shaded by tulip-trees (Thespesui populnea), and at the
intersection of the two principal ones there stands a tall, square
tower, or campanile, in the top of which is the Colombo light, and
directly under it the town clock. From the lower end of the Fort
fiiere stretches away toward the south in a clear undulating sweep
of a mile and a quarter, the finest esplanade in the world. Why it
is stigmatized with such an abominable name as Galie Face* I have
been wholly unable to divine, and therefore, suppose that name was
given it for some strategic purpose. People will tell you it " faces
* The above is the quantity of quinine called for in the druggist's copy of
the original prescription, but the amount (one onnee) is so great as to lead one
to believe that one drodm is the quantity intended. In making ap the rem
edy I would advise the substitution of the latter quantity, as tke Ibarraer ^
palpably a <3frpyist's enw, W, T. IL
238 TWO YEABS IK THE JUNGLE.
GaHe," but it does no such thing ; it faces Aden. It is long ana
rather narrow in places, with the sea on one side and the lake on
the other. It is simply an open stretch of gently-rolling, smooth,
green lawn, without a sign of a fence, a gravelled foot-path, tree,
shrub, or even the inevitable marble statue. There is nothing
hackneyed about it. It is as free as the air, and you may walk
across it, or gallop over it on horseback to your heart's content
In the evening toward sunset the wealthy Europeans drive
round and round this beautiful Esplanade in their best turnouts,
to enjoy the balmy breezes; and the Europeans who are not
wealthy walk out, and sit on the benches along the shore. Some
how I always preferred the benches. To me there was a world of
quiet enjoyment in sitting there alone, watching the sun as it sank
slowly into the sea, the tiny sail-boats of the fishermen gliding by
as they sought the harbor ; the calm, blue sea, stretching in wide
expanse before me, and the surf creeping up the sand at my feet
The view of Colombo from the clock tower is full of exquisite
beauty, particularly when looking south. Along the boundary of
tbe Fort stands a zig-zag row of five long, two-story, many win
dowed, pale yellow buildings, clean and handsome, which are the
military barracks. Immediately beyond them stretches the Es
planade with the Hospital on the left, the Club House fairly tres
passing on the green sward farther down, while at the lower end is
Hie Galie Face Hotel, embowered in a beautiful grove of cocoanut
trees. Almost in the centre of the city, with the Esplanade for its
western shore, lies Slave Lake, a body of water many acres in ex
tent but with such a wonderfully irregular shape, and so many
sinuosities of shore-line that one cannot obtain anything like a
comprehensive view of it except from a height Its southern shore
wr^es in and out and aU about ; but a well-kept carriage-drive
winds along Its entire length, patiently following all the curves,
leading past shady bungalows surrounded by weE-kept grounds
Ml of aoeoanui^trees, lowering shrubs and b^riaful plants found
% IB the tropics or in hot-houses. No drive can be more de-
%fetfol a&n thai around the lake about sunset, the time when all
hot countries are the most enjoyable,
l%otid t^ lake, toward ihe souifceast, He the Cinnamon Gar-
the Mmei% wide skeets and the airy bungalows of the
oMafe and merchants. Let it be remembered
in ^xxsoaBut-trees, and the ground
COLOMBO. 239
contrast is this genuine luxuriance of vegetation to the parched
and barren landscapes of famine-stricken Madras !
East of the Fert lies the native town, extending in a vast semi
circle from the edge of the inner harbor around Slave Lake to the
seashore below the Galle Face Hotel. The Pettah is well-built but
crowded of course, and in the quarter where the principal shops
are, the streets are thronged with people and bullock carts. To
the north lies the inner harbor, where the small native craft lie in
shallow water. From the seaward extremity of the Fort peninsula,
a long arm of concrete is being slowly pushed northward out into
the deep water, to increase, by one skilful stroke, both the size of
the harbor and the depth of it, by enclosing behind the breakwater
a portion of the open sea. Toward the west we look down upon a
mass of huge bowlders and masses of rock lying along the beach,
against which the surf dashes unceasingly with showers of silvery
spray. Beyond these stretch the calm blue waters of the Indian
Ocean, dotted with white sails of fishing-boats, until, at the distant
horizon, the blue of the sky blends with that of the sea.
A walk through the Fort reminds the traveller that he is in
contact with a different class of people and a different language
from anything he has met in Hindustan. The language of South
ern India (Tamil) is spoken in portions of Northern Ceylon, but the
bulk of the native inhabitants are Singhalese, and speak a language
known by the same name as that by which they are distinguished.
Here for the first time in our journey eastward we meet with the
sarong, which is universally worn by the Malays, and one's first
thought is that the fashion was originally borrowed from them.
The average Singhalese gentleman is a curiosity, so far as his
" get-up " is concerned. Instead of pantaloons he wears about two
yards of cloth, either plain or figured, white or colored, wound
tightly around his legs from his waist down to his feet, held either
by a belt at the waist or by rolling the edge under.
This primitive petticoat lacks all the good features of the mod
ern garment and possesses not a solitary advantage over trowsers.
Unlike the sarong of the Malay, which is worn quite short in com
parison, this antiquated " pull back " reaches to the shoes.
Its small circumference destroys all the freedom of the lower
limbs so necessary to a man, and compels the wearer to take short
mineing steps like a giri The meanest thing I remember doing
in Ceylon was to inveigle two Singhalese gentlemen into eJimfamg
& high picket fence. I climbed it first^ to show them how, and ioar
240 TWO TEARS IN THE JUKGLE.
the next few minutes was intensely interested in watching their
gymnastica In fairness to them I record the fact that they got
over !
Besides the sarong, the gentleman aforesaid wears his hair very
long, combs it straight back, coils it up at the back of his head and
catches it with a high tortoise-shell comb. He wears ear-rings also,
has at best a very scanty beard, and if he is a beardless boy you
will be very apt to think him an uncommonly pretty girl for a
native. The men are, as a rule, much better looking than the
women, the latter being more masculine in general appearance.
A visit to the native curiosity shops on the Fort is full of in
terest With but one exception, they are all kept by Moormen,
who are easily distinguished by their bright red caftans, their
shaven heads, and their anxiety to cheat every stranger. The un
initiated traveller should beware of every man in Colombo or Galle
who has his head shaved and wears upon it a tall, rimless straw
hat, resembling an inverted flower-pot suffering from an overdose
of decorative art
The shops of these worthies contain carved ivory and ebony
elephants, ebony canes also elaborately carved, beautiful paper
weights made of elephant's teeth sawn into sections and polished ;
chessmen of carved ivory and sandalwood boxes (from China) ;
tortoise-shell work-boxes, watch-chains, combs, jewel caskets of
porcupine quills, ebony wood and ivory ; and precious stones of
poor quality to the end of the chapter. Even the best of Ceylon
native carving is clumsily done, and is not fit to compare with that
of the Chinese.
A visit to the business quarter of the Pettah reveals a long
row of shops packed closely together, substantially built and well
slocked with all the common European articles used in the tropics,
and arranged quite in European style, I was surprised at the ex
tensive variety of goods to be found in many of them, and, taken
altogether, they were unusually well appointed for native stores.
Ttere are no petty bazaars here with impudent Madrasees bawling
out at yon as you pass quietly along, "You want buy socks?"
w mat you want?"
13ie stores of the Chetties who deal in rice are full of grain
loor to ceiling, and it seems a sin that those old fellows
tie able to make such piles of money as they do, and not
spend it AM old Chetty, with his mouth running
* ^ife betel Juice, a fif ty-cent turban on Ms head, naked to the
COLOMBO. 241
waist, and displaying a breast as hairy as Esau's, whom a stranger
would not suspect of being able to buy a hen and chickens, will sit
down and sign his name to a check on the Oriental Bank for fifty
thousand rupees as calmly as I would. But the similarity would
end there, for he would get the money, and I would "get left"
My reception by the Government authorities at Colombo was
of a highly characteristic nature, and I am tempted to record it as
> fair illustration of the aggravation a traveller is sometimes forced
to endure. The incident may serve as a caution to other natural
ists who intend to visit Ceylon.
"When Professor Ward and I were in London we looked up the
question of alcoholic supplies in the East Indies, and upon being
informed that methylated spirits (alcohol charged with methylic
acid to render it forever unfit for drinking in any way), by virtue
of its character, entered all ports free of duty, the Professor pur
chased ninety-six gallons of it at 3s. 2d. per gallon, or seventy-six
cents. Thirty-six gallons were shipped to Colombo, care of Messrs.
Lee, Hedges & Co., to await my arrival, and the remainder was sent
to Singapore. I hardly need to say that this spirits was of greater
strength than anything procurable in Ceylon, and was to be used
in preserving fishes, small reptiles, and crustaceans.
The case of spirits lay in the Custom House until I reached
Colombo, when it so happened it was cleared by our agents, at my
request of course, while I was off for a few day's shooting.
Imagine my horror to find upon returning that the customs au
thorities had levied an import duty of six rupees per gallon ($2.70)
on the spirits, the same as if it had been good alcohol, and of course
Messrs. Lee, Hedges & Co. had paid it It amounted to the neat
little sum of two hundred and sixteen rupees, or over a hundred
dollars, and the case was in my possession.
I mentioned the matter to Mr. Ferguson, editor of the Ceylon
Observer with a statement of the circumstances, and he immediately
assured me that some one had blundered ; that the authorities cer
tainly could not intend to give me so hostile a reception ; and that
without doubt, a proper representation of the case to the Governor
would procure a rebate of the amount charged. Our agents were
of the same opinion. Accordingly I went to see the Collector of
Customs, Mr. W. D. HaHiday, who, when he had heard my state
ment, gruffly remarked :
" Might write to the Colonial Secretary about it ; that's aJl i&e
advice I can give you ; good day."
16
242 TWO YEARS IK THE JUNGLE.
And with a majestic wave of tlie hand, I was dismissed from the
presence of the most bearish and uncivil Englishman I ever saw.
I then called upon the acting Colonial Secretary who was very
courteous indeed, and after explaining the matter, I left with Mm
a formal petition addressed to the Colonial Secretary, which stated
the purpose for which the spirits had been imported, and asked
him to sanction a rebate of my rupees. In a week an answer came,
saying the Governor was unable to comply with my request.
Mr. Ferguson asked me one day concerning the result, and I
showed him, a copy of my letter, and the reply to it His first ex
clamation was " What a shame ! " and he declared he would let the
people know just how I had been treated. He did so. The next day
there appeared in his paper (the Ceylon Observer) a scathing article
headed, " Courtesy to an American Naturalist visiting Ceylon : The
Ceylon Government at Fault : Who is to Blame ? " from which I
naast quote the following paragraph :
** So, the Ceylon Government feel it to be their duty in protect
ing the interests and revenue of the public, to mulct an American
naturalist visiting the island in the sum of two hundred and Sixteen
for the spirits used in preserving his specimens ! Such a
has surely not happened in the history of the colony before
this time If the Legislature were sitting we should press for an
explanation, for the precedent which has been followed, or for the
regulation which prevents His Excellency the Governor using his
discretion in a remission of duty in a matter where the promotion
ol science, of international good feeling, of ordinary courtesy and
eon^deration for a stranger and naturalist, so especially called for
fee step. So far as our experience goes, this is certainly not the
plan usually followed by the Indian and Ceylon Governments in
tfae case of scientific visitors, and we heartily regret the blunder to
say the least which has been committed."
8neh was the language of the leading journal in Ceylon. All
$he o&her pipers, except one, commented upon the matter in the
sera tone, and it was a satisfaction to me to find unmistakably
that fee stdiofi of the authorities was universally condemned as be-
kg THedy etepid and inexcusaHa The regulation f^ing a high
nfe -rf Arfgr upon dear aloohol, according to its strength, is designed
the revenue, and to protect the people against the im-
of sfarong alcohol to be used in adulterating liquors, and
e steffi By no known process can poisonous
!>e rendei?e4 fit to use for drinking purposes, or
COLOMBO. 243
even for adulterating liquor, and while alcohol is everywhere heavily,
taxed, the former passes duty free. It was exceedingly annoying
that I should be compelled to pay an import duty of four hundred
per cent, and had I only known in time, I would have kept my
rupees and left the case of spirits in the Custom House till dooms
day. I tried to get the authorities to take it back, return my four
hundred per cent, duty, and have the case sold as unclaimed. They
" couldn't do it." Would they receive it back, return the duty, and
let me ship it to Singapore ? " Couldn't do ii" I then offered, if
they would return my rupees to take the unlucky case of spirits
through the Custom House, and bury it in a quiet corner of the
back yard where it wouldn't smell bad. Still they " couldn't do it"
Could they if I would erect a tombstone over it, and a monument
to its memory in the square ? No. They "couldn't do it." They
had those rupees, and they meant to keep them.
To many men a hundred dollars is a mere trifle, but to a natural
ist in the field it means quite a goodly collection of rare and valu
able specimens. Unless such a man has a Trillion to back him he
cannot go about spending money recklessly from the beginning to
the end of the chapter. He always longs to do five times as much
as he has means to accomplish, and does not have a dollar to spend
unnecessarily. Ten chances to one he spends more money than he
has, and is compelled to borrow funds to get home with.
Just here I wish to record the opinion that no country has any
business to exact custom-house duties on the scientific apparatus,
outfit, or supplies of any kind carried by a travelling naturalist or
scientific investigator, either great or small The expenses of all
such persons should be made as light as possible, and both govern
ments and corporations should take pleasure in making exceptions in
their favor.* The unavoidable expenses of such travellers are al
ways heavy ; they usually receive small pay for their labors, if, in
deed, they receive anything at all ; and their plans always reach to
the bottom of their purse. Moreover, the visit of every hard-work
ing naturalist to a foreign country is very apt to result beneficially
to the place visited even though the benefit be small and long de
layed. At all events the traveller is certain to leave a good portion
* The C. H. Mallorj line of steamships plying between &alvesfcon, Texas,
and New York, carry all boxes of Natural History specimens at half tates, and
transship them in New York free of charge. Is there any reason why aH
steamship lines shonH not do the same ? The effect upon our mnsettm wofild
be tremendous increase in gpeeimenfi of all kinds.
244 TWO TEAKS EN" THE JTOTGLE.
of liis liard casli belaud him, and he takes none of the country^
wealth away.
When a collecting naturalist mates a tour through the Indies,
either East or West, and visits a number of colonies, it is very dis
couraging to have to pay from ten to twenty dollars duty on his
guns and outfit every two or three months. There is no sense or
Justice in making such an individual pay duty on articles ne is go
ing to use in a place for a few weeks or months and then carry
away with him again. A traveller does not visit a colony for the
purpose of holding an auction sale of second-hand goods, neither
does he give away all his effects.
In this case there should be special legislation for the benefit
of the traveller and naturalist "But," said an editor to me in
Demerara, " we can't legislate for the odd man." A government
with common sense can legislate for the odd man, and some do it
Venezuela can do it and has done it With all her failings, she is
able to teach her enlightened colonial neighbors a lesson which as
yet they are too dull to learn. There is a special act which provides
that all naturalists visiting Venezuela shall be allowed to import
their entire outfit and supplies free of duty, and when we arrived
at Ciudad Bolivar, where everything is subject to duty, spirits and
firearms in particular, our boxes and barrels were not even opened.
We imported a barrel of salt, which under any other circumstances
would have been declared contraband and confiscated, and a barrel
of spirits which could easily have been used for drinking purposes.
The authorities showed us every courtesy during our stay, and we
were careful not to abuse our privileges.
Now, mark the contrast ! From the Orinoco we returned to
!Erinidad, where three months previous we had purchased our cask
of nun. We returned with it full of fishes, turtles, eels and snakes
and the astute castom-house inspector would not allow us to take it to
&e hotel unless we paid duty on the spires around the dead animate!
We were obliged to repack the cask, so we did it in the Custom
House. Alcoholic specimens are vile-smelling objects at best, and,
before we got tjjrough we had our revenge. At Demerara, we
eouM not take our guns into the colony for a month's collecting
wifeottt paying $8 duty on them. By a strange coincidence, Sir
i Loagian, who, as Governor of Ceylon, exacted the outrage-
on my methylated spirits, was Governor of British Guiana
ia X0Wy & the time of my visit, when they found it " impossible ta
legislate for the odd man."
COLOMBO. 248
Although the authorities at Colombo gave me a very hostile re
seption, its aggravating effect was more than counterbalanced by
the kind courtesies I received from all the private individuals and
business firms with which I had anything to do. Indeed, I received
favors in Ceylon which, under the same circumstances, I might have
sought in vain in most of the States at home.
I took up quarters at the old Sea View Hotel, the smallest in
the city kept by Europeans, but it was cosy and comfortable and
just the place for me to carry on my work to the best advantage.
It occupies the finest hotel site in Colombo, standing, as it does,
within a stone's throw of the Flagstaff battery, close to the sea.
The elevation is about forty feet, which affords a beautiful bird's-
eye view, like that from a ship's maintop. Day and night a delicious
sea-breeze swept through my sunny little room, and from my win
dow I looked out upon the surf dashing against the rocky reef or
tumbling upon the sandy shore farther down ; at the fleet of out
rigger fishing canoes which sailed by every morning like a vast
flock of white-winged gulls, and came scudding back every night
laden with their prey ; at the movements of the huge ocean steam
ers as they steamed up from Point de Galle, and away again all
of which formed a delightful panorama full of moving figures, with
a vast sheet of calm blue sea for a background. At night I was
lulled to sleep by the soft music of the surf breaking gently on the
shore and swishing up over the pebbles, and at five o'clock, in the
morning I was nearly bounced out of bed by the deafening report
of the time-gun, fired, seemingly, just by my ear. The gun might
as well have been fired from my window ledge so far as I was con
cerned, for it was only sixty yards away, at the Flagstaff battery
but, although it used to startle me considerably at first, I became
so accustomed to the explosion after a while that it utterly failed to
waken me. Such is the force of habit
As soon as I got fairly over my last touch of jungle fever, I set
to work collecting, and from that time forward was busy with
specimens from daylight till dark. I rented two rooms upon the
ground floor of the hotel, opening upon the paved quadrangle, and
there I held high carnival with specimens of all kinds. I had
reached a locality where large land animals were not so numerous
as in India, but where fishes, reptiles, shells, corals, and marine in
vertebrates abounded, and to these I turned my attention almost
wholly.
In places where natives are numerous and cheap, a
246 TWO YEABS IK THE
ways finds it more profitable to buy whatever small specimens can
be caught and brought to him, than to go out and try to make all
the captures himself. When the gentlemen of leisure are once well
interested, and made to believe they are making money without
working for it for collecting is usually regarded as mere play
they will ransack the country over for whatever is required. The
best way to get natives started at collecting is to say nothing about
one's wants or intentions, but put on old clothes and go out to some
promising spot "When the people see a white man wading after
forties in a muddy pond, or plodding along the sea-shore after
shells, star-fishes, or echinoderms, or digging crabs out of the sand,
they are struck with the novelty of the thing at once. When they
find that the crab-digger has money in his pockets, and will give it
for such " trash," they set to work at once and collect whatever will
fetch Uie most money. I have often been amused at the way the
"West India negroes take hold of such work. A collector may be
canying home a basket of squirming and crawling specimens after
a lively day's work in the field, when an astonished darkey breaks
in upon his meditations with :
" Oh, boys, lookee dah ! Ho ! ho ! ho ! See what dat man got,
hey I Say, boss, d'ye want to buy any mo' o' dem air critters ? "
" Yes, I do, all I can get," will be the reply.
"Why, lawdy-massy! man, I kin git you 'osts o* dem air.
How much you give fo' dem ? "
" I will pay you a fair price."
Off they go, laughing at the absurdity of the tiring, but they
will be almost sure to bring in something, eitiaer good or bad.
The news is quickly spread that "a man at the hotel is buying
snakes and things," after ^hich he soon has enough to do in buy
ing and caring for what is brought in, and giving directions about
what else is wanted.
One morning about sunrise, I dressed for rough work, and, tak
ing wiib me a coolie and a basket, started for the reef of rocks
aloiig the shore in front of the battery. There is nearly always
souaeifeiBg for the naturalist in such places, often a good deal, and
the msmma&on is sure to afibrf a series of pleasant surprises.
0& ibe sbIfed side of the rocks we visited, or down in the hollow
$wei befeweao tfaa huge bowlders which were piled up along the
8fe**% w Jorod seOTes of fciack-spin^i echini sticking tightly to the
rocks, in mgjk sfeiafons tibat the incoming surf submerged them
erne moment, and, receding the next, left them for the time, almost
COLOMBO. 247
high and dry. The little animals dung by means of the converg
ing spines on their under surface, and to get them off it was neces
sary to work the point of a screw-driver under, and pry at them
patiently until the spines were loosened from the rock, and the
fragile animals came off without being damaged.
It was impossible to secure large specimens without getting wet
in the surf, so it was well we came prepared. There was a strong
breeze blowing, and the surf was much higher than usual, which at
times made our task somewhat interesting. One moment I would
be working away among the bare rocks, and the next the surf would
come tearing in between the huge bowlders with a boom and a
rush, so that in an instant the water would be boiling and frothing
up to my waist. Once or twice I was carried off my feet by the
force of the surf, but it would presently recede, and then I could
go on with my task until the next roller came in. It was rather
lively work, but we secured a basketful of fine large specimens.
In our search for echini, we came upon some very curious little
jumping fishes (Salariiis alticus) which were hopping about over the
rocks, apparently as lively and comfortable out of the water as in*
Every time a roller came in, they received a good wetting, but when
it receded they were always found clinging to the sides of the rocks,
quite high and dry. It was a strange sight to see the little crea
tures go jumping up the sides of the smooth and slippery rocks,
sometimes so steep as to be almost perpendicular. They bend their
tails as far as possible toward the left, straighten their bodies sud
denly, with the caudal fin stuck to the rock, and jump straight for
ward from six to eighteen inches at a time. They are four and a
half inches long, slender bodied, with a queer little comb or crest
on the head, light gray in color, with red eyes. Sometimes one
would hop up the side of the rock and perch himself on top, ap
parently to view the scenery around him. They were so nimble
that we had great trouble in catching as many as we needed.
We saw many fine specimens of the handsome painted crab
(Graspus strigosus), scrambling over the rocks, and after hard work,
caught a few to show the natives, as samples of what WB wanted,
Echinoderm% or "sea eggs," as they are sometimes called, are
cleaned by cutting away the membrane which closes the mouth and
entirely removing the jaws, or "Aristotle's lantern." Then, with a
piece of iron wire flattened at the end, all the ieshy matte a*i!ii?*
ing to the inside of the shell must be scraped loose and drawn out
at the mouth opening, alter which the inside of the shell should be
248 TWO TEARS I3ff THE JUNGLE.
washed thoroughly. When the specimens have been cleaned, they
must be immersed for thirty hours in proof spirits, after which
they may be put out in a shady place to dry. It is a curious fact
that all the echini of Ceylon and Malayana lose their spines unless
soaked in spirits before drying, whereas those of the Bed Sea, the
Mediterranean, and the West Indies can be dried without soaking,
and the spines will not fall oi
In a very short time nearly a dozen natives were at work col
lecting for me and I had my hands full in caring for what they
captured and brought in. My instructions from Professor Ward
were very simple, but widely comprehensive. "Plunder Ceylon.
Bake the island over as with a fine-toothed comb ; catch every
thing you can in three months time, and send me the best of it."
During my first three weeks in Colombo I reaped a rich harvest
of fishes* reptiles, crustaceans, and shells, some of which I pre
served in spirits while the rest were dried. To give an idea of the
richness of Colombo as a collecting ground I will copy fron? toy
journal a list of what was brought to me in one day.
3 Soft-shelled turtles (H/myda Ceylonevws).
1 Tortoise (Emys trijuga).
El Crabs (Matuta victor).
6 Painted crabs (Ghraspus strigows).
12 Alabaster crabs ( Ocypode ceratoptfudmufy
15 Sea cockroaches (Benipes s?p.\
12 Green lizards (Ccdotes wrMcdor).
4 Lizards (Ccdotes mgriloMs).
2 Bats ( Vespertilio).
& Jumping fish (Salariits alticus).
1 Horned skate (DicerobaMs eregoodoo}
6 Fishes of various species.
4 Prawns (Peneus).
100 shells, more or less, of many species.
This represents a fair day's work. The next cvne brought me in
sautes of various kinds, frogs, fishes, and invertebrates, making a
lisl <|nite different from that given above. When the more com-
SftOKt S|*eles of animals had been gathered in, I used to stimulate
mj ofleetors by offering a reward for the first specimen of any
desirable Mud not already obtained, and in this way my motley
<W -WBS iad-aced to search the fields* the sea-shore, and the fresh*
fpaier f)icwl$ fei^fe and low. I have never anywhere else had native
collectors wh* were so aeMve and diligent in the field when left to
COLOMBO. 249
themselves as those who worked for me at Colombo. They seemed
able to get anything I asked for if it was anywhere to be found.
In due time, I began to visit the fish market every morning
when the fish were brought in.
The market itself is a poor affair every way, badly situated,
wretchedly appointed, dirty and foul smelling to an uncommon de
gree. Why the principal fish market of Colombo should be so far
beneath comparison with those of Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras I
cannot divine. A good building in a suitable locality, would make
it one of the finest sights of the Queen City. At present, the mar
ket is redeemed from utter unattractiveness only by the magnifi
cent array of fishes, great and small. I believe the fauna of Ceylon
comprises a greater variety of both vertebrate and invertebrate
forms, than any other locality of twice its area.
At the first opportunity I visited the Government Museum, and
was very pleasantly received by the Director, Dr. A. Haly, whom,
upon continued acquaintance, I found to be very genial and oblig
ing, and scientifically fitted for the duties of the position he oc
cupies. I quite envied him his beautiful new building, well
stocked library of scientific works, his airy office and laboratory,
and above all, an island teeming with animal life to draw upon
for specimens with which to fin his mahogany and plate-glass
cases.
The building is really a beautiful structure, designed by the
government architect, and is almost a model of its kind. I was
greatly surprised that this, the handsomest modern structure in all
the East Indies, cost only 12,000. It is quite new, and as yet the
collections are very small ; but a few years will show great change
in this respect. I was sorry to see that the institution has not on
its staff of workers a man thoroughly skilled in all the latest
methods of taxidermy and osteology, with years of working expe
rience to fall back upon in the business of collecting, preserving,
and mounting specimens of all kinds.
At the time of my visit, the work of mounting specimens was
done by cheap and clumsy natives, who were very poorly fitted for
their task. It cut me to the heart to see a deer skeleton mounted,
in that humid climate, with iron wire instead of brass, and the sVirr
of a seven-foot shark loaded at the mouth as if it were a cannon.
Somehow, all the museum people of the East Indies think thai
native preparateurs are good enough, and the result is the worst
mounted specimens in existence, if I except the fishes in the Mad*
250 TWO TEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
ras Museum, "What else can be expected of a taxidermist who
works for a rupee per day ?
I take pleasure in acknowledging my obligation to Dr. Haly,
for assistance in determining the species of my Ceylon reptiles
and crustaceans, and for his valuable service in identifying and
naming all the fishes I collected in the island, seventy species in
all, except such as were undescribed. I spent many hours in his
pleasant company at the museum, assisted by his advice and his
books.
After four weeks of busy collecting in Colombo and vicinity, my
myrmidons and I had gathered specimens of all the common ani
mals, and it was time to move on. I had calculated my expenses
altogether too closely ; the remittances I expected from Professor
"Ward were delayed, and I found myself with insufficient funds for
any vigorous work outside of Colombo. I had planned a trip to
the Northern Province,, but without a loan from some ope I would
be detained in Colombo, and lose valuable time in waiting for my
drafts from headquarters. I was anxious to push on, for I had
allowed myself only three months for Ceylon. I brought no letters
of introduction to moneyed men, and was a total stranger. But in
my perplexity I plucked up courage and stated the circumstances
to the firm of Lee, Hedges & Co.
Mr. Bennett, the manager of the house in Colombo, immediately
exclaimed, in the most pleasant manner, " Why, now, I'm glad you
have mentioned it, and given us a chance to help you out. We
shall be very much pleased to open an account with you. How
much money do you need ? "
" Well I need about three hundred rupees, but it's too much to
take, seeing that I am unable to give you any security."
"That's all right. That's all I want to know." And he gave
me a check for the amount, saying, "Now just go ahead up
there at Jaffna to suit yourself, and if you need anything more by-
and-by, or before you get back, just let us know." Had I been
doing the firm a favor worth a thousand dollars, its members
eouH not have been more pleasant and cheerful than when thus
advancing money to a stranger without the slightest security be-
jmd his good intentions.
I mention this circumstance to show one of the many bright
of Elijah character, which is not uniformly so reserved and
unapproachable as it is sometimes represented.
CHAPTER
THE NOBTHEBN PBOVINCB.
Trip to Jaffna. The Paumben Passage. Jaffna. Coral Gathering. Th
Beauties of Living Coral, Shallow Waters. A Harvest of Cartilaginous
Fishes. Bkirwbati. Large Bays. A Handsome Shark. A Bare and Ca
rious Fish. Rhampkobatis ancylostomus Described. Sea Turtles. Ques
tionable Value of Native Help. Start for Mullaitivu. Jaffna to Point
Pedro. The most Northern Point of Ceylon. Native Cussedneas again.
The Slowest Sailing-Craft on Becord.
ON February 15th, I embarked with my outfit and a Singhalese
servant named Henrique, a necessary evil, on the little colonial
steamer Serendib to go to Jaffna, near the northwestern extremity of
Ceylon. It was my intention to make a short stay there, and then
work my way down the northern coast, toward Trincomalee, until I
found good collecting ground. "We left Colombo harbor at 5 P.M.
and early the next morning, sighted a low-lying strip of sand re
lieved from utter barrenness by a few green shrubs and Palmyra
palms. This was the island of Bamisserama, and we very soon
dropped anchor at the mouth of a shallow strait which separates
the island from the mainland of India. The Paumben passage or
river, as it is sometimes called by the natives is a narrow breach
a hundred yards wide through a ledge of soft sandstone which
extends east and west from the island of Bamisserama to the oppo
site promontory on the continent of "Mia, east of BamnacL It is
said that at one time the island formed a part of the mainland, and
pilgrims passed over it dry shod, but that during many violent
storms the sea broke over the chain of rocks at Paumben, and
finally a channel was formed which has gradually deepened ever
since.
There is only eighteen feet of water at high tide even BOW, and
part of this depth was obtained by dredging. Small, as the S&r&nr
dib is, she has to wait for the flood tide in order to pass through.
One of the most singular facts in the geographical distribution of
252 TWO YEARS IN THE JTJKGLK
animals is here forcibly brought to mind. Although the tiger is a
good swimmer and has been known to swim Singapore Strait, which
is over a mile wide, he has never crossed from the mainland of
India into Ceylon, even though the Paumben Passage is not (if I
remember rightly) more than a hundred yards in width at its nar
rowest part Although Felis tigris is common throughout nearly
the whole of Southern Asia, Sumatra, and Java, it has never existed
in Ceylon. It certainly was not the width of the strait which hin
dered its immigration, and the inhabitants of Ceylon have to thank
their lucky stars that the two long arms which in reality connect
the island and the peninsula, are barren wastes of sand instead of
being covered with thick jungle. Had there been sufficient vege
tation upon them to afford cover for the tiger, or encourage his mi
gration, there is no doubt that the island would now be infested by
these dangerous beasts.
About two o'clock in the afternoon we left Paumben, passed
dose to Delft Island, and also Middleburg, and at sunset sighted
Jafea. The water was so shallow that our little steamer was
obliged to anchor about five miles from the town. The next morn
ing I went ashore with Captain Wellesley in the cutter, and took
op quarters in the traveller's bungalow, or rest house, as these
valuable institutions are universally called in Ceylon.
Half an hour after landing, I visited the fish-market, a wide open
shed down on the beach with the bare ground for a floor. It was
not the time of day for fish, and .1 found only a lot of large and
beautifully colored crabs (Lupea sangmnolenta), and about a hundred
specimens of the common cuttle-fish (Sepia officinalis), sometimes
called the ink fish, which furnishes the sepia water color of com
merce, as well as the cuttle-fish bone so indispensable to our canary-
birds. The bone in question is the only skeleton the animal possesses,
and forms the back of the animal's body, being covered only with
a thin skin. The ink with which this cuttle-fish beclouds the water
when attacked by an enemy is secreted in a gland near the head, and
is discharged with considerable force in time of danger so that the
animal is instantly enveloped in a murky cloud. The sepia is very
abundant around Jafiha, scores of them being brought in daily ; so
ii seems that the natives not only eat them, but are fond of them.
See o && specimens I obtained were a foot in length,
Hie iTOsing after my.arrival in Jafea, I hired a small boat,
bwa famtam and a diver, and made ready for a cruise in search of
earai Before sterling, I undertook to tell the men what we were
THE NORTHERN PROVINCE. 253
going after, but " coral " was to my servant-interpreter a word of
unknown meaning. By no possible description could I make the
natives understand what I wanted, and finally, as a last resort^ I
made a little sketch on a piece of paper, when they all exclaimed,
" Oh ! Koki calli ! " The mystery was solved.
We got into our boat and pulled along the eastern side of Man-
detivu, a small island to the south of Jaffiia, with the expectation
of finding coral off its most southern point. It was low water when
we started, and the ebbing tide had left bare a wide strip of sand
and mud all along the Jaffna shore. For fully five miles around, the
sea is very shallow, the depth at low water varying frem one foot
to six ; but it is oftener three feet than otherwise. Small as our
boat was we had to follow the channel until clear of the sandbanks,
and then we headed south. We saw a number of native fishermen
(among them some women also) wading around out in the sea more
tbfrfl a mile from shore, catching crabs, and picking up other edi
ble invertebrates. We overhauled one old woman who was thus
cruising about waist deep in water, with a basket slung at her side
and a stick in her hand. Her basket contained three fine crabs, two
curious little chsetodons, and a large sea-anemone (Actinia) which
quite resembled a cauliflower with a concave centre. We bought
her entire catch for ten cents and went our way. These waders
sometimes take cast-nets with them when they go a-wading, with
which they catch a good many small fish. The water is so dear that
all objects on the bottom are quite discernible, and the crabs, being
very slow on foot, are easily caught by hand
All around Jafifria, the bottom of the sea is of white sand, in
some places thickly overgrown with seaweed and in others dean
as a floor.
After two hours' pulling at the oars we came to good collecting
ground, just off the southeastern shore of MandetiviL The water
was only three to four feet deep, and my old diver got out of the
boat to wade around Mrst we found dozens of holothurians lying
scattered about like so many brown sausages, six inches long ; so
numerous were they, in fact, that one wonders why the natives do
not collect and dry them for shipment to China, as is done farther
down the coast in the Gulf of Manaar. We could have gatheiied
a hundred without much trouble ; but a dozen were sufficient for
our wants. It is strange the natives do not eat them, as they do
nearly everything else that comes out of the sea
Next we found some very pretty lifclle star-Mies (Jsfem), and
254 TWO YEARS IK THE JTTKOLE.
after drifting over a bed of tall green seaweed, which swayed in the
currents like a field of grain moved by a gentle breeze, we came to
a wide tract of clean sand where the coral grew. My diver brought
up a piece as a sample and we told him that was what we wanted.
Presently he espied something in the water and dived quickly to
the bottom, A moment later his feet and legs appeared at the
surface, kicking wildly while the rest of his body wrestled with
something below, and when he finally righted himself he rose with
a huge Madrepora in his hands. One of my boatmen went to his
assistance and the specimen was soon safely deposited in the boat.
Upon examining it, we found quite a collection of little animals
caught amongst the myriad branches of the cluster, of such variety
that I took an inventory of the lot There wap 1 squilla, 1 tiny
slar-fish, 3 tiny crabs of two species, 2 fishes four inches long, 2
yellow and black chsetodons, and 56 tiny fishes about one inch long,
gorgeously b&nded with blue, black, and red. The little fellows had,
no doubt* taken refuge among the thickly growing coral branches*
lo escape their natural enemies the larger fishes.
We presently found quite an extensive grove of coral, where the
beautiful branching clusters grew thickly all about over the clean
white sea-bottom, in water only five feet deep and clear as crystal
Such a beautiful sight almost made me long to be a merman or a
jgb, that I might dwell on that clean floor of sand, among the
glassy coral groves, the shells and other treasures of the sea.
We loaded our boats with living madrepores of three species,
two being of the long-limbed, tree-like variety, and the other, Mad-
repwm cylherea, was of a curious saucer-shaped form, a very large
dise krflowed in the centre, and set thickly all over with tiny
Ijarandbee about an inch long. It was grand fun, truly, and down-
right sorry were we when the boat was piled full and calm posses
sion took ibe place of eager pursuit
We landed on the eastern side of Handetivu, on a raised beach
composed almost wholly of fossil coral (A&reoporct and Meandrina),
utafa <ropf>ed out here and there in large masses. Near the beach
w nofesed several tons of bleached coral, chiefly madrepores,
heaped iqp in huge piles to be burned into lima The lime thus
obtained ^QiBes, when fully treated, the "chunam " so dear to the
p&Iate of every betel-chewing native.
la &0 fish-market I reaped a rich harvest. Every evening the
bring is their morning's catch and expose it for sale
aed which stands in the ceta& of an open soaca oa the
THE KOBTHERH PEOYINCE. 255
shore, close to a convenient landing-place for the boats. The
men catch the fish and the women sell them. At that time (Feb
ruary) very few scale-fish were caught, not a dozen species all
told, and I congratulated myself on having made a good collection
at Colombo. Just as I expected, however, from the shallowness of
the sea all around, I found that the flak-bodied Chondropterygii
(rays and skates) were taken in great variety and abundance. The
Jaffna waters seem to be the headquarters for all the species of this
order to be found in the Indian Ocean, and I doubt if any other
locality in the world of ten times the area can boast as many
species as I collected there in one week
While it is true that none of the specimens I saw could for a
moment compare in size with some of the monster rays known to
inhabit the vicinity of Madagascar, nor yet the gigantic devil-fish
(Mania birostris. Walb.) of our own coast, it is not to be sup
posed that such fishes could attain such vast dimensions in a local
ity where they constitute a staple article of food for the people,
and are fished for constantly.
On getting home from our trip after coral I set out for the fish-
market, in obedience to my rule to visit such places every day, rain
or shine ; for no man knoweth what a day's fishing may bring
forth. On the way I met an old Tamil woman of most repulsive
features and form, carrying on her head a rhijiobatus (R, thouini),
five feet long, and without a break in its aTHn Necessity knows
no law, except that the first specimen must always be taken for fear
another of the same species is not met, and like a true Dick Tur-
pin I made the old woman stand and deliver. It is always safe to
assume that a native will sell anything for money, and in this case
the fish was willingly delivered to me, for about double the price
paid for it I
I sent this prize back to the rest house and went on to the mar
ket where I found a fine large spotted ray (Trygon uarnafe) which
measured 3 feet 6 inches in width, and 9 feet 6 inches in length
including the tail, which alone was 6 feet 7 inches. His specimen
I bought for one rupee and carried home in triumph by proxy.
This species is readily distinguished by the black spots of various
shapes which thickly cover its entire upper surface on a ple slaty
blue ground. The entire under surface is creamy white.
The next day after skinning one of the big fish and skeletonizing
the other I visited the naaarkei as usual aad this time bought two
rays of another stpeeles (Mdb&& n&rmr}, i&reeinore spotted rays
256 TWO TEAKS IN THE JOTGLE.
(T. uarnak), and four butter-fish (Caranx gattus), all of which, ex-,
cepting the "spotted rays, I prepared before I went to bed that
night Lucky it was for me that I knew how to make every stroke
count.
The next day after finishing my three remaining specimens I
hastened eagerly to the market to see what fresh conquests were in
store for me. Another Rhinobatus five feet long, and a splendid
specimen of a most beautiful species of shark, the elegant spotted
"tiger-shark," it should be leopard, Stegostoma tigrinum* Its
ground color is the bright tawny yellow of the tiger, to be sure, but
instead of stripes it is dotted all over with jet-black leopard-like
spots. Its form is quite as striking as its colors. Instead of the
shapeless flabbiness usually seen in sharks, this one was compactly
built, with a very shapely body, having two ridges along the back
on each side, and the upper lobe of the tail lengthened for more
than two feel This handsome shark was 6 feet 3 inches in length.
In the Colombo market I was one day very much disturbed by find
ing a piece of skin from one of these creatures which had been cut
up and sold. Fortunately for me, fish in Jaffna sell for less than
one-third of what they fetch in Colombo, and I was able to buy a
great deal without spending much money. The shark cost me only
a rupee, and its skin, nicely mounted, may now be seen in the
Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge.
At this juncture I was somewhat distracted by the arrival of two
boot loads of very fine coral, in which all the species found around
Jaffna were well represented. The pale-green madrepores were
certainly very beautiful, but the finest specimen was a huge Madre-
pora cytherea. This superb specimen, nearly three feet in diameter,
was exceedingly fragile, and I did not succeed in getting it to Koch-
ester unbroken. I was told that it arrived in about a thousand
pieces, but I think the number must have been exaggerated. But
at that time I was especially interested in cartilaginous fishes, ancj
for a few days made little account of corals.
My next addition was a round thick-bodied ray, studded all over
with very sharp spines (Urogymnus asperrimiis), from which it de
serves to be known as the spiny ray. After it, came the largest
imj of all, 4 feet 8 inches wide, thick-bodied and of a uniform
Moist* gray color. This was a Trygon sephen, distinguished by hav-
&g * large fin on the tail near the end. A little later I secured
* Otiled l>j the natives, T&lei sura, or sea-weed slmxk.
THE NOETHERN FEOYINOK 257
another specimen of this species, but with all my catches of big
fiah I did not disdain to gather in such smaller fry as four speci
mens of Trygon wdga, a small shark with black fin tips (Carcharias
melanopterus), and four specimens of G. acutus. Another small spe
cies of EhinobaliLS was also rescued from the hands of the spoilers
and tenderly cared for.
I was very busy those days, and nights also, for that matter ;
for I often worked till near midnight. The back yard of the rest
house was roomy, shady, and inviting, and in it I planted my table
and cut up big fish from morning till night. The poor people
came in crowds to get the meat I had to give them, and finally they
became such a nuisance I had to forbid their coming inside the
yard at all. Still, it was a satisfaction to know that such a quan
tity of good food was not wasted.
My last catch was the most valuable and important of all I
had coEected a goodly number of such specimens as I have already
mentioned, and had about ceased to expect anything else particu
larly new ; though I still made my daily visit to the market
One evening as I drew near the landing-place, I saw lying on
the sandy shore, a large fish of truly remarkable appearance. "What
could it be ? Without evincing any of the lively interest I felt, I
strolled forward and looked it over carelessly. I could have shouted
with delight, but dared not, for any demonstration of the kind on
my part would instantly have sent the price of the fish away above
par value. It was a very strange and exceedingly rare shark-like
fish, half shark and half ray, known to ichthyologists as Rhampho-
batis ancylostomus, and by the natives called " eul uluva."
In length it lacked two inches of seven feet, and its width across
the pectoral fins was four feet two inches. The head was fiat like
that of typical Rkynchobati, but instead of being prolonged into
the fiat triangular beak so characteristic of B. ly&Merms and others,
it was abruptly rounded off in front of the pectoral fins. The most
striking feature of the animal is the high and angular crest which
springs from just behind the head and rises into a rounded hump
twelve inches high, studded all along its crest from back to front
with a wide band of white tooth-like spines, closely crowded to
gether. Low down on the side there is a much smaller row of the
same ; another on the head, partly surrounding the eye and gill
opening, and a still smaller row directly in front of the eye. These
curious rows of dean white 'teeth for they certainly are more
like shark- teeth tf>ny\ spines residex tlio i
17
258 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE.
able, even at quite a distance. The color of the body is blackish
gray, but on different parts of the body the shades vary from gray
to dull black The under parts are dirty white, mottled here and
there with pink tints. The dorsal fin is marked by a few large,
round, white spots.
In the course of removing and preserving the skin, I found 130
small spines from the tails of as many small sting rays, sticking in
the head around the mouth and in the muscles around the corners
of the mouth. Evidently our ancylostomus had a great liking for
ye tender little ray, and sovereign contempt for his many-barbed
spine, a single insertion of which would be apt to give a man the
lock-jaw on short notice. Apparently they did not cause our shark-
ray the slightest discomfort, as the number of these trophies showed
that he ate all the rays he could catch.
Even the fishermen declared that this fish was very rarely
caught* and but for my good luck in buying it from " first hands "
the catcher I should have been obliged to have paid a good
round price for it The bargain was concluded before the lusty fe
males who act as " middle-men " suspected the danger ; and the way
they all set upon that poor fisherman, when they learned he had
sold the fish to me for three paltry shillings, and environed him, and
howled in his ears in impotent rage, must have made the poor man
wish us all at the bottom of the sea.
When I reached Colombo again, my friend Dr. Haly offered me
one hundred and fifty rupees for this specimen for the museum,
and being in need of hard cash, I reluctantly let it go. I have
never seen but one other individual of this species.
On my return from Mullaitivu, in the middle of April, I found
cartilaginous fishes had quite gone out of fashion, and in their
stead, big sea^turtles were all the rage. I was very glad of such an
opportunity to coHect some large specimens of th& carey (Chelonia
tr&pala), the Indian counterpart of our green turtle (C. my das).
The carey is the largest of the genus Ckelonia, good-sized specimens
being akooet, if not quite, one-third larger than our largest green
tetla The chief difference in form is in the greater convexity of
Hie shell of the former. I secured four very good specimens of the
urey; tib shall 1 of the largest of which measured underneath 44 by
88 iadbi. H& weight of this specimen I estimated at four hun-
4g*i pompd% aacl yet I thhik it was not so large as one other which
X wr in that Cal^aifca Museum.
39*** &*& <rf fe& oa^eg Is oc^sid^ped about on a par with that of
THE 27OETHEEK PROVINCE. 251
he shark, and, so I was told, Is not eaten by Europeans at all
Nevertheless, I found it very good, tender, and of far better flavor
than any of the Jafca beef I encountered. I was very glad to find
the JafEna market-women do not cut steaks from living turtles in
the harrowing manner alluded to by Sir Emerson Tennent in his
"Natural History of Ceylon." The animals are killed and after
ward cut up in Christian style. They are ridiculously cheap, even
to strangers, the price of those I bought ranging from three to ten
rupees.
As a fair sample of the eternal cussedness of natives in work
like mine, I may cite an incident in the preparation of the large
turtle referred to above. I roughed out its skeleton at the market,
first sawing out its lower skull, and after putting all the loose bonea
in the upturned shell, I directed my Singhalese servant, Henrique,
to take the bones down to the sea, wash them, and then carry them
to the rest house. I charged him particularly not to lose a sin
gle bone, but it seemed almost unnecessary, the bones being so
large and the skeleton in so few pieces. I went on to the rest
house, and after a reasonable delay Henrique put in an appearance
with the shell on his head and the bones in it all that remained
at least The stupid donkey had actually lost both shoulder-gir
dles ! How he accomplished the feat, I never could understand,
for the bones were so large and of such awkward shape that neither
of them could have been put in a peck measure. I should have
thumped the stupid fellow's head against the wall, but somehow I
always fail in my duty toward my servants. The bones were never
found, and that fine, large skeleton is without them to hfpt day.
The above is only a fair instance of the value of natives as assist
ants. The very next day Henrique further distinguished himself
by leaning over the edge of a large box I was packing with corals,
holding in his hand a pound can of jam, which he managed to let
fall exactly in the centre of a splendid madrepore I had just placed.
Of course the cluster was a total wreck.
One of the most pleasant episodes of my Tery busy forktight in
Jaffna was a call from Mr. Leys, the genial and hospitable manager
of the Oriental Bank He came to tell me there was a deposit in
his bank for my benefit in case I should need more funds iTm-nlm
to the thoughtfulness of Messra Lee, Hedges & Oa, and Mr. Ben
nett and to invite me, a total sferangear, to din with Mm fee next
evening in company with several other gentlemen. I accepted the
invitation, enjoyed a fine dinner, and spent an eTOoing most agree-
TWO TEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
ably with very pleasant company. Among the guests "were Mr
Samuel Haughton, an Assistant Government Agent at MuHaitivu,
on the north coast, where crocodiles abound and animal life in gen
eral is also abundant. On the strength of information obtained
from him I determined to go to MuHaitivu at once for a short
stay.
The next day I finished packing up everything I had collected
in Jaffna, and arranged for its storage until my return, or further
orders. I was advised to go to MuHaitivu by sea from Point Pe
dro, the extreme northern point of Ceylon, twenty-one miles from
Jaffna. Accordingly I loaded a bandy with my regular impedi
menta, and started it off early in the morning with Henrique as a
conductor, while I remained and took the Koyal Mail Coach at 4
P.H. The coach was rather crowded. My fellow passengers were
"educated natives," rather interesting animals of the "government
clerk " type, but they elbowed my ribs, questioned, cross-examined,
and talked at me until I was tired and out of patience. For fire
miles two of them compared notes on the prospects of the petitions
they had sent in for certain appointments and promotions. One
of them started to read aloud a copy of his, but it covered so many
foolscap pages that his friend weakened long before he had finished
and abruptly choked him off. The composition stamped the writer
as an " amoosin' cuss," and I regret that I cannot produce a copy
of it. The petition laid great stress on the writer's two years of
service as a scribe in MuHaitivu, and gave a harrowing account of
how he was afflicted with fever, and how his wife " was also knocked
down."
The country lying between Jaffim and the northern coast is flat
and sterile, and not particularly interesting in any way. The rank
vegetation and general tropical luxuriance one sees elsewhere in
Ceylon is conspicuous by its absence, and on the contrary the
country is rather open. What jungle there is, is low and scrubby,
and the face of nature had the dry and thirsty look so characteris
tic of the plains of India in the dry season.
We changed horses every four miles and reached Point Pedro
about 8 P.M. The village is small, very prettily situated in an ex-
iesie grove of palmyra and cocoa palms, but almost totaHy barren
of it lor a irMte man. There is no harbor, but there is here a
fcsreak jjatt* oral ief which permits boats to land. This fringing
UMCiqpe08d dikflj 0f madrepores, lies close along the shore, and
I am ieid jpotaodB lor lafles without another gap. The coral looks
THE NOETHEBN PBOVIKOE. 261
very pretty from the shore, and but for my boxes full in Jaffna, J
would hare been tempted to gather a few clusters.
In half an hour after we reached the rest house, I learned that
a small native boat was just ready to set sail for Batfcicaloa, and
would for a consideration land me at Mullaitivu. The captain
came and said they had cleared and were ready to start at once,
"What, to-night?" "Yes, to-night; we will take you for twenty
rupees." I said, "Wait till to-morrow and I will go." "No," said
the captain, " if we wait till to-morrow we will charge you thirty
rupees." "All right, then off we go to-night. Boy, pack up the
boxes again, and send for a bandy." The boatman was caught.
" Sir," said he presently, " we can't go until to-morrow. We haven't
cleared sufficiently yet."
" Oh 1 I thought so ! What an honest man you are, to be sure."
He thought to swindle me out of ten rupees by way of introduc
tion. So after dining sumptuously off a tough old rooster, and a
dish of curry and rice that was like Hying fire, I went to my blankets
on the cot.
The next day, Henrique ransacked the village for eatables, and
a long search panned out nothing but two scrawny fowls and a few
eggs, No fish, vegetables, fruit, bread, or other meal Being ex
ceedingly tired from my Jaffna work I was glad to lie nearly all
day in my hammock, in delicious, restful idleness.
The boat was to sail at noon, and also at 4 P.M., but the "tyn-
dall" (captain) made the excuse that they had not thoroughly
cleared. Then I saw my enemy and knew my work. After get
ting everything in readiness to start I went for the tyndall and in
sisted that we should set off. For two hours I made his life a
burden to him, and by that time we had got the crew together and
were really ready to go. At dark, my luggage was taken aboard
and we sailed at once.
The name of the old Tamil tub was Ardi Lelchme, and I think
she was the clumsiest and slowest craft afloat She was fairly
clean, however, and had a sort of cabin with bunks, in one of which
I lay and slept while dozens of big, black cockroaches marched
over me in solemn procession. We were four whole days in mak
ing that seventy-two miles to Mullaitivu, and at times I thought I
should go wild with impatience to get on. The breezes were not
very favorable, I admit, but instead of beating up to windward and
making some headway, the clumsy old craft just wallowed like a
log in the water. Once the captain brought his vessel to anchor
TWO TEARS IK THE JUNGLE.
for half a day because the winds were contrary ! It was on such a
eraft that I paid first-class steamer rates, and the captain had the
withering audacity to ask me to pay for the rice and cocoanuts my
servant ate.
I spent the days on deck in the blazing heat, reading and
grumbling and wishing for a Whitehead torpedo or a charge of
dynamite with which to blow the old tub into the air, captain,
crew, cockroaches and all. I would have taken my chances of get*
ting ashore for the sake of the revenge.
But all things earthly end at last, and so did that voyage. We
reached Mullaitivu at sunset on March 6th.
CHAPTER XXIIL
MULLA1TIV U.
An Unwholesome Village Site. Dirt and Discomfort -Crocodile Hunting.-^
Cannibalism and Leprosy among Crocodiles. Flying Foxes. A Big
Haul. A Heronry. Hot Jungle. Death of Mr. Leys by Sunstroke.
Mammals. A lire Manis and its Doings. On Short Rations. Exasperat
ing Failure to Receive Supplies. Tropical Hunger. A Gloomy Proposi
tion Strangely Refuted, A Delicious Beverage. Journal of a Trip into
the Interior. Monkey-shooting. Character of the Jungle. Joseph Em
erson. Elephant Skeletons. Self-buried Frogs. Two Hundred Monkeys
in Four Hours. Their Fleetnessin the Tree-tops. Deer. Overland Jour
ney to Jaffna. Elephant Pass. Return to Colombo.
JUST half- way between Point Pedro and Trincomalee is the village
of Mullaitivu, with the sandy shore and clear blue waters of the
Bay of Bengal in front, and a deadly f ever-breeding lagoon at the
back, a most ill-chosen site truly. As Tillages go, it is quite a pre
tentious one, and contains a rest house, a well-appointed hospital,
which, thanks to the site of the village, is also well filled, and a
court presided over by an European official an Assistant Govern
ment Agent, I believe. I was much disappointed in finding the
rest house a very miserable afiair, small, barren of furniture, ill-
ventilated, and with a floor composed of finely pulverized plaster
three inches deep.
Its one small room was to be my home during my stay there,
but the condition of the floor was such that I could not live in the
room at all, and was fain to content myself with occopying the ve
randah, which opened into a nice back yard. Even at this distance
I shudder to fbi-ntr of the dirt and discomfort I endured at that
place, and but for the pleasure I found in my work it would have
been insupportable.
Needing a coolie to accompany me as a game-carrier when I
went hunting, and for other purposes as well, I hired a poor deaf
fellow, a young r^p in years and sfeaktre> bul a timid boy m spirit
264 TWO YEARS IK THE JUNGLE.
His "wages were nine pence per day, and although he was al
most as deaf as an adder, and knew not a word of English, he un
derstood the sign-language perfectly, and his eagerness to please
quite counter-balanced his infirmity. He was a simple-hearted
fellow, faithful as a watch-dog, and hung so constantly on my looks
and desires, that from the character of his devotion to me he
hourly reminded me of one.
From this resemblance I called him Canis. I grew to like the
poor fellow very much, and was really sorry to see the last of him
when I went away. He asked to be taken with me, but of course
that was out of the question.
Mullaitivu is a notorious place for fever, and also a worse
disease, as I learned by a visit to the hospital. The old physician
in charge, a very intelligent and well-educated native, showed me
a number of cases of a mild form of leprosy, which is the result of
a syphilitic venereal disease, from which the doctor solemnly assured
me not a single native in that district was free. Some of the cases
were fearful to behold, each patient being a living, breathing hell.
The disease is, of course, hereditary, which accounts for its univer
sal prevalence.
Although there is absolutely nothing either pleasing or attract
ive in either the village or the adjacent country, the jungle round
about, within easy reach, is good collecting ground. As Mr.
Haughton had told me, all the lagoons in the vicinity were inhab
ited by crocodiles, and to them I turned my attention first. Even
the stagnant little fever-breeder within rifle shot of the rest house,
at the foot of the Government Agent's compound, has its comple
ment of these scaly scavengers, swimming lazily around and among
the lotuses. I shot two specimens almost from under " my own
vine and fig-tree."
The next day after my arrival I made an excursion three miles
back into the country, to where the road crosses a narrow arm of
tiie lagoon. Although the pool was not more than sixty feet wide,
it was quite deep, and literally swarming with crocodiles. The
feaefes were level and perfectly bare, and the only chance for a sure
fifeot was by crawling on hands and knees for seventy-five yards, up
to a pile of boards which lay within easy range.
BBS bit of water, which I called Crocodile Pool, became my
ipegfdar hunting ground, and for more than a week I visited it daily
M ftfeeeliOTr o'clock in the afternoon, the crocodiles began to come
out to lie on the banks and from that time until nearly sunset was
MULLAITIVU. 26B
the time to gather them. It was my habit to start for the pool
at three o'clock, when the sun was blazing hot, taking with me
my poor little deaf coolie, Canis famttiaris, and also Henrique, if
his work allowed, to assist in carrying home the bag, Canis al
ways carried a couple of half-ripe cocoanuts, with which to slake
our thirst at the pool, for there it was
" Water, water everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink."
Some days, when the sun was excessively hot and I shot poorly,
we got nothing, but on others, when everything went well, we
killed and secured all we could care for. Our best day's work was
when we shot and got three good specimens, the largest of which
was nine feet in length. Altogether I took an even dozen Croco-
dilus palustris varying in length from five to nine feet out of
that little pooL
I made the discovery that this species is cannibalistic. On
more than one occasion I found their stomachs well filled with
flesh which I had cut from the bones of their mates in skeletoniz
ing, and left near the water.
Not only did the loose chunks of meat disappear promptly dur
ing the first night of their exposure, but the whole carcasses of the
crocodiles I skinned were likewise disposed of. Every morning I
would find the ground picked clean, not a vestige either of body,
bones, or entrails remaining in sight over night The flesh (and in
some cases the bones also) of twelve crocodiles was thus eaten by
the friends and relatives of the deceased.
Two of the crocodiles I shot, specimens seven feet long, were
grievously afflicted with a cutaneous -disease like leprosy. In one,
the whole left side of the head, the neck, and throat were the parts
affected, and in the other it was the entire tail On these parts the
epidermis had peeled off entirely, and the skin was covered with
huge, scale-like scabs, which, when peeled onv left the diseased skin
of an unwholesome bluish color. Both specimens had running
sores at the points where the sternum and pelvis touched the
ground, and both were so emaciated as to be little more than skin
and bone. In the stomach of one I found a handful of swamp
grass and a lot of small pebbles. Thus were the weak and sickly
individuals crowded to the wall in the struggle for existence which
was going on in that over-crowded pool
TWO YEAES IN THE JUKGLE.
I noticed that Grocodilus palustris has one habit which I nevei
observed in other saurians, and which would seem peculiar to this
species. They often stand high up on their legs, and walk off like
big iguanas, carrying their bodies from six to eight inches above
the ground. It is a very novel sight to see an eight-foot crocodile
actually stand up and walk, but from the fact that I saw it done by
seven or eight individuals, it would seem to be a regular habit with
them. The end of the tail always touches the ground, but that mem
ber is not dragged by any means. I saw one lean individual run at
a very good pace in that position.*
lie largest crocodile I shot or saw at Mullaitivu was a fine, ten-
foot specimen, which I encountered at very close quarters as it lay
in the bushes one hot afternoon, on the banks of the lagoon, north
of the village. While hunting quietly along the low, grassy banks,
rifle in hand, winding in and out among the bushes, I suddeoly
espied, just five paces ahead of me, the end of a crocodile's tail pro
jecting past the root of a trea The rest of the animal was con
cealed by the foliage. I halted, breathless with fear lest I be dis
covered and my prize escape, and stood thev-e for several minutes
studying the ground. I soon discovered there were two big fellows
lying very close together, and both asleep, but ready to awaken at
the slightest noise. One twig snapped, or one noisy step, would send
them plunging to the bottom of the lagoon* I backed out with
great caution and advanced at another opening, until I got a fair
view of both the sleeping beauties, as they lay dreaming of big fish,
dogs, coolies, and perhaps men. I fired at the largest specimen
and he died. It was the nearest I ever came to stumbling over a
live crocodile on his native heath.
At the edge of the big lagoon, not far from the Crocodile Pool, I
found a heronry in a small grove of low, scrubby trees, which grew
out in the mud and water a short distance from the bank. I was
attracted to the spot by seeing flying foxes (Pteropus Edwardsdi)
flying near it, and on a nearer approach I saw a small tree-top
hanging full of them. No pear-tree was ever hung more thickly
with pears than that little tree with those huge bats, whose wings
spread four feet when extended, and whose peculiar fox-like heads
lia?e gr?en them the popular name of flying fox. They hung by
* It wiH be noticed that this strange habit, which seemed almost universal
wilfe $BdiY$cteals of this species, was observed and recorded after the two iso-
Uted instances mentioned on page 55.
MULLAITIYTJ. 207
their legs, of course, head downward, looking at a little distance
precisely like the pear-shaped nests of our Baltimore oriole, and of
about the same size. They actually crowded each other on the
limbs, quarrelling, squealing, and occasionally shifting their posi
tions.
I saw that I had a bonanza, for I wanted a hundred specimens
of that species, and up to that time had secured only ten. Not
having with me the firearms and cartridges I wanted for a regular
haul, I left them undisturbed, and returned the next day with my
No. 10 double barrel and some very fat cartridges loaded with No.
8 shot I easily approached within range, and with five shots
killed and secured forty-four specimens, in less than a minute. It
looked like wholesale murder, but it was not, for I preserved every
specimen in the form of either skin or skeleton, and now they are
scattered far and wide through the museums of the United States.
Just before I opened fire, a large crocodile lay on a little islet of
mud in the middle distance, sunning himself, but he took water in
fine style at the first discharge. The birds rose from the trees in a
cloud and flapped away, but I knew they would return. After I
had disposed of my flying foxes, two days later, I returned for the
birds and their eggs. Our first haul was of eggs, and we took
home 70 of lesser cormorant (Graculus Jawnicus), 9 of darter
(Plotus melanogaster), 18 of Herodias garzetta, 4 of large egret (H.
alba), and 4 of night heron (Nycticorax griseiis). I shot several birds
of each species, and also killed the crocodile which frequented that
incubatory, but the water and mud was so deep and treacherous I
was afraid to wade out to where it lay, and left it as a solemn warn-
ing to all other crocodiles who might feel inclined to hang about
there until the crop of young birds got ripe and fell into the water.
Of course I hunted in every direction around Mullaitivu, and
nearly always with good success. Sometimes the bag was an in
teresting small mammal, and sometimes a large bird or reptile
which I had not known to exist there, As a rule, I endeavored to
be at home during the hottest part of the day, from ten till three,
out more than once I was out all day. I will always remember
one particularly roasting, blazing hot day, when I went about five
miles above the village, between the great lagoon and the sea-shore,
and wa out all day hunting through the low, sandy scrub jungle
after monkeys, with not a breath of air stirring. My dusky com
panions from the village complained of the heat more than once,
and it really was almost unendurable. The salt perspiration ram
288 TWO YEARS 1ST THE JUGGLE.
into my eyes and caused them to smart and inflame painfully. At
times we actually gasped for breath. I afterward learned that on
that very day my new friend, Mr. Leys, of the Jaffna bank, died of
sunstroke while hunting in just such jungle as that, on the other
side of the island from me, near Manaar. It " gave me quite a
turn,** as the English say, when I heard the news and compared
the dates.
Not more than a mile from the village, in a bit of the same low,
sandy jungle common all along the coast, I saw the bones of two
elephants, a cow, and a calf, which the villagers say wandered
thither from the interior and perished for the want of water. It
may be true.
My reward for the hot day's work mentioned above was two fine
monkeys, one, a pretty little rilawa, or bonneted macaque (Maca-
cus p&ecdus), and the other a big, fat, gray, wanderoo (Semnopithe-
cus leueoprymus), and a black-naped hare (Lepus nigricollis). In
my short jungle excursions round the village I shot specimens of
jackal (Canis aureus), mungoos (Herpestes griseus), grizzly squirrel
(S. macrourus), and jungle striped squirrel (S. tristriatus). I once
encountered a large troop of wanderoos within half a mile of the
village, two of which were added to my collection.
As usual, I encouraged the natives to hunt and trap quadrupeds
for me, and they brought me a number of very desirable speci
mens, among which was a very pretty little muntjac ( Cervulus au-
reus), two civet cats { Viverra mdaccensis), and a live loris (Loris
gmcUis), a most curious little animal The most valuable and in
teresting of all the specimens I obtained at Mullaitivu was a live
manis or pangolin (Manis pentadactyla), caught by a native thirty-
six miles away. By good luck its captor had heard of me, and that
I bought all kinds of animals^, and, being an enterprising fellow, he
carried it in a bag all that distance to offer me. I gave him a
month's wages for the animal, five rupees, and enough coppers ad
ditional to enable him to carry home his silver intact. He was
quite delighted with his sale, I equally so with my purchase, and
we parted with mutual blessings.
My new pet evidently expected fair treatment at our hands, for
fee soon uncoiled himself and stood up for examination. He was
lusl ifaree feet long, including his tail which by itself measured
sefsnteeai inches and Ms weight was eighteen pounds. This tail
a lace! useful appendage* for it was very broad, measuring five
& Imif iBefces aeaross where it joined the body, sHghtJ^ hot
MULLAITIVU.
lowsd underneath and rounded on the top, its official purpose being
to protect the animal's head. In walking he carried his back very
highly arched in the middle, and the long, curved claws of his fore
feet he bent under his feet until they pointed directly backward,
and literally walked on them. His heavy tail barely cleared the
ground in walking, and his nose was always carried low, on the
lookout for ants. He often stood fully erect on his hind legs, like
a kangaroo, when looking about in search of food. Like the knights
of old, his armor clanked as he walked along.
Whenever he found a colony of ants he would begin to dig
most industriously, and nothing but brick or stone could resist the
attacks of those powerful claws. It was great fun to see him attack
an ant-hill After digging a little distance into the hill and expos
ing the interior, he would thrust his slender, gelatinous tongue for
six inches or more into the passage-ways one after another, and
draw it out thickly covered with ants. It made my flesh creep^ to
see the vicious little insects upon the animal's tongue and going
into its mouth ; but I wished there were enough ant-eaters in the
world to exterminate the whole family.
If ever a small animal was especially created to resist the at
tacks of destroyers, that manis must have been the one. In such
plate-armor as he wore he could roll himself up and defy the teeth
of the jackal, or leopard, or the fangs of the cobra. Having no
teeth at all, and claws fashioned only for digging, he would have
fared badly in the jungle without his defensive coat of mail From
the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail, he was covered with broad,
flattened, shield-shaped plates of dear, gray horn. These plates
which were concave underneath and convex above lay close down
upon the skin upon each other, and were arranged in rows with
great regularity, beautifully imbricated, and overlapped as perfectly
as the slates of a good rooi
My toothless pet was quite peaceable, but not at aH affectionate,
and when I undertook to cultivate his acquaintance, my advances
were received in true English style. Not having any one to intro
duce me, I undertook to get along without that formality ; but it
was of no use. He immediately tucked his head down between his
four legs, brought Ms tail under his body and up over his head,
and held it there, forming of himself a flattened ball completely
covered with scales.
I said to him, "My flue fellow, I really must insist vpon
ing you more intimately ; so liere goes. 1 *
270 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE.
I then undertook to uncoil him, but found I could not acconK
plish the task alone. I called Henrique to help me, but the tai]
stuck to the body as if it had been riveted there.
I also called Canis to help, and while I held to the body, the
other two braced themselves against me and pulled on the tail with
all their strength, to uncoil it "We wrestled with it until we were
fairly exhausted, failed utterly, and gave up beaten. Such was the
wonderful power in the tail of that small animal
This led an old Singhalese, from the jungles of the interior, to
inform me that the manis sometimes kills elephants in the follow
ing manner:
When an elephant troubles a manis, the little animal coils him
self around the elephant's trunk, squeezes it so tightly the huge
beast cannot breathe, and holds on until the elephant drops dead
of suffocation.
It is hardly necessary to say that the above is mere fiction.
'From the very first, I had no end of trouble with my scaly pet
During the day he was reasonably quiet, but at night he was very
restless, and anxious to go ant-hunting. I could not tie him, for
on no part of his body would a rope hold without hurting him, and
not for long even then. The first night I had him, I shut him up
in the rest house, and in the morning I found him just ready to
break through a hole he had dug with his big claws in the six-inch
concrete wall. I actually felt a cold chill when I saw how near
I had come to losing my rare and valuable specimen.
The following night I put him in a large tin box which had once
done duty as the lining of a dry goods box sent from England. I
covered the top with boards, piled heavy stones upon them, and
went to my hammock feeling sure he could not escape. The box
slood in the back yard some distance from where I slept
About three o'clock in the morning the village dogs suddenly
began a furious barking just outside the walls of the compound,
and Henrique ran out to see what was the matter. It was the
manis* It had found a small rust hole at one corner of the tin
prison, and with its powerful claws had worked away until it actu
ally tore a hole in the tin large enough to permit the passage of its
tody. It was making straight for the jungle, and but for those
msei-abk dogs, who had so often annoyed me by trying to steal
my specimens, I would have lost my manis.
Bie next day it died. Having no chloroform, I drowned it in
a dean artificial pool near the village. Very little of it was wasted
MTTLLAITIVU. 271
I preserved dry both the skin and skeleton, the tongue and stomach
went into alcohol, and the flesh we ate. Part of it made a delicious
stew, rich, sweet, and well-flavored, and part of it we roasted.
The latter was dark meat, and although it had a queer flavor, it was
tender and very good.
In addition to the discomfort of living in, or rather at, the
worst rest house I ever saw, I presently had to contend with a
much greater misery than dirt, namely, scarcity of food. I reached
Mullaitivu with two weeks' provisions, expecting to stay only that
length of time, but in case I should desire to remain longer, I had
arranged to have further supplies sent me from Jaf&ia. I, of
course, expected to purchase certain kinds of food in the village,
but found nothing whatever for sale save rice neither fruit, vegeta
bles, fowls, nor meat of any kind. What the people lived on remains
a mystery to this day.
At the end of a fortnight, I wrote to a friend in Jaffiia, a rev
erend gentleman who had very kindly offered to do anything in
his power to assist me, and asked him to purchase and send me
forthwith, by a coolie, certain staple articles of food which I men
tioned, and for which I enclosed twenty rupees cash. I counted
upon the arrival of the goods before the end of the third week, as
surely as my hunger, and until that time I lived on quarter rations.
The time expired, but no coolie came. I waited with growing im
patience and sharpening appetite day after day, four days longer,
and on the fifth sent a letter to my friend, deploring the failure to
connect, and expressing the opinion that my letter had never
reached him, or else that the coolie sent to me had stolen away
with the whole outfit. I begged my friend to send something at
once, as I was almost famishing.
After several days, when I was almost ready to return to Jaffna,
a letter came from my reverend friend, saying that my letter and
the cash enclosed had been received, " but owing to my illness and
the difficulty of finding an honest coolie, I have been unable to
send you the articles you require." Great Csesar! Had my cleri
cal friend been eavesdropping then, he certainly would have heard
nothing good of himself. He closed by saying that as he was about
leaving Jaffna, he had left my rupees with the Superintendent of
Police, who would hand them to me on my return. When I re
turned to Jafca, he had indeed gone, and the Superintendent of
Police had never received from him any cash for me. So I never
again saw either my reverend friend or my rupees.
272 TWO YEABS IN THE JU3STGLE.
The loss of tlie money was a mere trifle, but the outrage upon
my inner man I could not condone, and have not to this day.
After about twenty meals of plain boiled rice with no accompani
ments my appetite succumbs, and my palate refuses it entirely.
la a hot climate I believe I could starve easier than eat food
which has lost all relish. My hunger was of the kind which called
not merely for food of any sort, but palatable, relishable food. In
a cold climate, one's hunger is of the ravenous kind that devours
whatever comes within reach, and feels satisfied with fulness. In
the tropics, I have always found it necessary to have something in
reserve to afford the appetite an entire change, even if it be only
for a single meal, to break the monotony which would otherwise
cause a good article of food to become utterly unpalatable.
When my larder was at its lowest ebb, Mr. Long, the road en
gineer, whose bungalow was just on the other side of the fever-
breeder, kindly sent me a good-sized pumpkin as a present, one of
two he had secured from some distance. It was perfectly delicious,
and as long as it lasted I lived high. That pumpkin was an oasis
in a desert of rice.
About this time letters came from Professor Ward informing me
that, on account of continued hard times, he might be obliged to
eaU me home soon, even in his nest letter. The funds sent me
were so meagre that I scarcely dared go on collecting, and at most
had not enough to go far. Another letter conveyed the intelligence
that a dear friend at home was very ill Add to the above, the
hunger, dirt, and discomfort in which I lived, and the sum of my
discouragements was complete. As I lay in my hammock one night,
fMnVmg over the gloomy situation and quite unable to sleep, I
gammed up everything and said to myself, "I could not be any
worse off than I am." The thought had not more than taken shape
in my mind when a hook snapped, and my hammock went down
"bows foremost, " giving my head and shoulders a good bang on
the concrete floor. It was such a forcible and instantaneous refu
tation of my gloomy proposition that, in spite of the stars dancing
before my eyes I took the joke and laughed over it.
The water available for drinking purposes at Mullaitivu is so
wMy bad that I did not taste it a second time, and during my en-
fee slay drank only water from green cocoanuts.
Forktaalely t&ere is a fine grove of cocoa palms a mile above
fee village, from which I drew my supply of green nuts at the rate
MULLAITIV0. 278
To my mind, no other beverage in the -world, either natural or
artificial not even champagne at its best can equal, in refreshing
deliciousness, the water of a half-ripe cocoanut fresh from the tree.
They are best when there is a goodly deposit of soft meat on the
walls of the nut, for at that stage the water has a sharp, sparkling
acidity, and a delicate cocoanut flavor, the like of which is unsur
passed by any other liquid I ever tasted- The water is not so good
when the nut is perfectly green, and before any meat has been de
posited.
It may be only a fancy, but it really seemed to me that the
water of the Ceylon cocoanuts have a richer and finer flavor than
any others I have tasted. Being a hard drinker, it took five nuts per
day to supply my wants ; and I am sure no old toper ever enjoyed
his dram more than I did those delicious draughts. When inclined
to imbibe, cut the hard green husk from around the blossom end
of the nut with a sharp hatchet or hunting-knife, until it is whittled
down to a point^ with the shell of the nut in sight,
On cutting through the shell to make a drinking-hole, I have
often seen the water spurt up two feet high, and sometimes into
my face. To get the fullest possible enjoyment of the draught it
should be taken directly from the nut, nature's own cup. When
poured into a drinking vessel its delicate aroma is lost After this
cooling draught, the experienced hand will attack the soft meat on
the inside with a spoon without any delay, for it is a delicious
morseL
Being desirous of obtaining some elephant skulls and a lot of
odd bones, I learned, after many inquiries, of the death of an ele
phant the year previous, near a village called Nedunkenni, nineteen
miles southwest of Mullaitivu. Making this an excuse for a little
collecting trip back from the coast, I hired a covered bullock bandy
and set out on the morning of April 2d, accompanied by Henrique,
intending to be .gone five days. While I am not partial to journal
ism in books of travel, in this instance I can hardly do better than
to copy the daily record of that trip.
" Tuesday, April 3d A short distance from MuDaitivn we took
the wrong road, and the stupid driver did not discover his mistake
until we had travelled four miles upon it Now four miles out of
one's way when be son is scorching hot is a serious tiling, espe
cially when one has to torn back thai distance, and is thereby u&*
able to reach the end of Ae jotaswy tlaaidyw. I opuM aoareeiy Jb&ej*
18
374 TWO YEARS IN THE JUKGLE.
my hands off that driver, and was only able to do so by scolding
like a shrew. The bullocks shared my feeling of disgust, for when
we turned to go back they became very refractory, and the poor
wretch of a driver actually burst out crying. When the tears be
gan to make furrows in the dust that lay on his dusky cheeks, my
anger vanished and I was content to make the best of the situation.
At length, we took a short cut through the jungle to reach the other
road, and the track we got into was loose sand. By this time the
bullocks were almost fagged out and contrary, and for the last half-
mile of the short cut Henrique and I had to push with all our
strength to keep the cart going. This, at noon, in April, one of
the hottest Indian months, in a bed of hot sand, with the sun pour
ing down upon us and not a breath of air stirring ! I thought the
conditions for sunstroke were about all there, but neither of us
dropped.
" At last we got out, having lost nearly eight miles. Kested a
while, then on. Shot a grizzly squirrel (S. macrourus). At night-
Mi, reached a small village twelve and a half miles from home.
Stopped for the night, and quartered under a shed. Bought and
shot a chicken, and while Henrique did the cooking act I skinned
the squirrel
" Wednesday, April %d. On early in the morning, when the air
was balmy and refreshing. At once we started a lot of wanderoo
monkeys, of which I killed three of the largest Also shot three
Macacus pileatus, one of which was an old female with a tiny young
one clinging to her body. It was alive and unhurt, so I kept it.
Farther on shot three more big wanderoos, making six in all, and
another grizzly squirrel.
" The jungle which everywhere covers this low, level country be
tween the sea-coast and the mountainous interior, can scarcely be
dignified by the name of forest To my mind, it may be regarded
as typical jungle, low, dense, very thorny as a rule, barren of grass
and difficult to penetrate. Taken all over, it is decidedly low and
- scrubby, the top of the leafy mass averaging scarcely more than
tMrty feet in elevation above the ground. There are few trees of
good size, and all have a very scraggy appearance, due to the cor
rugated and irregular growth of their trunks. There is no ground
verdure to speak of, and the undergrowth consists of brush with
deaeier, leafless stems. By stooping low and crawling under this
growtii, one can get along pretty well, but it is very tiresome.
la loolnng under, it is often possible to see for fifty yards around,
MULLAITIVIT. S75
and in this way I saw, to-day, the legs of two deer walking quietly
along when I could not see a single hair of their bodies. A monkey
or a squirrel is quickly lost to view when running over this thick
scrub.
" Beached Nedunkenni about noon, and at once fell to work on
the pile of dead monkeys. By sunset I had skinned two of them
and skeletonized four, and another had been prepared as a skeleton
by Henrique. We quartered in a sort of hut erected for the ac
commodation of the road engineers, a roof of cocoa palm leaves,
mud walls three feet high, and a clean dirt floor.
" Thursday, April th. After I had skeletonized the eighth
monkey we went to the burial place of the elephant. Sold. It was,
or had been, a baby elephant, a wretchedly small baby at that, and
the bones were worthless. The people of the village told us of the
remains of another and much larger elephant near a village named
Ayladdi, five miles farther on, and we started for it at once, bag
and baggage. Beached the village just before nightfall, and for
four annas hired a roof under which I slung my hammock and slept
in peace and comfort Noticed in the village two skins of axis deer
and one of sambur from animals killed near by.
" Friday, April 5th. Took three men from the village, and set off
very early on foot through the jungle to look for the remains of the
elephant. "We traversed a lovely path, and once when we emerged
into a little open glade I caught sight of a jackal, which was more
than he could say of me. He presently opened his mouth and be
gan to pour forth his morning song, but just as he reached the sec
ond verse, my bullet went through his liver. He suddenly stopped
singing, spun round like a top for a few minutes, snarled, yelped,
bit, and scratched, and then quietly lay down, never to get up any
more. At noon his skeleton hung on the side of our bandy cover.
" Sold again. The elephant proved to have been a young one,
also, but not quite so babyish as the other. The skull alone was
perfect and we carried it of rather disappointed at the net results
so far in elephant debris.
" "Went back again to Nedunkenni, where we arrived at 3 P.M.
Although this is a very small village of not more than a dozen huts,
it boasts a free mission-school kept by an old Tamil native-Christian,
educated at the Jaffna mission, and there named Joseph Emerson.
Joseph was very intelligent and polite, and spoke English with an
ease and fluency which quite startled ma Bat he was wasting his
sweetness on the desert air, for his school contained only sii pupils.
276 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
He said that a great many would come to him from the neighbor*
ing -villages, but that the parents were afraid to send their children
through the jungle on account of the ' cheetahs ' (leopards), bears,
and wild elephants. He said there are elephants within two miles
of the Tillage now.
" Mr. Emerson told me he had just learned of the remains of an
other elephant, which he assured me was a very large one, and had
died only a year previous, near a village called Padicodooirupu,
eight miles to the southeast
"This jaw-breaMng name came very near intimidating me, but
after wrestling with it a few minutes I found I could pronounce it
from beginning to end without getting lock-jaw, so we came to an
about face and started for the place named. Joseph gave me his
blessing and a large yellow pumpkin, and having no present in kind
to offer, I bestowed upon him two rupees. That pumpkin I would
not have bartered for a coat of arms.
" After a hard drive over a rough road we reached Padicodooi-
rupu just at dark The natives gave me a roof to sleep under
where I made myself as comfortable as I could in my hammock
Joseph's pumpkin was sweet and good ; and, for the first time in
many days, I had a dish of curry and rice that I could eat with
relish. As I had nothing else, it was lucky for me that Henrique
made it fit to eal How absurd to think that one's happiness
should hinge on a dish of pumpkin curry !
"The people of this village are rather mean, and ill-disposed
toward strangers. One man had fever, and I should not greatly
mourn if it became an epidemic.
" Saturday, Aprti 6th. Set off early in the morning with four
men from the village, and walked three miles through the jungle to
the spot on ihe sandy bank of the Parayan Ax, where lay all that
was left of a once mighty elephant. Bravo I Treasure-trove, or
the next thing to it at all events. There lay the entire skeleton ex
cepting the foot-bones and caudal vertebrae, of an old and very
large elephant, bleached clean and white. For a wonder the huge
sMl was absolutely perfect, not even a tooth missing, for which I
am under obligations to native shiftlessness. Such teeth as those
seE raffly for five rupees each, in Colombo and Galle. I sent off
at once for reinforcements, and in a short time had nine men on
Hie ground. First we cut a path through the jungle to the road,
and fibe& I pfeked out what bones I wanted, almost the entire lot
ere*pt ite pelvis. We got hoes and dug the sand over in a careful
MULLAITIVtJ. 277
search for the small foot-bones, which, for several reasons, I par
ticularly wished to secure.
" In digging for the bones we found several small frogs quite
solidly entombed, alive, a foot and a half deep in the solid, sandy
earth. We found three species altogether [but I regret to say I
never had an opportunity to identify them].
" Although their bodies were greatly distended by the extraor
dinary quantity of water they contained, they threw up half of it as
soon as they were taken from their living tombs, and then became
quite active. They had evidently been buried there by their own
knowledge and consent during the rains of the northeast monsoon,
and, but for our disturbance, would have remained where they were
all through the dry and hot season, and until the commencement of
the next monsoon. The stream was perfectly dry, and the natives
said there was no water for many miles around except in the wells.
"My nine men were heavily loaded with the bones I selected,
and at midday, when the sun was flaming hot, we marched out to
the bandy, loaded it carefully, and started immediately for Nedun-
kenni, which we reached a little before sunset and halted for the
night
4 ' Sunday, April 1th. Eose very early, coffeed in haste, and just as
the sun sent his level rays over the top of the jungle, we s*t out
for Mullaitivu. I walked the first six miles and shot three jungle
cock and two wanderoo monkeys (S. leucoprymnus).
" These big wanderoos are very numerous all around Nedunkenni
for five miles at least, and by going along the road one could easily
kill enough in one day to load a cart This morning I saw more
tlmn fifteen big troops of them, each of which contained from ten
to fifteen individuals. Usually there are about fifteen in each gang,
so that the total number we saw must have been about two hun
dred. They literally lined the road for seven miles, sometimes in
the trees and sometimes on the ground. One troop of very large
old fellows we found playing in the road like school-boys, gallop
ing up and down, or chasing each other about with their long tails
held up at an angle of forty-five degrees. Their favorite gait is
a gallop, unless the branches are too thick to permit it ; and they
can run almost as fast through the tree-tops as over bare ground.
When hotly pursued and thoroughly alarmed, it is marvellous to
see them run. They head straight away from tbeir pursuer and
gallop madly along the larger branches without a second's pause
or hesitation, without a fall or even a misstep, spring boldly
278 TWO TEAES IN THE JUWGLE.
one tree-top to tlie next, and, unless the ground below is very open^
they are gone from the hunter's gaze like a flash. Their minds
must act like lightning-flashes to enable them to choose the safe
and unbroken line of retreat There is no time to stop and study
as to which branch they shall jump upon next, no halting between
two opinions, but on they go, the hand and the eye keeping time
exactly in the dangerous race. Unless the hunter brings down his
specimen before the gang has fairly recovered from its surprise
and started off, he may as well give up the chase.
" In these hot jungles the game is afoot in the morning from sun
rise till about nine o'clock, and also in the evening just before sun
set Any animal that would go prowling about at midday, instead
of lying close in the shade, deserves to be shot. This morning we
saw a wild hog trot across the road ahead of us, and a little later a
jackal loafing along in a trampish sort of a way. I tried to get
within range of him, but he was too knowing for me. We also
saw three spotted deer standing quietly in the jungle less than fifty
yards from the road, in full view ; and six miles from Mullaitivu, we
saw three more in the road ahead of us. Had I not killed twenty
in the Aniinallais there would have been a death in each of those
families ; but having specimens already, and not caring to run the
unnecessary risk of being mulcted by the Ceylon Government in
the sum of 5 for shooting a deer without a license, I let the
tempting creatures go in peace."
On reaching Mullaitivu I found a fat packet of letters from
home, some containing money, some good news, and one the com
forting assurance that the expedition to the East Indies should go
on as planned. Alter resting a day, I spent two more in getting my
collection into shape, and then engaged two bullock bandys to take
me to Jaffna forthwith. The trip was, to me, full of interest, and I
again yield to the temptation to drop into journalism.
" April 122/L Rose early, loaded up with a rush, and after a few
any-tbing-but-tearful good-byes, we were off. Both bandys were
liaamiy loaded. Of course, I took plenty of cocoanuts (twenty) to
drink on the way. As we crossed the two bridges I took a last
f osi look at my Crocodile Pool, but not a head was above water to
shed a tear at our departure. I rode in the front bandy and read
'Hypaii&v* At the six-mile post the bandymen begged a halt, for
l>j that tiuae old Sol was getting down to business. For breakfast
HTTLLArrryu. 279
Henrique made a dish of curry and rice -winch beat my gastro
nomic powers completely, and I came near beating Mm in turn.
The trouble was there were too many stones mingled with the rice
to call it rice, and not quite enough to call it road-metal I sol
emnly promised to fine him two rupees for a repetition of the of
fence, and he as solemnly promised to reform.
* ; Jungle just the same as between Nedunkenni and the coast At
dark we halted at a school-house at the fifteenth mile, with the
usual thatch-roof and mud walls two feet high, and I hung my
hammock under the shelter. The ventilation of the apartment was
perfect.
" April 13th. Eose at 3 A.M. and started ; I finished my nap in
the bandy as we jogged along. Halted for our midday rest at Ka-
raputamooripu, at the twenty-fifth mile, where we struck the Kan-
dy and Jafiha road, sixty miles from the latter place. Halted for the
night at the fifty-fifth mile from Jaffna, and I shot &Macacuspileatu&
" April 14;th. On at 3 A.M. as usual, and by breakfast time were
at Kokavil, forty-eight and a half miles from Jaffna. This seems to
be a favorite halting place for bandys. The road is well littered with
straw, and as a result it is a fine feeding ground for the jungle
cock (Gallus Stanleyi). I got out and shot five while Henrique was
making a cup of coffee, and we had a square meal of their flesh.
Halted at noon, at the Veddakkacheri rest house (forty-third mile),
in which I shot a very curious bat (Rhinolophus tnfoliatus) that
was hanging from a rafter.
"The road to-day was a continuous bed of loose sand, and get
ting on was simply awful The bullocks toiled through it slowly
and painfully with the heavy carts, feet, and wheels sinking in
deeply. In order to get along at all we had to lift at the wheels or
push behind, while the drivers yelled and belabored the bullocks^
and called their mothers and sisters bad names. By what process
of reasoning these Tamils are led to suppose it makes a bullock
pull better to asperse his mother's reputation, I cannot imagine.
"Over such loose sand the heat is terrific. When I could ride
with a clear conscience and 4 take it easy/ I sat in the front bandy,
sweltering and gasping for breath, bathed in perspiration from
head to foot, and covered with dust, which hourly increased in
thickness, and formed on me a regular alluvial deposit. As we
neared Elephant Pass the jungle gradually grows shorter and thin
ner, until it altogether disappears. Camped for the night out in
the open plain ? at a well close to the thirty-sixth mile-post, on the
280 TWO YEABS IK THE JTHTG-LE.
edge of the strait. How delicious and refreshing was the bath 1
took. It was a beautiful moonlight night, cool and balmy a
heaven after the hades of the day.
" April 15th. Crossed Elephant Pass just at sunrise. It is a
shallow strait of salt water, a mile and one-third in width at the
narrowest part, where the road crosses, and only two feet in depth
at the middle. The bottom is hard gray sand, and to wade through
the cool sea-water is a delightful diversion to both man and beast.
Strange to say, I saw not a single bird at the Pass on either side.
"There is a fine rest house on the Jaffna side. On getting
across, we struck into as fine and smooth a " metal " road as I ever
wish to see, and then we rattled along gaily enough. We now came
to great groves of cocoa and Palmyra palm-trees, but in the latter I
find nothing to admire. The Creator made the Palmyra out of
ragged odds and ends of leaves and stems, and never finished the
job at that. They look like seedy, weather-beaten, ragged, and
unshaded tramps.
" Shot a jungle cock for breakfast, and also killed a wanderoo,
but it fell into a pool of water, sank like so much lead, and I declined
to go in after it Breakfasted at the Pallai rest house, twenty-four
miles from Jaffna. In the compound I found some very interesting
specimens of laterite or t cabook ' a very curious stone much used
for building purposes in Ceylon. When we halted just before dark
to rest and eat our curry and rice, the bandymen requested per
mission to go on to Jafiha, get the bandys unloaded and out of
sight before daybreak, to save themselves from being fined for not
having * registered ' at Mallaitivu. I said * go, 9 and they went. I
lay down to sleep, and the next moment, as it seemed to me, Hen
rique aroused me by saying, c Sir ! sir ! This is the rest house,
sir.* Sure enough, we were in Jaffna, and it was three o'clock in
the morning.
" By the time I had packed up my entire collection, and finished
up my work in the Northern Province quite to my satisfaction, the
little steamer Serendib touched at Jafma on her way around the
island, and after sending aboard thirteen large cases of specimens,
a fifty-gallon cask, and a large crate of turtle skeletons, we toofc
> to Colombo."
CHAPTER XXIV.
KANDY AKD POINT BE GALLE.
!The Interior of Ceylon. A Kttn tip to Kandy. Native Plows and Plowing.
The Mountains. -Kandy. An Overpraised Town. Summary of Ceylon
Collection. The Royal Mail Coach. Governmental Eccentricities. Tha
Ride to Galle. Charming Coast Scenery. A Church Episode. Ben-
totte. Point de Galle. Neptune's Garden. Ceylon Gems. Classifica
tion of Dealers. Study of a Scoundrel, in Black and White. Diamond
cut Diamond. Farewell to Ceylon.
JUSTICE to tlie reader and to the subject demands the statement, at
this point, that the glories of the island of Ceylon do not lie in that
portion of the Northern Province described in the previous chapter.
It is the rugged and mountainous interior south of Kandy which
contains the picturesque waterfalls, bold precipices, romantic
streams, and grand forests full of large game, which constitute what
is best worth seeing in this lovely isle. That is the region Sir
Samuel Baker has made famous in his two charming books, " Eight
Years' Wanderings," and " Bifle and Hound in Ceylon." But foi
the expense, I would at least have seen Newera Ellia and the Mil-
country generally, Adam's Peak, Horton's Plain, the World's End,
and the magnificent forests which cover the southern slope of the
great plateau. I would have gladly devoted a month to the hOl-
country and the adjacent forests in the south, and but for the meth
ylated spirits episode, I could and would have done so ; but the
Neilgherries and Animallais were behind me and Borneo ahead ; so
I was partially consoled for being obliged to leave the most inter
esting half of Ceylon, as an excuse for another visit in the mysteri
ous future.
However, at the last moment I went up to Kandy, as do all well-
behaved travellers who visit the " balmy isla" The distance by rail
is seventy-two miles. From Colombo to Eambukana the country is
low and covered by a succession of rice-fields or swamps, alternat
ing with jungle-covered kmUs, which rise out of the rice-fields
282 TWO YEABS IK THE JUKGLE.
islands. In many places the landscape reminds one of the Florida
Everglades, with its archipelago of low islets covered with dark
green jungle. The rice, or " paddi," grows in soft mud covered by
several inches of water, the flow of which, from one little field to
another, is regulated by means of small dykes.
It is a strange sight to see all the ryots plowing these fields
preparatory to planting the crop. A pair of splay-footed buffaloes
are hitched to a wooden plow, which is an exaggerated model of
a dog's hind leg ; and then they go floundering through soft mud
up to their knees, dragging the plow after them, which slips along
quite easily and without seriously disturbing the mud in any way,
while the driver flounders along at the rear of the procession. The
plow does not turn up the earth at all, but merely tickles it a little
to put it in good humor for another crop.
From Rambukana it is a steady climb to Kandy, and another
engine kindly came to the assistance of the one which brought us
from Colombo. The scenery along the line of ascent has a narrow
escape from tameness. At one point, called Sensation Rock, where
the line is cut in the steep side of a mountain, the view is truly
grand. There is a precipice of seven hundred feet for the train to
go over if it ever runs off the track at that point ; and, below that,
another steep descent of more than a thousand feet to where the
bright green paddi-fields lie level in the sun, not a hundred feet
above the sea.
Some of the hills near the railway are covered with coffee
bushes^ but those in the distance and also around Kandy were clad
with forest They are neither grand nor beautiful, and in contrast
with the Neilgherries they are very tame. But then I doubt if this
world can produce another mountain plateau which can match the
Neilgherries in beauty and grandeur combined.
Handy also is very disappointing as far behind Ootacamund
as Madras is behind Colombo. In the pictures it looks pretty
enough, but in reality it looks straggling, topsy-turvy, and more or
less dirty. There is a lake in the middle of the town, elaborately
walled round, but alas ! its waters are murky, brownish yellow, and
tMck with mud. It gives one a bilious feeling to look at it, and,
evea after a good breakfast, the eye turns from it to the distant
^^k for comfort
The lake is of considerable length and a very pleasant drive
follows its sinuous margin all the way around. On the hill-sides
w&iA rise OB either side are the shops and bungalows nestling in
AKD POINT BE GALLE.
283
cocoanut groves, which constitute the only really attractive feature
of the town.
The botanical glories of Peradenia gardens I did not liave a
chance to see another excuse for a second visit
Beaching Colombo again, I shipped home my Ceylon collection,
which contained the following specimens gathered fresh from the
woods and waters in less than four months' time.
20 species of Mammals 104 specimens.
10
8
27
68
80
18
120
3
8
Birds 20
Birds' Eggs 153
Eeptiles 124
Fishes 180
Lepidopterous Insects 155
Crustaceans 181
Mollusks , 1,500
Radiates 55
Coral 44
In addition to the above the collection included a quantity of
such miscellany as elephant skulls, bones, and teeth, specimens of
rock, precious stones, woods, minerals and the like, in great variety.
I made no effort to collect birds, for the reason that nearly
every other collector makes a specialty of them ; and for insects I
had no time,
At the last moment I again found myself embarrassed for hard
cash. With all my bills paid, and over a thousand dollars await
ing me in Singapore, as a cable message from Professor Ward in
formed me, I had not money enough to enable me to leave the
island. Much against my will I was obliged to avail myself of the kind
offer of Messrs. Lee, Hedges & Co., accept a loan from them wit&-
out the ability to offer security, and coolly sail out of their reach.*
The ride from Colombo to Galle in the Boyal Mail Coach is one
never to be forgotten. Very few of the ocean steamers plying be
tween Europe and the far East touch at Colombo, since Point de
Galle has an equally good harbor and lies directly in their track ;
hence the trips of travellers between the two points by coach.
We made the start at six o'clock in the morning wiiih a light
load and very respectable passengers. The only bitter drop in that
day's cup of happiness was that, because I was a white man and
* Since my return home, my gratitude to these and similar
friends in the East Indies, who aided me in time of need, has caused me
to make advances to several parties situated as I was then, not one of whom
has ever returned what he borrowed ! Sooh is life !
284 TWO TEAKS HST THE JUNGLE.
couldn't help it, I tad to pay twenty rupees for my ride, while an
old Singhalese porker, who weighed at least seventy-five pounds
more than I, and who had wealth enough to buy up forty men like
me, was carried for ten rupees. Anywhere but in Ceylon such a
regulation would be too absurd to exist long, but the policy of this
remarkable government is to do " as it darn please " in everything,
On this impregnable ground it refuses to allow a healthy and
wealthy company to build a railway between Galle and Colombo,
for fear the seat of commerce in the island would be disturbed and
Galle outgrow their intentions. In enlightened countries, such a
high-handed attempt to control the natural channel of commerce
would be considered remarkable, to say the least, but in Ceylon
there is nothing extraordinary about it. All the same, it is a pity
there is not some wicked New York reporter on the ground to
prowl around for a week or two and find out just what the "divvy"
amounts to, when the Colombo rice merchants, shopmen, and hotel-
keepers have their quarterly " whack-up " with the government.
Having paid my ten rupees for the ride and ten more for not
being black, I climbed up beside my Singhalese Falstaff and was
followed by an ayah black enough to satisfy any government, who
had in charge two sweet little boys white, too, poor little dears
who were going to Galle to enter school. They occupied the front
seat, and nicer children I never saw. It was a real pleasure to
have such a long ride with two such rosy, round-faced, blue-eyed
little cherubs before one's eyes all the way. "Without a moment's
delay the driver mounted his bos, the bugle sounded, and the
horses started off at a gallop. All too quickly we were whirled out
of the "fort" and across the beautiful esplanade, which I saw,
with regret, for the last time.
Our Boyal Coach was rather loose in the joints, and we went,
literally, at a rattling pace. The horses were large and rather
raw-boned Australian " plugs," well qualified for the work they had
to do, and, as we had a fresh pair for every six miles, they were
kept either at a very fast trot or a gallop for the whole distance.
Bie road was a dead level, skirting the sea-shore all the way, and
foesatiMly smooth and hard.
Near Panadura, the terminus of the railway which set out for
Point de Galle, and would have got there on schedule-time but for
overruling of an all-wise official providence, the road runs
fe& bank of a lagoon which looks like a large river, and
ongfct to contain countless crocodiles. Not for one moment does
KAKBY AHD POINT DE GALLE. 286
fhe shady avenue leave the jungle, save to take us for a short run
through the continuous grove of ever-lovely cocoa palms, which
stretches along the sandy shore like dark green fringe. I envy
the lazy Singhalese whose clean and tidy little huts nestle in the
cool cocoanut groves, surrounded by thrifty banana trees that are
bowing down with the weight of the green fruit clusters. Looking
through the forest of clean white cocoa-trunks, you get glimpses of
the sea which make you eager for a better view, until presently an
indenture in the coast brings it close to the roadside and opens
before you a charming prospect of calm blue water dotted over
with tiny white specks which you know must be the sails of the
small fishing-boats. We pass two large parties of seine-haulers
just in the act of hauling their long seines up to the shore, but we
dash by too quickly for detailed investigation. No doubt their
nets contain treasures of the deep which we would gladly seize
upon, but it is too late now.
By and by we reach Kaltura, at the mouth of the Kalu Ganga,
one of the largest rivers of Ceylon. From the bridge it looks more
like a lagoon than a river. Kaltura ! Aha ! This is the place where
a wealthy and influential old Singhalese gentleman, a member of
the Church of England in good standing, died a few weeks ago, and
was refused a Christian burial by the pastor in charge. The re
fusal was based on the suspicion, or I may say rumor, that in his last
moments the old gentleman had renounced his Christian faith and
accepted the offices of a native priest. Two sons of the deceased,
whose Christianity no one doubts, were greatly distressed by this
unfeeling refusal, and the bishop was appealed to by telegraph, and
also by letter, for a mandamus, to compel the minister to perform
the duty of his office. It was of no avail, and the family was at last
obliged to convey the father's remains to Fanadura, where they
found a minister of more liberal views, who read the burial service
in due form. For days the papers of the island were full of arti
cles anent the matter, for and against both parties, and the public
mind was wrought up to quite a pitch of excitement. " Me on J t !
oh, fie 1 " As if the reading of the service would have offended
God or harmed the minister ; or the entire omission of it lor one
moment disturbed the peaceful repose of the tired old man. Thus
do representative Christians affect an exdusiveness which tlieir
Master utterly condemned and bring His cause into contempt.
Why not have given the dead man the benefit of the doubt> and
bestowed upon Ms remains the usual ceremony which his sons h&4
286 TWO YEARS IN THE JUJTOLE.
been taught to consider necessary to the welfare of the soul ? After
such an exhibition of bigotry and bad temper among the official
followers of our meek and lowly Saviour, I thought that, should I
die in Ceylon, I would first request the omission of the burial ser
vice. I would rather have a single tear shed above my grave than
a hollow ceremony performed thereat.
Shortly before noon we halted at the Bentotte rest house for
breakfast, a little more than half-way to Galle. The rest house is
charmingly situated on a pretty little knoll close to the beach and
the mouth of the Bentota Ganga, partly surrounded by a grove of
tamarind-trees and cocoa-palms, commanding a fine view of the
cool and refreshing ocean. We breakfasted, chiefly on fish, with
the music of the tumbling surf in our ears and a delicious breeze
from the ocean fanning our cheeks. Who would not like to spend
a whole summer at Bentotte? Thence, onward, the road lay about
as close to the beach as it could get and preserve its straightness.
I watched that endless strip of yellow sand, mile after mile, but
truth compels me to say that I did not see a single living creature
upon it, nor even a good shell
The cocoanut grove along the shore seemed as endless as the
shore itself. From Panadura to Galle the road is lined, nearly the
whole way, with native huts and bazaars, so that it seems like a
ride through a continuous village. To the slow-moving and slow-
thinking natives our rapid passage must seem like the passage of
an express train at home. The Eoyal Mail Coach has the right of
way, and on we go at a gallop, the wet sand flying from the whirl
ing coach-wheels, dashing through one bazaar after another, the
bugle blowing every now and then, the children and old women
scattering to right and left, and the bullock bandys hastily drawing
off to one side io let our coach dash by. We started at six o'clock,
changed horses twelve times, halted forty-five minutes at Bentotte,
and at 4 P.M. drove across the draw-bridge which spans the moat
of the old Dutch fort, dashed up the main street of Point de Galle
with a grand flourish, and pulled up in front of the hotel The
coach was wretchedly uncomfortable, but otherwise the ride was
aU tifaai could be desired.
Galle is a small place, but its natural advantages are immense.
Aside from the beautiful harbor with its fringe of cocoa-palms and
flandj beach, I was most interested in the wide coral reef which lies
atag Hie southern wall of the fort. At low tide, when the sea is
, one gets from the light-house a beautiful bird's eye -view of
KAKBY AHD POINT BE GALLK 287
the best portion of Neptune's Garden. At the sight of tbig lovely
grove of pale-green coral (the madrepores are most conspicuous,
growing in the crystal sea- water on clean white rocks and sand-), I
wished that, for a time at least, I could have the power to roam at
will over the bottom of the sea. What treasures one could gather,
provided one were not gathered first by a shark or octopus.
Galle is a famous place for precious stones, and rascally Moor
men who deal in cut-glass imitations. The island produces very
fine sapphires, blue, yellow, and white ; cat's eyes, moonstones,
garnets, "Ceylon ruby" (ruby topaz), star stones, carbuncles, tur
quoise, and " Ceylon diamonds." The sapphire is the piece de r&~
sistance of the dealer ; but, while stones of poor quality axe offered
by the score, really fine ones are few and far between. Of all the
Ceylon gems this is the most successfully imitated in glass, and it
is hazardous for the average traveller to buy of any but a respon
sible dealer.
Pearls may be had by the quart, good ones, too, at from one
shilling to twenty shillings each. Gems are equally reasonable in
price, and I took the opportunity to select a series of both rough
and cut stones of all the kinds for sale in Galle, as so many mineral-
ogical specimens for Professor Ward's private cabinet Some time
previously I had made the acquaintance of as honest a dealer as I
ever wish to see, Mahommed Ossen by name (if you care to know),
who took pains to supply me with all that I wished at very satis
factory prices. His shop is, or was, very near the Oriental Hotel,
and this wholly gratuitous advertisement is inserted solely for the
reader's benefit when he visits Galle.
There is one class of dealers to be encountered in Galle, which
is a very important factor in the sum of every traveller's happiness,
whether he will or no. They are vampires of a mild sort, and feed
upon travellers only. The moment your steamer drops anchor in
the harbor they swarm on deck and crowd around you, offering the
most beautiful gems (of cut glass) you ever saw. They dazzle you
with sapphires in all colors, as large as filberts sometimes, topaz&s,
rubies* and pearls, chiefly set in rings, warranted in every case,
" good estone, good gole, sar 1" If you buy, by afl means go to a
respectable dealer as soon as possible, and get the gauge of your
gullibility. Their best " saffer " rings would be dear at fifteen
cents a dozen, for the metal is brass of the poorest kind, and will
show its true colors in about a fortnight.
These venders of bogus jewelry are all Moormen, easily clislra-
288 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
guished by their shaven heads and inverted flower-pot caps. There
are really three varieties of the species, the first of which, respecta-
bilis } is found in well-filled shops, with good wares at reasonable prices.
Another, semi-respectabilis, makes a specialty of tortoise-shell
jewelry, both real and imitation, ivory elephants, ebony walking-
sticks and elephants, and sandal- wood fans, glove boxes, etc., im
ported from China. But, it must be admitted, this also drops into
bogus jewelry. The other variety, vampirus, makes a specialty of
young travellers, and also old ones who have not yet cut their wis
dom teeth, who are fooled to the top of their bent, either with bogus
gems or worthless stones at a high price.
Both the last-named varieties infest the steamers and hotels,
where they will offer the same articles to the same person, time
after time, with most annoying pertinacity and impudence. Occa
sionally enterprising specimens of vampirus have shops and at
tempt to pass for respectabtiis, which they can easily do up to a cer
tain point. While studying up the varieties and values of precious
stones, previous to making up my series of specimens, I had an ex
perience with one of these worthies, who " took me in," part way,
at least He came to me at the hotel, presented his card (M. C.
Joonoos, 21 Pedlar Street), and politely invited me to visit his shop.
It was very near, and after a very little urging I went, really in
tending to make purchases if I found anything desirable.
When we reached the shop, the quiet retirement of which at
once made me think of a bunko establishment, we sat down on
opposite sides of a small table, and while the dealer's son was
bringing out the stones, I had time to scan the face of my vis-^-vis.
Mr. Joonoos was black, but not " comely," his jaws were heavy, his
shining black eyes were small and set close together, and his mouth
had an ugly droop at the corners. His black beard was thin and
straight, and his shaven head was capped by the usual flower-pot of
colored straw. The rest of his dress was Singhalese a loose-fitting
coat of white linen cloth, and a petticoat (or strong) of gayly fig
ured staff held up by a waist-belt In upright cases around the walls
was an assortment of the fancy articles and " curios " usually pur-
elisaed by strangers, and in two small show-cases were the " gems."
Fksfc we had pearls of all sizes, for the smallest of which Mr.
fcottoos asked three rupees each, exactly double the regular price,
anA wcjg&d. me to take twenty. I civilly declined pearls, and for the
next otEtse *we bad sapphires, two large blue ones which vampirus
set to work in dead earnest to sell, then and there. The largest
KANDY AND POIKT DE GALLE.
stone was positively the worst of its kind I ever saw, having in its
interior, near the apex, a large opaque blur, like a cataract in an
eye, which was visible as far as the stone itself. My close examina
tion of this really curious fault misled Mr. Joonoos into thinking I
had fallen in love with the gem (!) and he immediately assured me
most earnestly that it was " the finest stone in Galle." I was at
first amazed at the impudence of the man, but light suddenly
dawned upon my mind as to his real character, and I determined
to take a hand in the little game. He urged me to buy the stone
and I said, " How much?"
"Ten shillings per karet" I examined it more closely and ar
rested the dealer's encomium by saying, " Weigh it, please, and let's
see how much it will cost" He weighed it Nearly thirteen
karets. "About a hundred and thirty shillings," I said, musingly.
"Yes, sir. That's cheap price, sir! Good estone."
" It may be, but I would never give that for it."
Instantly Mr. Joonoos became all eagerness and animation.
" Well, sir, hownuchyougive f Yousayoneprice ! How much 2 "
" Why, there's a flaw in the stone."
"No, sir 1 That's notaflaw! That's GOOD estone. Howmuch-
yougive ? You say one price."
" Oh ! I've no idea what it's worth."
Mr. Joonoos waxed more and more eager as I seemed to hesi
tate. He leaned half-way across the table with the sapphire in his
hand and eyed me like a rat He took off his cap like a man labor
ing hard, and then I saw what an ugly, jail-bird look he had when
his head was uncovered. His excitement at having found a victim,
and his eagerness to grasp the goodly roll of notes he saw almost
within his reach, made the perspiration run off his black scalp in
great drops ; but the room was cool and comfortable all the while,
I tried to get him to talk of other gema No, he liad set his
heart on selling me that particularly worthless stone, with the big
milky fiaw in it, half as large as the entire stone, and it was ex
asperating to see his eagerness to foist it upon me at thirteen shil
ling per karet Miserable liar that he was, he swore by all the
oaths that he knew, again and again, that that was the " finest stone
in Galle." At last I could stand it no longer and told him that the
stone was worthless and he knew it, and thai farUbennore I wouM
not give five shillings for it He was utterly di^osted, and eoolcl
not conceal Ms disappointment, but he held bis peace and orcbrecl
his young hopeful to bring otter otfecfe. I must hssv& looted ira*
19
290 TWO YEARS IN THE JUKGLE.
usually verdant that day, for vampirus evidently took me for an
out-and-out greenhorn.
I asked, for uncut Ceylon diamonds. Yes, he had some, fifteen
shillings per ounce ! (Mr. Ossen's price was one shilling per ounce.)
I said I thought I would take an ounce, and looking up quickly at
his young hopeful standing near the table, I surprised him in the
midst of a significant grin, which he instantly sought to extinguish.
" "What's that boy grinning for ? " I demanded of the dealer.
Mr. Joonoos was greatly annoyed by this unfortunate contre
temps, and looked it.
" Oh, he's a little fool ; don't you mind, sor ; he grins all the
time. Go into the other room ! " to the boy, with a black scowl.
By that time I had had enough of the little game, and to pay
Mr. Joonoos for his efforts in trying to swindle me, I selected about
seventy rupees worth of crystals, sapphires, turquoise and emeralds,
and had them wrapped up. He thought I was going to pay cash,
but he grumbled openly that I took so little. I ought to have taken
" for two hundred or three hundred rupees anyhow." He declared
he ought to have sold 2,000 worth in that time. When the goods
were wrapped up, I told him to put the parcel aside and keep it
until I called again and paid for it. " And when I do," I added,
" you will know for sure just how big a fool I am. Ta ta. Try
again, Mr. Joonoos."
I left him utterly bewildered at the extent of his failure to make
a haul, and never saw frfm again ; but even to this day it enrages
me to think how the wily scoundrel spread his net for me. It is
humiliating to think I was ever taken for such a flat.
On May 16th, I took passage in the superb steamer Tengtse^ of
the Messageries Maritimes Company, for Singapore, and Ceylon be
came to me a memory of the past. Adieu, lovely isle ! Good-bye
to your sunny sea and groves of coral, your girdle of yellow sand
and cocoa-palms, your scrubby jungle, and troops of fat and saucy
monkeys. Farewell to your noble forests and mountains, which I
did not see, and your humbug cinnamon gardens, which are not
worth seeing, nor lying about either. A fond adieu to Colombo and
tfee good friends who live there. Good-bye, too, to official cussed-
B$SS> to Singhalese laziness, and to Moormen both good and bad.
^ My thanks are due to the doctor and the climate which cured
3M& ^feefeally of fever, and without any penalty either. Ceylon
Mis a jBOT^age on my affections which will never be lifted in this
Happy Ceylon!
PART TIL THE MALAY PENINSULA.
CHAPTER XXV.
SINGAPOBE.
New Harbor. A Back-door Entrance. Mangrove Swamps and Malay
Houses. Street Scenes. The Sailors' Quarter. Well-planned City.
Chinese Shops and Houses. Populace. Social Life. The Curse of the
East Indies. The American Consul. Two American Travellers. A Model
Millionaire. The Climate of Singapore. Market for Live Animals. A
Visit to Mr. Whampoa's Villa. Curios. A Tigerish Orang-Utan. Curios
ities in Gardening.
THE twentieth of May found us steaming down the Strait of Mar
lacca, close along the shore of the Malay Peninsula. The strait was
almost as smooth as a river, and all day long we sat comfortably
under the double awning, enjoying the dowly moving panorama of
forest-clad hills and mountains, stretches of level jungle, a river
mouth and a Malay village here and there, and pretty green islets
rising jauntily out of the water along the shore. The next sunrise
saw us threading our way through a bewildering maze of islands,
large and small, a perfect archipelago in fact, with only a narrow
passage for us at best Presently we passed a flag-staff upon a hill,
and a little later three buoys described a semi-circle to the left
around a group of islets, and then we saw far across the water many
ships at anchor, and back of them a long line of wMte buildings two
stories high, with a monotonous row of upper windows staring across
the water at ua Beyond that lay a background of low, green hills.
. This is Singapore, the great central ganglion of the Malay
Archipelago and Southeastern Asia, the hub of the Far East.
The spokes are steamship lines running in almost every direction,
to Bangkok, Saigon, China and Japan, Manilla, Sarawak, Po&ii&Bak,
Batavia, Sumatra, Ceylon, Calcutta, Eangoon, and Malacca.
We had scarcely exclaimed, " Yonder is SiBgajjQare I ** when it
392 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
began to pour in literal earnest, and kept it up during the greate*
part of that day.
Our steamer, instead of making straight for the town, describes
a perfect fish-hook on the chart, leaving Singapore away off to our
right and behind us. We enter a little strait which at first we take
to be a river, it is so narrow and so completely shut in by green
hills and banks of reddish brown shale. But there are large ocean
steamers and ships, wharves, dry docks, and coal sheds all along
the northern side ; so this must be New Harbor.
Having reached the barb of our fish-hook, we tie up at the
Borneo Company's wharf, and pull our relaxed energies together
for another collecting campaign in a strange locality. I was very
loth to quit such a delightful ship as the Yengtse, and actually en
vied the passengers who were going on to Japan in her. Usually,
however, one does not feel so.
This is indeed the end of our voyage, but we are still three
miles from the European quarter of the city, so off we go in a rickety
bandy with a cart-load of trunks and boxes following slowly after.
Entering Singapore by way of New Harbor is like getting into
a house through the scullery window. One's first impressions of
the town are associated with coal-dust, mud, stagnant water, and
mean buildings, and I found it required quite an effort to shake
them off This back-door entrance is by no means fair to Singa
pore, for under its baleful influence the traveller is apt to go away
(by the next steamer usually) with a low estimate of the city, every
way considered.
For the first stage out from New Harbor, the road is built
through a muddy and dismal mangrove swamp. Here and there
we pass a group of dingy and weather-beaten Malay houses stand
ing on posts over the soft and slimy mud, or perhaps over a thin
sheet of murky water. Delightful situation, truly, for the habita
tions of civilized human beings. Monkeys would choose much
better. A Malay prefers to build over water; and, failing that,
he builds over the softest mud he can find, usually on the bank
of a river or lagoon. His house is quite in keeping with its
location. The roof is made of palm leaves, and very often the
walls also. The windows are mere slits across the wall near the
r, with chimsy wooden bars across ; there is not a speck of
or whitewash or colored paper visible anywhere, and the
wbofe siraetee reminds one of an old crow's nest.
Earther o^ -we emerge from the swamp and pass a Chinese Jowi
SINGAPORE,
house and cemetery on a hill-side, beyond which we have for a
mile, on our right hand, a solid row of Chinese shops and dwelt
ings, and on the other side of the road, a creek flowing mud and
slime instead of water* Talk of malaria 1 It could be cut in that
creek, in blocks a foot square, like ice in the Hudson. And the
worst of it is that creek stinks pardon, I mean sticks by us un
til we are well into the city itseli
How odd the Chinese shops look with their huge red lanterns,
wonderful signs, and flaming inscriptions in black on red paper
pasted on the door-posts, lintels, and window-casings. How fat and
sleek and heariy-looking are all the Chinese men and women, and
how plump and saucy-looking are all their children. I am sure the
Chinese are more fleshy, man for man, than any other people in
the world-
Battling on we go. Here are Chinamen smoking big stems of
bamboo, large enough for hitching-posts ; here is one having his
pig-tail combed and his head shaved as he sits smoking unconcern
edly on a bench. We pass four Chinamen with a huge and clumsy
coffin upon a cart in which there will soon be a fifth, please heaven.
Here is a Malay woman combing her hair in a doorway, and here,
ah 1 old enemies 1 Here are three shops kept by Tamils, or Elings,
as they c*H. them here.
How odd everything looks. The houses are all two stories
high, with part of the lower story cut out to give a dry passage
way, and the overhanging upper portion supported by huge square
pillars of masonry.
Aha ! The sailors* quarter, it would seem, if we may judge by
the tavern signs. One announces, quite regardless of space*
and displays the portly figure of a Jack tar holding a small. Krupp
cannon up to his eye, while he squints horribly into the muzzle.
Another sign in base imitation of the former proclaims,
and another, the best painted of them all, sets forth, in beatrfafo]
letters but homicidal orthography,
THE SILYBR ANKBK.
Still another proclaims
THE OEIGINAL HABEAS BOB,
which is equivalent to the assertion that there are spurioos
Madras Bobe about, and "all others are base imitations,
394 TWO TEABS IK THE JUNGLE.
stamped by our trade mark, and liable to be prosecuted according
to law." Verily human nature seems to "be very much the same in
Singapore as in Eochester.
The streets are wide, the shops are trim and orderly, and appa
rently filled to overflowing with their respective wares. What fine
times we shall have loafing about these queer streets, and poking
our nose into everything that is new !
Just now, however, it is pouring rain, so we rattle on through
the Chinese bazaars, across an iron bridge, spanning a sort of inner
harbor for lighters and small boats (Singapore Eiver), and, without
having passed a single European house or shop, we alight at a hotel
just at the foot of Fort-Canning-on-the-hill.
Singapore is certainly the handiest city I ever saw, as well
planned and carefully executed as though built entirely by one
man. It is like a big desk, full of drawers and pigeon-holes, where
everything has its place, and can always be found in it. For in
stance, around the esplanade you find the European hotels and
bad enough they are, too; around Commercial Square, packed
closely together, are all the shipping offices, warehouses, and shops
of the European merchants ; and along Boat Quay are all the ship
chandlers. Near by, you will find a dozen large Chinese medicine
shops, a dozen cloth shops, a dozen tin shops, and similar clusters
of shops kept by blacksmiths, tailors, and carpenters, others for the
sale of fruit, vegetables, grain, " notions," and so on to the end of
the chapter. All the washerwomen congregate on a five-acre lawn
called Dhobi Green, at one side of which runs a stream of water,
and there you will see the white shirts, trowsers, and pajamas of
His Excellency, perhaps, hanging in ignominious proximity to and
on a level with yours. By some means or other, even the Joss
houses, like birds of a feather, have flocked together at one side of
the town. Owing to this peculiar grouping of the different trades,
one can do more business in less time in Singapore than in any
other town in the world.
Architecturally considered, Singapore has little to boast of ex
cept solidity and uniformity. With but few exceptions the build
ings are all Chinese, and perfectly innocent of style. It is a two-
stey town throughout, solidly built of brick, plastered over, and
painted a veiy pale blue or light yellow. There is a remarkable
scarcity of the tumble-down, drunk, and disreputable old buildings
so> essential to iiie integrity of all other large cities. Some of the
Chinese sfoope and dwellings of the rich merchants are quite elab*
SINGAPORE. 295
orately ornamented on the front with fancy tile and brick work,
figures of apocryphal dragons and Chinese lions in high relief,
and surrounded by beautifully kept gardens of tropical plants and
shrubs. All of these impart a tasty and luxuriant air to the
streets. The wealthy Chinamen take very kindly to European lux
uries of all kinds except in matters of dress. They are lavish in
the use of fine furniture, wines, and food, and their turnouts are
really dazzling with their fine open carriages, matched horses, ele
gant harnesses, and liveried servants, though in dress they draw the
line at the white stiff hat of English make. Their dress is cool and
roomy, made of white silk or linen, and they wear no jewelry what
ever.
The population of Singapore (about one hundred thousand) is
a sort of omnium gaiherum from the various over-crowded coun
tries of Southern Asia generally. The Chinese are by far the most
numerous, the most thrifty and enterprising, and the most satisfac
tory to deal with. The Malays come next, and after them the
Tamils from Southern India and Ceylon. The population includes
a goodly sprinkling of Portuguese half-castes, a few Javanese,
a few Siamese, and of Europeans, a mixture of English, Dutch,
Germans, French, Swiss, and last but not least, three Americans,
our consul and his daughters.
Of the social life of Singapore I know nothing ; but from what
I was told, I judge it is not at all different from other British colonies.
There are the usual balls and dinner parties, and the usual number
of grades in society, each of which knows its station to a line and
never ventures beyond it To an American it seems extremely
silly for wholesale merchants and their clerks to hold themselves,
socially, above the retail merchants and their clerks, regardless of
the amount of business they do, and their moral and intellectual
standing. For my part, I have no patience with society's nonsensi
cal standards, in accordance with which a man's business or profes
sion is everything, and he himself is nothing. Thank God for
America, where every man stands on his merits, if he has any.
The hotels of Singapore are all bad, and life in them is exceed
ingly dull The liquor consumed in them, and the drunken men
one sees almost daily, keep the abstemious traveller in a state of
perpetual disgust. The extent to which intoxicating liquors of aH
Muds are drunk in the East Indies is amply appalling. The drink
ing habit is so universal, that, as a general thing, when you go to
call on an acquaintance at Ms house, or to visit a stranger in oon>
296 TWO YEAES I3ST THE JTTKGLE.
pany with other friends, the greeting is, "What mil you have to
drink? 1 * If you say you do not drink, or do not wish anything,
you are urged most urgently to "take something, 3 ' until it becomes
positively disagreeable ; and really the easiest way is to compromise
by taking a glass of their beastly lemonade or abominable soda.
Furthermore, when your new acquaintances, or old ones either, for
that matter, caH upon you at your hotel for half an hour's chat,
you are expected to order drinks for the crowd, until the crowd is
full of whatever it likes best To omit this feature is to give posi
tive offence in some cases, and even at the best to send your visi
tors away saying that you are uncivil and not worthy the acquaint
ance of gentlemen.
Again and again, I have seen men sit down in a hotel and delib
erately drink themselves drunk and helpless. At the old Sea-view
Hotel in Colombo, there is a room down-stairs kept for the exclu
sive use of gentlemen who get too intoxicated to leave the
premises. Some get foolishly drunk at the dinner-table with their
wine ; some drunk and quarrelsome ; some destructively drunk ;
others disgracefully, and many helplessly. It was painful to see
polished and intelligent young men make free exhibitions of
themselves in the public rooms, and become objects of contempt
even to the hotel servants. The curse of the East Indies is
brandyism. "Wrecked livers and stomachs are always charged
to the "beastly climate," but in many, many cases the beastly
bottle is to blame. Of course no one will be so unthinking as
to suppose there are not hosts of good and true men in the East
who draw the line at Bass' pale ale or claret, and who never think
of touching more fiery intoxicants ; there are plenty such, but I
fear they are in the minority.
In due time, I called upon our consul, Major Studer, to pay my
respects, little thinking that in him I would meet a "fellow-citizen "
from my own proud State, Iowa, and be received almost with open
arms. Yes, that was my good fortune, and more than that, I had
the pleasure of an early introduction to the Major's charming
d&aghter, then Mt'as Studer, but now a lass no more, a genuine
Ameriean girl which is the highest praise I can bestow upon a
jo*mg lady. It was a great treat to me all around, and their kind
hejejpftaiity made my stay in Singapore, at the three different times
I us tfaegre, far more endurable and free from social dulness than
-would otherwise have been the case.
I think Major Staler is one of the most efficient consuls with whom
SINGAPORE. 397
I Lave yet become acquainted First, last, and all the time, he is un
compromisingly American, loyal to the backbone, and devoted heart
and soul to the interests of the government he represents. In ad
dition to this he has the stamina which such a position requires,
and does his duty without the slightest fear of what those around
him may say or do. I was not surprised to learn that his official
acts have not always met the approbation of those most affected by
them, for to my mind no consul can do his duty unflinchingly
without making some enemies. From him I learned more of the
political history of the Straits Settlements, and the Malay Archi
pelago, both inside and out, than I could ever have obtained else
where.
It was at the Major's, one evening after my return from Borneo,
that I met two Americans of the kind one is proud to meet abroad,
and pleased to meet at home. Mr. Andrew Carnegie and Mr. Yan-
devorst ("Yandy") had just then reached the "half-way house"
on their pleasure trip around the world, where they stopped for a
few days to see the sights. In spite of his Scotch blood, Mr.
Carnegie is quite an ideal American, with nothing but praise for his
adopted country and all her institutions. More than this, he is what
I should call a model millionaire, whom great gain has not rendered
insatiably greedy for more, and who industriously coins his money
into human happiness instead of reversing the operation, as most
of our wealthy men do.
It increases one's estimate of human nature to meet such a man,
who, in manner, is as cordial and unassuming as one's best friend,
whose human sympathy is his most conspicuous trait, and whose
greatest happiness is found in making others happy. While these
tardy pages have been in course of preparation, Mr. Carnegie has
finished that journey, and made another ; and now the public
knows "him well through the charming pages of " Around the
World," and "An American Four-in-Hand in Britain," both of
them books of the kind which it warms one's blood to read.
The city of Singapore is situated on an island of the same name,
twenty-five miles long by fourteen -broad, which is separated from
the mainland of the Peninsula by a strait from one-half to three-
fourths of a mile wide. The island is covered with low hills, the
highest of which has an elevation of about five hundred feet. Al
though Singapore is only seventy miles north of the equator, the
temperature is by no means so hot as might at first be supposed.
The thermometer seldom rises above eighty-seven degrees in th*
298 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNGLE.
shade, and usually stands at about ten degrees lower than that
There are absolutely no seasons, and nothing to mark the climatic
changes which occur elsewhere. It rains nearly every day, copious
showers of short duration, quite unlike the all-day down-pour of
the monsoons in India. The air is very humid, so that the heat is
far less noticeable than would otherwise be the case. One does
not swelter as in Calcutta or Madras, although a daily bath is as
necessary to comfort as daily bread. Taken altogether, Singapore
is really a delightful resting-place for a traveller, full of interesting
sights, and pleasant walks and drives. The Baffles Library and
Museum, the well-kept Botanic Gardens, the Fort, the markets, the
Joss houses, and various bazaars, are all well worth visiting and
enjoying. The harbor in front of the town often contains some
queer craft, including lumbering Chinese junks and Malay trading
proas of thoroughly antique design.
With the exception of shells, star-fishes, and corals, I found
nothing on the island that I cared either to collect or buy, and
even these were not nearly so abundant as I expected to find them.
The Malays assured me it was not the right time of the year for
them ; but I believed this was only an excuse with them, until I
returned from Borneo in December, when they brought me shells
and coral, star-fishes, and huge Neptune's cups, literally by the boat
load*
Had I been a showman or collector of live animals, I could have
gathered quite a harvest of wild beasts in Singapore, at very small
cost I was offered a fine tiger at $150 ; baby orangs at $20 to $30,
a fine pair of proboscis monkeys at $100 ; a pair of full-grown
tapirs at the same price ; manis and slow lemurs at $2 ; and a rhi
noceros at $250. These were the asking prices, and it is quite
certain that much smaller sums than those named would have pur
chased the animals in question. The greatest bargain I heard of,
was the sale of a full-grown orang-utan (Simia satyrus), four feet
two inches in height, to the Hon. H. A. K Whampoa, for the ridic
ulous sum of $65, or $35 less than the price first asked. My desire
to see this animal led me to pay a visit to the country seat of his
owner, a very wealthy Chinese merchant, quite advanced in years
and i*onors. I went by invitation, and the call was one to be re-
OE one side of a quiet street in the suburbs, there is a wall en
closing a spacious garden. Passing through an open gate, the
posts of wMcI* are very Mgh and ornamented with carved figures
SINGAPORE. 399
of Chinese dragons, we drove through a well-kept garden, sighted
a spacious but unpretentious white house, and drew up before the
massive and finely carved front doors. A gardener, who was trim
ming a shrub close by, took my card and thrust it through the open
carving. Presently the doors opened wide, and I saw Mr. Whampoa
coming slowly from the farther end of the wide hall to meet me.
He was an old man with a low stoop in his shoulders, a large head,
a very thi-n queue of white hair, small twinkling eyes with a very
pleasant expression, perfect manners, and a very kind, unassuming
smile. He speaks English as well as I, and has the honor to be
Chinese Consul, Turkish Vice-consul, member of the Legislative
Council, and the happy possessor of many, many dollars as the re
sult of his labors.
My errand was to see the big orang-utan, but the contents of
that lofty hall quite drove the charming creature out of my mind.
The first thing that caught my eye was a rounded gray stone about
the size of a small coal-scuttle, lying upon the floor as if it were of
small account. I scanned it idly, until my glance rested on a spot
that had been polished, and I saw that it was jade ! Value about
three thousand dollars, a present from the owner of a mine for
whom Mr. Whampoa had once done some business. We passed
through three large, square apartments, which formed a grand
saloon, in which were tables for the reception of rare objects
of virtu, and the walls and niches were quite filled with
" curios." On a table stood a bronze elephant with a pagoda on
his back, three feet high, Japanese work evidently, and exquisitely
done. Near it hung a huge Chinese gong, four feet in diameter,
on which were two dragons inlaid in gold. Above that, hung a
huge almost colossal pair of stag-horns, on the massive brandies
of which were perched stuffed birds of paradise. Bronze storks
stood upon the floor, and elsewhere were numerous dragons in
bronze, elephant tusks, spears, etc. The furniture was all of ebony,
exquisitely carved and lavishly inlaid with mother-of-pearl and ivory.
On the walls and cornices were divers and sundry inscriptions in
Chinese characters, painted very large and very red. I had hard
work to repress the curiosity I felt, and the questions that rose
to my lips at every step ; but I did not wish to tire the feeble oM
gentleman, or make hirn regret my visit, so I held my peace.
Then we went out into the back yard to see the orang. He was
a perfect monster in size, compared with all other orangs I had
seea in captivity, and as savage as a tiger. My presence seemed
300 TWO YEARS IIST THE JUNGLE.
particularly obnoxious to him, for lie scowled and growled at
made faces, and sprang at me against the wooden bars of bis ca/ge
in great rage. Wben I approached him for a nearer view, ^he
thrust Ids big, hairy arm out from between the bars for about fojur
feet, it seemed to me, and made a grab in my direction, with liis
huge, black hand. His canine teeth were very large, almost lie
those of a bear of medium size, and I was very glad he had not #n
opportunity to try them on my flesh. The brute really acted as if
he recognized in me an enemy to his race, and foresaw the slaugh
ter to his kind my visit to Borneo afterward caused. Mr. "Wham-
poa had had him about six months. He was fed with leaves, plan-
tains, and pineapples, and seemed in very good condition, but a few
months later he died ; his skin was stuffed, and is now on exhibi
tion in the Museum,
Besides the orang, I was shown quite a collection of live animals,
including tortoises of three species, argus pheasants, golden and
silver pheasants, a gazelle, porcupine, kangaroo, and some beautiful
mandarin ducks. I regretted to see that the latter so completely
surpass our pretty summer duck (Aix sponsa).
Having viewed the animals, we walked through the gardens,
which have been gotten up regardless of expense, and are kept in
fine order. One of their most notable features is the abundance of
a little shrub, a species of box (Buxus) which has been trained and
trimmed into various animal forms. The leaves are small, stiff, and
very thickly set, and the branches seem willing and able to assume
any form which is desired. It was fashioned into Chinese dragons,
elephants, tigers, pigs, rhinoceroses, and even deer with antlers.
Every ftTnitml was perfectly recognizable at a glance, and the effect
was heightened by the addition of large wooden eyes painted some
what like life. Some of the animals were four or five feet high,
while a representation of a Chinese junk, of which there were sev
eral, was quite eight feet in length, and very carefully reproduced.
There were flowers after flowers, and shrubs by the score, but
what pleased me most was a tank containing an old Demerara
feimd, the Victoria regia, queen of lilies. Yet a bed of touch-me-
Bote took me back like a flash to the terrace flower-beds at college,
sad further still, to my mother's mounds at our old home, so very,
ray kmg aga Ah, me ! The Victoria regia was eclipsed.
CHAPTER XXVI.
ON THE SELANOORE SEA-COAST.
Malacca.- Selangore. Klang River and Town. A Kindred Spirit -Visit to
Jerom on the Sea- coast to Collect Bamboo Creek. A Filthy Chinese
Village. A Foul Stream. Crocodiles. Catching a Twelve-foot Crocodile
with Hook and Line. The " Alir." A Harvest of Saurians again. Croco
diles in the Sea. Birds. Shrimp-eating Monkeys. An Iguana, The
Slowest Race on Record. Remarkable Fishes. Catching PenoptTialmi.
An Adventure in Mud. Various Vertebrates. Centipedes and their
Doings. Doctoring a Ray-stung Fisherman. Malay Character, Return
to Klang.
A WEEK after landing in Singapore, I set off up the coast toward
Malacca, in searcli of good collecting ground. I took "with me an
intelligent young Portuguese half-caste as assistant and interpreter,
my regular jungle outfit, and all the information I could procure
regarding that region. Messrs. Katz Brothers, merchants in Sin
gapore, had advised me to visit the newly opened Territory of
Selangore, above Malacca, and supplied me with a letter of intro
duction to Tunku Dia Udin, a Malay noble, living at Klang, the
capital, in case I should decide to go there.
Malacca is about ninety miles up the coast from Singapore. It
takes four dollars and fourteen hours by steamer to get you there,
and after you have reached it you find only a dull and uninterest
ing, but prettily shaded town, A few hours spent in industrious
inquiry convinced me that Malacca was not the place for me, and
without a moment's unnecessary delay I changed my programme en
tirely. The little steamer Telegraph was already getting up steam
to go to Selangore and I hastened aboard. In the "person of the
chief engineer, Mr. J. M. Hood, a Scotchman, of course, I met a
"jolly good fellow," who, from first to last> did everything in his
power to make my trip to Selangore agreeable. But for his
thoughtful kindness from time to time, I would not hare fared
nearly so well as I did. He was another of those good leBows
one meets in knocking about the world, who are so free with tiheir
302 TWO TEAKS IK THE JUNGLE.
favors that it is hopelessly impossible for any but the wealthy
traTeller to fully requite them.
"We left Malacca at 5 P.M. ; and at daybreak the next morning,
were in a narrow strait which separates a chain of islands from the
mainland of the Malay Peninsula. I thought at first we were in a
river ; but after steaming smoothly along for a few miles we made
a turn toward the mainland, passed a stockade and a white house
on a point, showed our colors, and entered the mouth of the River
Hang, two hundred miles from Singapore.
Although this is the largest river in Selangore, it is only a hun
dred and fifty yards wide at the mouth. The water is brown and
thick with mud, and looks bilious. The banks are low and swampy,
and covered with mangroves and nipa palms growing in the soft
mud. Twelve miles from the mouth, the ground suddenly rises
high and dry, and we come to Klang, the capital*
On a stretch of level ground about as large as a race course,
<m the left b&nk, are about fifty gray houses covered by roofs of
we&ther-beaten thatch. This is the town. Near the rather inse
cure wharf stands a good-sized modern building of masonry, painted
white, which we know, instinctively, is the public building of the
place, the court-house, treasury, post-office, and the like. Near
iibe river bank, just below the town, we see a smoothly shaven Mil,
iifoe top of which is encircled with a grassy earthwork and shallow
moat, minus water. There is a dusky sentry at the gate and two
others on the embankment, so that must be the fort A short dis
tance back of the fort, at the top of a higher hill, stands a spa-
dons and comfortable modern residence overlooking the town and
fort, as if to keep a watchful eye over all This is the British
Eeeidency, and it does not belie its looks.
I went ashore with Mr. Hood and up to the fort, where he in
troduced me to Mr. H. G, Syers, Superintendent of the police and
military force of the Territory, who forthwith gave me a cordial in
vitation to "put up" with him at his quarters in the fort Find
ing feere was neither hotel nor boarding house in the town I ac-
oepted the ofer with a sneaking sense of thankfulness that I was
ira% obliged to do so, for I hate hotel life.
Mir, Byexs and I became friends directly, for I greatly admired
W& teeglii of character and he was not averse to the companion-
i&ip' of one interested in shooting quite as much as himself.
* & ae*t of government is now a* Quallah Lumpor.
OK THE SELAtfGOKE SEA-COAST. 303
He was a character fit to do duty as tlie hero of a vigorous
romance, and I found great interest in drawing him out. He was
a young Englishman from London, only a little older than I, frank,
big-hearted, fearless as a lion-tamer, and tenacious as a bull-dog.
He had been a soldier in the British army, but purchased his dis
charge in order to enter upon a wider field of usefulness in his
present position. No officer could be better fitted by nature to fill
a position than he to fill his. He has built up out of very suspi
cious materials, and solely by his own efforts, the present military
force of Selangore, which is now well-armed and equipped, and
well-drilled, and his grip upon the law-breaking element is so firm,
so severe, and so certain, that outbreaks are now extremely im
probable. The vigilance with which murderers are hunted down
and executed, has rendered crime of that sort very rare.
From Klang I made one short shooting trip up the river, an
other down it, and another into the hilly jungle back of the town,
all of which were rather barren of results, I thought, and convinced
me that I must look elsewhere for good collecting ground. Mr.
Syers and I planned a trip into the interior after large game ; but
just then, the Resident, Captain Douglas, was in Singapore and
the execution of the plan had to be deferred till his return. Act
ing on the information and advice of Mr. Syers, I packed up and
hired a Malay boat and crew to take me down the river, and thence
up the coast, about fifteen miles, to a little Malay hamlet called
Jerom.
We started from Elang with the ebb tide, about two o'clock in
the afternoon, passed out at the mouth of the river just at sunset,
and, hoisting our sail, to catch the gentle breeze, bore away up the
coast "We were soon clear of islands and on the open sea. It was
a beautiful moonlight night, of the kind made especially for boat
ing, and I think even the stolid Malays enjoyed it
We reached Jerom at one o'clock, and all the Malays went
ashore while I slept in the boat until morning. I went to sleep
with the water patting the side of the boat and tumbling in tiny
breakers on the shore in front of the house, but when I awoke in the
morning all was still and silent as the grave. The boat lay helpless
upon the sand, and the sea had quietly stolen away from the shore,
leaving between itself and us a barren bank of mud and sand more
than half a mile wide. No wonder it was stilL It was well for us
we made the shore during the high tide, for otherwise -we won3kf
have been compelled to wait several hours.
304 TWO YEABS IK. THE JUNGLE.
The only house in the hamlet which could afford me sheltei
was that of Datu Pudeh, the Malay headman of the place, and hav
ing been confided to his care by Mr. Syers, he took me in, and gave
me a corner of his front room, in which I hung up my hammock
and musquteero without further ceremony. When the tide was in,
the house stood almost at the water's edge, rather low upon its
posts, with slatted floor, and roof of thatch which had in it several
toles large enough to have thrown a dog through. I suppose that,
like the man of Arkansaw, when it rained they couldn't fix the roof,
and when it did not rain they didn't need to. We had no sooner
moved in with our belongings than it began to blow and rain very
hard. The bamboo curtains outside were let down over the win
dows, and the place made as snug as possible, but the wretched old
roof leaked like a shower-bath.
A mile above Jerom, a muddy little creek, called Sungei Bulu,
runs into the sea between two wide banks of soft mud which are
submerged at high tide, and left four feet out of water when the
tide is out A little way up from the mouth is a village of Chinese
fishermen who are engaged in catching prawns and making them
tip into a stinking paste called blachang. Every house in the vil
lage is tumble-down, rickety and dirty beyond description, and the
village smells even worse than it looks. The Chinamen live more
like hogs than human, beings ; and, for my part, I would rather
take up quarters in a respectable pig-sty than in such houses as
those are.
At high tide there is no ground visible along the banks of the
creek, but, when the ebbing tide empties the murky little stream,
iihe channel flows between sloping banks of soft, slimy, gray mud.
I never before encountered mud having such a nasty, putrid smell
as that emitted when exposed It smelled like sulphuretted hydro
gen, and was, at times, almost overpowering. If I were making up
a hell out of the most disagreeable elements on earth, I would put
in it the Sungei Bulu at low tide, as being the most dismal, wholly
repulsive and sense-offending stream on the eartL Its water is a
Mnd of mud gruel, seasoned with salt, dead leaves, and rotten wood
finely pulverized. One would think that even the meanest living
would find life unendurable in such a place ; but never
the creek is swarming with salt water crocodiles (Ooco-
jwostts), al of which deserve to be shot for living in such a
vile place.
Aitow ttle iiiey crawl out and Ee among the mangroves, wal-
OST THE SELAHGORE SEA-COAST. 305
lowing in the soft, hot mud until the water rises again. I got sev
eral specimens by floating quietly down the stream and shooting
them before they were aware of our proximity. The largest ones
however, were too smart to be taken in that way, and having be
come convinced of this fact by the failure of several attempts to
shoot a well-known individual of large size, I determined to go
a-fishing for him.
Acting under the advice of a Chinese fisherman who seemed to
know how to catch crocodiles with a hook and line, we got a rattan
about forty feet long for a line, and a dry cocoanut to tie at one end
as a float. The Chinaman then proceeded to make an " alir," such
as the Malays use in Sarawak, by whittling an inch piece of tough
green wood ten inches long into a shape something like a crescent,
sharp at both ends and with a groove running round the stick at
the middle, which was the thickest part, where the line was to be
attached.
Some soft but very tough green bark was then procured from
the jungle, and braided into a line six feet long, which was at one
end fastened firmly round the middle of the alir, and at the other
to the long rattan rope. This bark line was supposed to be so
soft and tough no crocodile could bite it in two. The bait used
was the body of a sting ray caught by one of the fishermen, which
Svas lashed securely to the alir, one end of which was then bent up
jlose to the bark line and tied to it with a bit of string that could
be broken by a slight pull The intention was that the alir should
be swallowed point foremost, and when we pulled on the line the
upper point would catch in the side of the stomach, break the
\tring and instantly bring the alir crosswise in the crocodile's
iiterior.
The crocodile we wanted to catch was well known by his re-
jated appearance at the village, within stone's throw of the houses,
$d he was described as being a perfect monster, with a throat large
^ough to swallow a large-sized man instantly. The villagers man-
l^ted great interest in our effort, and helped us in every possible
wf-
took our tackle just far enough above the village to be out
for we wanted our victim to have so good an opportunity
tlifc he would not feel bashful Following the custom of the
Mlays we found an overhanging branch, quite low down, over the
eid of which we threw our line so that the bait hung within sis
itches of the water at high tide, and so adjusted that a very sigh!
20
306 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUHG-LE.
pull would bring it down. The rattan line we threw into the
stream with the cocoanut "buoy at the end, and quietly retired to
the -village to await developments.
At the close of the day the bait still hung there undisturbed,
and I walked home to Jerom hoping for better luck on the morrow.
The next morning we were there soon after sunrise, and the China-
man joyfully informed us the bait was gone. We got into a small
Malay sampan and paddled up the creek at once to investigate.
We found the cocoanut moving slowly through the water against
the current and upon laying hold of the line we felt there was big
game at the other end. We gave a vigorous pull, and the next in
stant were almost capsized in mid-stream by a pull we got in re-
tern. We then passed the line over the stern of the canoe and
while I held it, the rest began to paddle down stream toward the
village where we proposed to land our catch.
Then he showed himself. He rose to the surface apparently to
sea what was the matter, and, after giving a good look at us, started
forward and began to turn as if about to go up stream. Before he
had temed half round he fetched up with a violent jerk which
nrasfc have given one point of the aHr a vicious dig into the side of
his stomach ; for he began to plunge and thrash around with great
violence, sending the water circling around him in huge waves.
There was also considerable excitement at our end of the line, fo.^r
the sampan was small, light, very tipsy, and contained three meai 1 -,
of good weight. Chinaman, Malay, and Anglo-Saxon, each shouteot
at the other two in his own language. Had we been capsized if."
scarcely know which would have disgusted me most, the ducking';
in that dirty creek, full of crocodiles, or the loss of my rifle. Afs
soon as we could I tied the weapon fast to the boat so that in tble
event of a mishap I would not lose it, f
After this struggle the crocodile seemed to give up the figftt,
for he allowed himself to be towed down to the village without
further resistance. But as we neared the landing place where -JW
inteiiclec! to haul him out, he made a final and still more vigorous
to get free. He snapped his jaws angrily together ix
to cut the line, but it was no use, so shutting them
like a he plunged first to one side and then the other,
and legs, diving deeply one moment and
Ms ugly far out of water the next
to our assistance at this point and
tiid shoreward by mnm force. The mem landv
P
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w
a
I
PS
o
D
1
OK THE SELA3TOOKE SEA-COAST. 307
and dragged friTn close up to the shore without further resistance
on his part, whereupon I fired a bullet into his neck from the side
which cut his spinal marrow so neatly that the vertebra was but
very slightly injured. He was the very crocodile we wanted, and
his death occasioned no sorrow. He measured exactly twelve feet
in length, and his weight was four hundred and fifteen pounds.
He was so old, so dingy, dirty, and ugly every way that I concluded
to take his skeleton instead of his skin, and spent a day in rough
ing it out neatly.
Encouraged by this venture, and a satisfactory offer of hard
cash, my Chinaman caught for me (on his own hook) two other fine
crocodiles, one being eleven feet in length and the other nine, both
of which were skinned. I got altogether ten crocodiles out of the
Sangei Bulu, which yielded four skins, four skeletons, and one
skull
I was greatly surprised one morning at seeing two crocodiles
swimming out in the open sea, directly opposite Jerom, fully a mile
from the shore, and three miles from the mouth of the Sungei
Bulu. It was a calm, clear day, and I watched them for half an
hour with the glass as they floated at the surface of the water, or
swam slowly about with their entire length visible the most of the
time. One was very large, probably twelve feet in length, and the
other was apparently eight feet long. At length they disappeared
and we saw them no more. It is not unusual for crocodiles to live
in salt water, but I never before saw one out in the open sea.
The mud flats at the mouth of the Sungei Bulu were excellent
collecting ground, both when under water and out Water birds
were really numerous when the conditions were favorable for theii
appearance. Some came to fish in the shallow water and others to
pick up a living on the flats when the tide was oui I saw several
pelicans (Pelecanus rufescens ?) perching on some dead trees near
the shore, small white egrets (Herodias garzetta) and a solitary booby
(Sula piscator). On a little islet of igneous rock opposite Jerom I
saw stone plovers (Esacus recurvirostris), two species of tern (Sterna
ca&pia? and Sternula minutaf), two of ibis, snipes, sand pipers, etc,
At low tide many small shrimps were left stranded on the mud, and
I often saw troops of small gray monkeys, called krahs (Macacus
cynomolgus), wading about in the mud among the mangroves,
picking them up. At such times it was easy to shoot them, but
difficult to get them afterward.
Once we discovered a fine, large kabra goya or iguana (Hydro*
308 TWO YEABS IK THE JUNGLE.
salvator\ wading about on the mud banks, also looking for
food. At my solicitation my young man Francis at once jumped
out into the mud and gave chase. He sank almost to his knees at
every step, and the race was certainly the slowest on record. The
official time was one hundred yards in twenty minutes ; but the
kabra goya got beaten, although usually a swift runner ; the soft
mud so impeded its progress that it was finally overhauled and
killed with a stick Its length was just sis feet. We often found
small crocodiles lying hidden in the little gullies which the reced
ing water cuts in the mud banks, and shot several as they came
charging out toward the deep water.
The most interesting animals we found on the mud flats were some
fishes whose actions were really remarkable. Although apparently
stranded there, they seemed to feel perfectly at home, and went
jumping round over the mud in every direction with the greatest
indifference to their sudden change of element. In reality they
were feeding upon the tiny crustaceans left on the bank by the re
ceding tide. They were very lively considering the nature of their
play-ground, and when I tried to beguile my Malay boatmen into
catching some specimens for me, they declared it would be impos
sible to catch them on account of the deep mud, and the swiftness
of the fish. Neither was my young man Francis to be tempted
into such a muddy enterprise, and as I make it a rule never to ask
a servant or assistant to do anything I would not be willing to do
myself, I saw that I would have to lead the attack in person,
The Malays were thunderstruck when I pulled off my shoes and
told them to put me ashore. Seeing that I was really going,
Francis, like a good boy, did not hesitate to follow, and we stepped
(mi of the sampan into mud and water hip deep.
We will never know the actual depth of the mud on that bank,
bat we sank into it to our knees at every step, and were fortunate
enough to stop sinking at that point. What a circus it must have
bean for those who looked on ! But, in for a penny in for a pound,
aa<3 bidding Francis choose the largest fish when possible, we went
for them. There were probably a dozen in sight, hopping spaa
ffiocicaDy about, or lying at rest on the mud, but when we selected
fbei&eareefc large specimens and made for them, they developed sur-
eeergy and speed, and made straight for their burrowa
by a series of short but rapidly repeated jumps^
by bending the hinder third of the body sharply
L to the left> then straightening it very suddenly, and at th
T
I
p=!
S5
i i
ID
hs
H
OK THE SELAITGOBE SEA-COAST. 300
same instant lifting the front half of the body clear of the ground
by means of the armlike pectoral fins which act like the front flip
pers of a sea lion. These fins are almost like arms in their struct
ure and use, the bones being of great length, and thus giving the
member great freedom of movement Owing to the soft and yield
ing nature of the mud the leaps were short, about six inches
being the distance gained each time, but they were so rapid, the
mud so very deep and our progress so slow, the fish always suc
ceeded in getting into their holes before we could reach them.
Their burrows were simply mud-holes, going straight down to a
depth of three to four feet, large enough in diameter to admit a
man's arm easily, and, of course, full of water. Although the mud
was soft it was not sticky, and we were able to use our hands for
spades very effectually. By digging a big hole two feet deep, and
standing on one's head in the bottom of it, we were able to reach an
, arm down two feet farther and seize our fish at the bottom of the
burrow. Lucky it was for us that they had no sharp and poisonous
spines, like the mud-laff which stung me in Singapore and para
lyzed my right hand for some hours.
My first fish was hard to get and hard to hold, but, in the im
mortal words of " The Shaugbraun," " begorra, 'twas worth it."
The species is known scientifically as Periophthalmus schlosserii,
(Pallas, BL Schn.) a member of the family Gobiidce, whose expanded
ventral fins serve as a foot, the lengthened pectorals as organs of
locomotion, while the small gill opening allows the retention of suf
ficient moisture to sustain the fish for a considerable period on land.
Adult specimens are nine inches long, of a uniform slaty color.
As I remarked before, our living specimens were hard to hold*
When I was trying to pass a string through the gills of my first
fish, he struggled out of my grasp, and the moment he touched fee
mud started at his best speed for the water twenty yards distant.
I was horrified at the thought of his getting away, and instantly
falling upon my hands and knees I pursued "him frantically " on all
fours." It must have been a sight fit for the gods, for even my
stolid and ever respectful Malays actually shouted with laughter to
see the tuan go over the mud like a " buaya " (crocodile). My
change of base was successful, however, for I was able to go over
the mud instead of through it, and I overhauled my fish in fine
style. A few minutes later I saw Francis execute the same brilliant
manoeuvre for the same cause, and it certainly was a most laugh*
able spectacle.
310 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
We got seven fine specimens altogether, one of which is figured
herewith, and of all the muddy human beings you ever saw but I
will draw the veil
We were fated to have another adventure in mud which was not
down in the programme. We left the mouth of the Sungei Bulu
very late one evening with the tide at the ebb, and did not arrive
opposite Jerom until after sunset. To my horror, our boat grounded
in the mud three-fourths of a mile from shore, and stuck fast, leav
ing us to choose between staying in the boat, with the mosquitoes
biting vigorously, for five hours, until the tide came in, or wading
ashore through that sea of mud. Of course we chose the latter.
It is easy to imagine mud knee deep ; but it is a different thing to
go through it, when one actually sinks to the knee at every step.
We had a quarter of a mile of that, floundering along, slowly and
painfully, the dim lights on shore seeming farther away every time
we looked. At last we emerged from this slough of despond upon
firm ground of shells and sand, and the last half of the distance was
quickly accomplished ; but we were never caught in that way again.
But lor a clean sandy shore line, Jerom would be intolerable,
e for it is entirely surrounded by mud. No prospect could be more
dreary than the vast mud-flat left bare all along the shore at low tide.
But even the sandy shore is being rapidly eaten away by the sea.
The beach is thickly strewn with the trunks of cocoanut trees which
have been undermined and overthrown by the waves, and many
more are doomed. Back from the beach, for an unknown number
of miles, extends a swampy wilderness inhabited at present only by
wild beasts. Mr. Syers once penetrated it a short distance, with a
Rench count as a companion, in search of wild cattle (Bos sandal
ens). After proceeding a little over a mile, the Gallic sportsman
made his attendants construct a litter and carry him back ta
Jerom. Mr. Syers proceeded, but found no game, and returned in
disgust Along the banks of the Sungei Bulu I saw where the
1% h grass had been trampled down quite recently by wild ele-
iB specimens of Macaous cynomdgu^ the only other
*5ecies I obtained at Jerom was an otter (Lutra leptonyx),
in by a Chinaman, who killed it with his parong.
mm & dosaaa small box-turtles (Ouora Ambainerms) were brought
'& a* aad one kr^e tortoise (Emys trijuga], which was caught
f$r Jworou Th& Sstennen catch and eat a good many spiny-
m^mAmjB (JJr&gymmm asypemmus) of large size, the dry backs of
ON THE SELAKGORE SEA-COAST. 311
which lay all about Jerom. One was caught during my stay there,
but the stupid Chinaman ruined it as a specimen by cutting off the
skin of the back, which he brought to me instead of the whole fish
I had called for. It was a very large specimen, measuring 2 feet 9
inches across the back, and I exceedingly regretted its destruction.
A collector of insects could have made quite a collection in the
house which (partially) sheltered us. On putting on my clothes
one morning, I found a fine healthy centipede in my trousers-
pocket, along with my knife and keys, I took this warning rather
carelessly, and paid for it the very next day by putting on my shirt
with a four-inch centipede in the shoulder. Feeling something
crawling vigorously on my flesh, I reached up and made a grab for
it, but unfortunately seized it in such a way that the head was left
free, and it instantly bit me. Before I could catch its head it bit
again, but it never bit any more. "When Francis had helped me
out of my shirt, and I loosened my grip on the insect, it looked as if
it had been through a clothes wringer. After all, its bite was not
so terrible as I had been taught to expect. The sensation was
yfrmlftr to what I would have felt had three or four hot needles
been thrust into my shoulder a quarter of an inch or so. I bathed
the bite directly with tincture of arnica, my favorite remedy for all
such ills, and, after several applications, the pain ceased entirely at
the end of about two hours.
Just before I left Jerom one of the Malay fishermen living there
was badly hurt by a sting-ray. While reaching down in the water
to pull up one of his fishing stakes, he disturbed a large ray, who
instantly struck at him and drove the ragged, bony spine on Ms
tail completely through the poor fellow's hand, making a dread
fully ragged and painful wound. Datu Pudeh came for me to
doctor him, saying that he was about to die. Catching up my
little tin box of medicines I went to the injured man, sad found
hi lying limp and helpless in tihe arms of his friends, surrounded
by a sympathizing crowd, not one of whom knew what to do for
"hi. "Will he die, tuan?" was the universal question. "Cer
tainly not," I replied, with assurance that would have astonished an
Abernethy, I dare say. I dreaded lock-jaw, but he had no symp
toms of it then. Calling for cold water I kept a stream running
on the man's hand for fifteen minutes, and then steadily bathed the
wound with arnica for half an how. After that I saturated
cotton with the same divine stu^ and bound it upon the wound,
with the repeated assurance to the patient that he would not die.
313 TWO YEARS ITX THE JUHGLE.
The next day, while I was busy packing up to leave, in walked
my patient, so briskly as to take me by surprise, to express his
gratitude. He certainly did recover much quicker than I expected.
Datu Pudeh begged me to give him some of that wonderful " obat "
(medicine) ; and, having used up my supply, I earned his gratitude
by sending him some from Klang on my return.
At Jerom I had a very good opportunity to study Malay
character, in one phase at least. I had to respect them for their
sobriety, their quiet, dignified manner under all circumstances,
their entire disinclination to loud-mouthed brawling, and their
freedom from all symptoms of the offensive and impertinent curi
osity so characteristic of the higher races of men. I was con
strained to regret their characteristic indolence, and lack of enter
prise, for this national failing, and this alone, has kept the Malays
from holding all Malasia securely in their grasp. Procrastination
is the evil genius of the Malay, and the exasperation of whoever
looks to him for help in time of need.
The people of Jerom treated me well from first to last, but their
ways were too slow for me. Somehow they seemed never ready to
start, and delay was ever the order of the day. Being totally un
used to their deliberate ways, I lost my temper more than once
when depending upon them as boatmen and guides. Even when
we were ready to return to Klang, and the boat and crew en
gaged well in advance, neither were ready on the day appointed, nor
had a move been made except by ourselves. At last, when we got
the boat all ready to load, the Datu declared it had no sail, and we
must wait a day, or until one could be procured. After we had
given up in despair, the Datu bestirred himself and enabled us to
get off with a loss of only two days. And what are two days to a
Malay!
Before leaving I gave the Datu's wife a very nice figured sarong,
wMch pleased her mightily, and called forth from her most earnest
apologies for their inability to entertain me in better style during
my stay. She insisted on cooking a hot dinner for me just before
we were to start, to which I finally consented, to please both the
lady and myself. There was presently forthcoming a very nice and
MgWy palatable meal of fried bananas, preserves of nutmeg and
fpSa&fp-aimie, and a dry short-cake to eat with butter and sugar,
msad& lyj fee Data's mother-in-law. In one sense it was not much.
toH, font in another it was a feast, for it was the very best tho
OK THE SELA3TOORB SEA-COAST. 313
The mother-in-law and daughter had often peeped through the
erack of the door at me, but never had shown themselves until I
sent in to the old lady a knife, fork, and spoon as a present, instead
of the spoon she had craved as a curiosity ; whereupon she forth
with donned her best sarong and jacket, and came into the room
where I was, to thank me for her presents and her daughter's.
(Nothing makes a man feel meaner than to give a poor present and
see it appreciated far beyond its worth.) But her daughter's face I
never saw.
We got off about an hour after dark, spread our huge matting
sail, and glided slowly along the shora Francis spread a bed for
us under an extemporized roof, and we slept well. In the middle
of the night I was rudely awakened from a dream of bison-hunting
by my bedfellow, who sprang to his feet, clawing violently at the
back of his neck, and "uttering strange oaths 3 ' as well as familiar
swear words. He had been bitten by " an awful big centipede, 3 * and
advised me, for my own safety, to get up quickly. Being a firm be
liever in the truth of the saying that " lightning never strikes twice
in the same place," I lay still and went to sleep. At noon of the
next day we reached Klang again.
CHAPTER XXYH.
HUNTING IN THE INTERIOR OF SELANGORE.
to tlie Interior. Road to Kwala Lumpor. The Town. "Th Cap
tain Cheena." A Bonanza in Champagne. Sungei Batu. A Foolish
Feat. Our Hoase. Feasting on Durians. A Jacoon House and Fanv
ily. Resemblance to the Dyaks. An Impromptu Elephant Hunt. At
tack in a Swamp. Death of a Young Tusker. Plague of Flies. Another
Elephant Hunt. A Close Shave and a Ludicrous Performance. Discov
ery and Exploration of Three Fine Caves, Cathedral Cave. Mammals.
Visit to a Tin Mine. Chinese terms Malays. Political Condition of
Selangore. Statistics. Snakes. Good-hy to Klang. Mr. Robert Camp
bell, my Good Genius.
Os? again reading Klang I found there Captain Douglas, the Brit
ish Resident, who, much to my advantage, was kind enough to
interest himself in the object of my visit. Through his co-opera
tion Mr. Syers obtained fourteen days' leave of absence for the trip
we had planned to take into the interior, and, on the evening
of June 27th, we started up the river in Mr. Syers' boat. Four
Malays pulled the boat, while we lay down and slept comfortably
until we reached Damehsara, eighteen miles up, where we tied up
till morning. From the Police Station at that point a good car
riage road leads east seventeen miles to Kwala Lumpor, the largest
town in the territory, in the centre of the mining district.
After our cup of coffee at the police station, I hastily skinned a
Mamcus nemestrinus (broque monkey), which I bought alive of one
of the policemen, and then we started for the other end of the
road, Mr. Syers had his two ponies in readiness, and we rode
, leaving our luggage to follow on a cart.
The road lay through very dense, high forest, composed of
and very lofty trees (among which the camphor was often
), growing very thickly together, while the ground under-
was choked with an undergrowth of thorny palms, rattans
brash so thick it seemed that nothing larger than a cat
ocxald g| Haroragli it. Nowhere was there the smallest opening in
HUHTI3STG IK THE INTERIOR OF SELAKGORE. 315
this dark and damp mass of vegetation, and it made me shudder to
think of attempting to go through it Surely, I thought, we will
not attempt to hunt in such forest as that.
Six miles from the river, we came to another police station,
Kooboo Ladah, where we halted to wait for the baggage to come
up. Two miles farther on we reached the end of the road,* where
we found a gang of government coolies waiting to carry our lug
gage the remainder of the distance. Without these men, whose
services were thoughtfully supplied by Captain Douglas, we should
have been obliged to pay a ruinously exorbitant price for coolie
hire, almost as much as our baggage was worth.
For the remainder of the way, we had only a very rough bridle
path through hilly jungle and across many muddy little streams.
At the twelfth mile we passed the Sungei Batu police station, very
prettily situated in a highly romantic spot
After passing two or three clearings, we reached the top of a
long, steep hill, and, at its foot, Kwala Lumpor lay before us, on
the opposite bank of the river KLang, here reduced in size to a
narrow but deep creek A sampan came across to ferry us over,
while our ponies swam beside it, and at 5 P.M. we were at our rest
ing place for the night.
All along the river bank, the houses of the Malays stand in a
solid row on piles ten feet high, directly over the swift and muddy
current. The houses elsewhere throughout the town are walled
with mud, and very steeply roofed with attaps (shingles made of
nipa-palm leaves), so that a view of the town from any side dis
closes very little except high, brown roofs slanting steeply up. In
the centre of the town is a large market where fruits, vegetables,
meats and various abominations of Chinese cookery are sold. The
vegetables are sweet potatoes, yams of various kinds, beans, melons,
cucumbers, radishes, Chinese cabbage, onions, egg-plant and
"lady's fingers." The fruits were the dorian, mangosteen, pine
apple, banana, and plantain, oranges (of foreign growth), limes,
" papayah," and other small kinds not known by English names.
In the centre of the market-place are a lot of gambling-tables,
which, a little later in the evening, were crowded with Chinamen
earnestly engaged in the noble pastime of "fighting the tiger."
The principal streets are lined with Chinese shops, and are uni
formly dean and tidily kept. The streets inhabited by the Malays
* This road was completed soon after to Kwala Ltimpor.
316 TWO YEABS IN THE JUNGLE.
can be recognized at sight by the accumulation of dirt and
odorous rubbish, and the dilapidated appearance of the houses.
We went straight to the house of the Captain China (pro
nounced Cheena), the man of importance in the district, who is
governor of the Chinese in every sense of the word. Has title is
Sri Indra Purkasah Wi Jayah Bucktie (" Fair-fighting Chief and
Hero **), and his name, Yap Ah Loy, commonly called by Europeans
the Captain China. In return for his services to the district in
opening new roads and preserving good order, with his own police
force, the government allows him a royalty of $1 on every bhara
(which equals three piculs, or four hundred pounds) of tin ex
ported, and from this source, and also from his eleven tin mines, he
is said to be the wealthiest man in the territory. He has in his
employ sixteen hundred and twenty-seven men, and entertains at
his house, in true European style, every white man who visits Kwala
Lumpor. Unfortunately he was absent at that time, but his peo
ple received us quite as if he had been there, and made us comfort
able with a fine dinner, an abundance of excellent champagne and
good beds.
The next morning, while in the largest Chinese store in the
place* buying provisions for our stay in the jungle, we struck a
bonanza. We found Mumm's champagne for sale at sixty cents a
quart, and India pale ale at fifteen cents per pint ! How they ever
managed to sell either at such ridiculously low prices we could not
ttndetrsiand, and, to ease our consciences before victimizing the
dealer, we told him he must have made a mistake in marking hi&
goods. No, that was the price, and we could have all we wanted.
B would have been flying in the face of a kind Providence to hav^
neglected such an opportunity as comes but once in a lifetime.
"Engaging the strongest coolie we could find we loaded hi with
champagne (at sixty cents per quart !}, and marched him ahead of
us into the jungle. It was the proudest moment of my life. I
may never strike oil, or gold-bearing quartz, or draw a prize in the
I&oisiaBa, lottery ; but I have struck Jules Mumm's best at sixty
eets a quart My only regret is that I did not fill a tub and take
a tttfii in it> for champagne is the only artificial drink I really like-
Having slept and breakfasted at Kwala Lumpor, we saddled our
posies, sal prepared to move on six miles farther to Batu. Not
ifiitisg enough gDvarmnent coolies, we had to hire two Chinamen,
who charged us $&.0 for carrying a mxty-pound box six milea
W WBei $be river again, rode along a bridle-path through
HUNTING IN THE INTERIOR OF SELANGORE. 317
some dense jungle and one or two clearings, and presently reached
Batu, on the Klang River, our journey's end. And right there
we did the most foolish thing we could possibly have done, for
attempting which we both deserved to have our necks broken.
There is a narrow foot-bridge across the river, a single line of
planks a foot wide, supported on posts about eight feet high over
the bed of the river, and without any railings whatever. Mr. Syers
asked if we should ride our ponies over the bridge instead of ford
ing, and I told him to do as he liked, and I would follow. Fool that
he was, he started to ride across the bridge, "just for a lark," and,
fool that I was, I followed. The least nervousness, or a mis-step
on the part of either pony, would have thrown us all over pell-mell,
and, considering everything, it is a wonder we got safely over. Not
satisfied with this, and to tempt fate still farther, we presently re-
crossed in the same way. The next day we were amazed at our
folly, and ascribed our safety to the Providence which watches over
fools and drunken men.
At Batu there are four Malay houses and two Chinese. The
headman was absent in Klang, but his wife proved herself a woman
capable of meeting an emergency, and forthwith had one of the
Malay families vacate their residence, which stood a good distance
away from the others in a very pretty grove of durian trees on the
high bank of the river. The family moved out, bag and baggage,
in twenty minutes, and we moved in with quite as much furniture
and general luggage as the dispossessed. The floor was of bamboo
slats, tied down to the sleepers, an inch apart, and raised on posts
five feet above the ground. The walls were of bark, and the roof
of attap. The principal room, in which Mr. Syers and I hung
our hammocks, was cool and comfortable, but rather dark from lack
of windows. In the other room were quartered our companions,
consisting of two Malay policemen, one of them a smart, active
young fellow named Yahop a keen sportsman withal ; my boy
Francis, Syers' Chinese boy, Cat's Face, cook and servant, and also
his Malay horse-keeper, a good servant at all times. The ponies
were stabled very comfortably underneath the house.
The jungle all around Batu, although swampy in places, was so
open that one could go through it on foot with tolerable ease.
Here and there were patches of low and thin forest, broken occa
sionally with fine grassy glades, such as large animals love to visit
for a sight of the sun and sky. But we soon found that beyond
this fine ground lay a wide tract of swampy forest, very difficult
J18 TWO TEARS IK THE JUNGLE.
ko traverse, and very bad ground on which to attack dangerous
game.
The day of our arrival we did nothing ; but set out bright and
early the following morning with a Malay guide who knew the
locality well We went to look the ground over, and if possible
find wild cattle,
For an hour, our guide led us along a muddy path, through
very thick jungle, and finally we halted at a place where there
were a number of durian trees, and a party of Malays gathering
the ripe fruit as fast as it fell. Being an animal of largely frugiv-
orous habits, I have marked that day with a white stone as being
tiie one on which I ate my first durian.
It is said that most Europeans have to learn to like this cele
brated fruit. Ye gods! Learn to sip nectar from a blushing
maiden's lipe, if you must, but if you are fond of fruit at all, you
wil not need to be taught to eat what is at once the most delicate
in substance, and delicious and aromatic in flavor, of all the many
good fruits of the tropics.
Tbis remarkable fruit (Durio zibethinus) grows upon a tall
foiresl tree, sixty to eighty feet in height, having a smooth, naked
famk, and otherwise a general resemblance to our hickory. The
fruit is very much the same in size and shape as a pineapple, but
the entire outside is a bristling array of dark-green, conical spines,
three-fourths of an inch high and very sharp. Sometimes, how
ever, the fruit is smaller, and quite round. It is a painful matter
to bold a durian except by the stem, and I would about as soon have
a sir-pound shot fall upon me as one of them. This wholly
aixHaiBable pod smells even more offensive than it looks, the odor
given off being like that of a barrel of onions at its most aggressive
stage. Many people are unable to eat durians at all, on this ac
count, but lay first one disappeared so suddenly as to greatly
astonish and amuse the spectators.
Tlie fruit hangs upon the tree until it ripens and falls of its
mm accord, and lien the husk is pulled open very easily from the
blossom end toward the stem, which discloses five longitudinal
or cells, in each of which is a row of large chestnut-
seeds, about ive in each shell, each of which is thickSy
coated isife a sof^ grayish, polpy mass, which is the edible portion,
In mm&im@j it resembles flour paste, but in flavor it resembles
wider ifee mm. Inhere are, indeed, faint suggestions of
" and si* ere&nij, dioeolate md sugar, but all t&esa
HUNTING IK THE INTEEIOR OF SELANGOEE. 319
are lost in the flavor peculiar to the fruit itself, indescribable both
in delicacy and richness. If there are no durians in heaven it will
be the fault of the husk, not the kernel
The Malays had built a lofty platform of poks to which they
could retreat from wild beasts, and also sleep upon at night, and as
fast as the durians fell they gathered them. They sold them on
the ground, seventeen for a dollar, at which price I invested a dol
lar forthwith. No Anglo-Indian is half as fond of " brandy-and-
soda " as I am of fruit, and I am sure the number of durians ex
ported that week must have fallen off considerably.
While hunting through the forest in search of wild cattle or
rhinoceros spoor we came upon the strangest human habitation I
ever beheld It was a Jacoon house, if we may dignify such a
structure by that name, and the family was at home. The site had
been selected with reference to four small trees, which grew so as
to form the four corners of a square about nine feet each way.
Twelve feet from the ground four stout saplings had been lashed
to the trees to form the foundation of the house, and upon them
was lashed the flooring of small green poles. Six feet above it was
a roof of green thatch, sloping shed-like from front to back There
were no walls whatever to this remarkable dwelling, which was
reached by means of a rude ladder. Upon this platform we found
three men, two women, a nursing baby, a miserable little dog, two
or three old parongs, some sumpitans and poisoned arrows, and a
fire smouldering on a bed of earth at one corner. There were no
mats of any kind, and the people slept on the bare poles. The men
were naked, with the exception of a dirty loin-cloth, but the women
were satisfactorily covered with mantles of dingy cotton cloth,
In physique, physiognomy and habits the Jacoons so closely re
semble the forest people (Dyaks) of Borneo as to lead one to
believe they have descended, and that, too, by no very long line
of ancestry, from some of the numerous sub-tribes now flourish
ing in that great island. Judging from Mr. Bock*s admira
ble portraits and description of the Poonans, the Jacoons are as
much like them as it is possible for two separated tribes to be like
each other. The Poonans, like all the Dyaks, have progressed
through Borneo from south to north, and It is iBO-re likely that Hie
Jacoons are accidental, perhaps involuntary, emigrants from Bor
neo than that the reverse has been the case.
The Jacoons are a very peaceable, almost timid, people,,
ignorant, and wholly arorse to living in villages, k>w^er
320 TWO TEARS IN THE JUGGLE.
They are nowhere numerous, the total number in Selangore being
estimated at only seventy. They subsist wholly upon the fruit and
vegetable products of the jungle, and the game they kill with their
sumpitans, or blow-guns and poisoned arrows. Some of them are
said to be very expert in the use of this singular weapon. The
present Kajah Brooke states that he once saw a Jacoon drive an
arrow into a single crow-quill at a distance of fifteen yards ! "We
learned accidentally, a few days later, that the Jacoons are very
fond of bats, and were stopping at that place in order to capture
them in some large caves near by.
They were very accommodating people, and our party held quite
an animated conversation with them upon the subject of wild game,
as they sat perched aloft and looking down upon us. Fortunately
they knew the value of money, and we engaged two of the men to
act as our guides when we went in quest of wild cattle, rhinoceros,
and other animals. One of them came down forthwith and led us
a long tramp through the silent and gloomy forest for the remain-
dear of the day, but we saw nothing worth shooting. Much to our
disappointment, the Jacoons said there were, at that time, no rhi-
i^QCeroas in that region, but plenty of elephants.
Bbe next morning about daybreak, as we were dozing comfort
ably in our hammocks, our sleepy ears were suddenly saluted by a
dear, ringing note, like a blast of a hunter's horn, coming from the
tlnck jungle half a mile away. We were instantly galvanized into
action.
" Elephants ! * we both exclaimed in the same breath, as we
sprang out of our hammocks, and into our clothes. Never was a
reveille responded to with more alacrity.
We swallowed our coffee, albeit rather hastily, crammed down
a substantial breakfast, buckled on our hunting-gear, and mustered
the men, who were ready as soon as we were. The Jacoons were
not thesre yet, but no matter ; I knew we could track up a herd
without them. Leaving orders for the Jacoons to track us up if
ifcey came, and overtake us as soon as possible, we hurriedly set out.
To our surprise it took us nearly an hour to find the trail of the
arid even when we did it was apparently two to three hours
Evidently we had lost our bearings, to begin witk There
B0Hmg to do but folow up the spoor as we found it, so away
Oar whole party was there, except Mr Syers* cook
Hy weapon was a ratter ancient Sneider rifle, and Syers waa
HUNTING IN THE INTERIOB OF SELANGOBE. 321
armed with a double rifle carrying the same cartridge, good enough
for deer, but very light for elephants.
The trail led us through thick forest for a while, but very soon
entered a clearer tract and passed through the very grove of du~
rian trees we had visited the day before. Our Malay friends, the
durian gatherers, hailed our warlike appearance with delight, and
gathered in an excited group around the ruins of their pole plat
form, which the rascally elephants had torn down with their trunks
just before daybreak. They pulled it down as a sort of elephan
tine joke on the Malays, just to show them they had not built
beyond their reach. The Malays, however, regarded it as any
thing but a joke to be compelled to quit their platform, climb
up into the tree-tops and sit there for several hours in a badly
scared condition. No wonder they begged us to shoot all the
beasts, one by one, which we solemnly promised to do.
Within the next hour, the trail led us up and down through the
more open jungle, four times across the river, and for some dis
tance along its pebbly banks. At one time, nearly an hour was
lost in trying to carry the trail across a stretch of hard, bare ground,
where it got inextricably mixed with a number of other trails made
by elephants which had fed about at random* Dispersing, we
searched carefully, scrutinizing every broken twig and blade of
grass in our effort to find the direction finally taken by the herd.
At last we found where our elephants had marched off into the
grassy jungle along an old trail for some distance. No wonder we
were at fault.
At this juncture up came the Jacoons. " You vagabonds," ex
claimed Mr. Syers in Malay, " why didn't you come up an hour ago
and save us all this trouble ? "
" The white gentlemen walked so fast we thought we would
never come up with them," they answered very frankly*
The trail then led straight away for a tract of low, swampy for
est, and the character of the jungle changed entirely. Near the
edge of the swamp huge, spreading clumps of thorny palms grew
in great abundance, and rendered our progress difficult and pain
ful Strangely enough, however, the farther we got into the
swamp the thinner became the undergrowth, until presently it
almost entirely disappeared, and in its stead we found uprooted
trees, decayed tree-trunks, dead branches, and gnarled surface-roots.
The trail had disappeared entirely under a foot of water, save when
it crossed a bit of dry ground. "We were wading along in water
23
#22 TWO YEARS IN THE JUKGLE.
half "way to our knees, with slow and tiresome progress, when sud
denly the old Jacoon ahead of us stopped, and with his parong
pointed through the forest.
"There they are, boys ! " exclaimed Syers, in an excited whisper.
A hundred yards away across the tangle of fallen trees and dead
branches we plainly saw the massive dark-gray forms of nine wild
elephants. They were standing in the water, leisurely browsing
upon the juicy aquatic plants that grew here and there, and wholly
unconscious of our presence. It was a fearful place for an attack,
either upon them or by them. Greatly to our amusement our
brave Jacoons immediately swarmed up the nearest saplings, and
the other members of the party fell back in good order and con
cealed themselves.
As the reader is possibly aware, I had had trouble with ele
phants before, but this was my friend Syers' first experience with
su<ih colossal game. Like a true sportsman and green hand at
elephants, he was for attacking the herd instantly, before it took
alarm and ran away, and I had great difficulty in even partially re-
fifefti'oiojjr him.
We quickly looked the herd over and saw that the only tusker
in it was a rather small one, with short tusks, but fortunately he
ms the one nearest us. It seemed like an utter impossibility to
get near enough for a sure shot through that open swamp ; but, se
lecting our line of attack, and keeping carefully behind the tree-
trunks as long as possible, we crouched low and stole forward. In
spite of our caution, a stick would snap every now and then, and
our feet make a noisy disturbance in the water. Mr. Syers, who was
eager and excited, took the lead, altogether too rapidly I thought,
and I followed, almost upon his heels.
At last we reached a large tree at the foot of which was a bit of
bare ground Syers stepped up on it and cocked both barrels of
his rifla The elephant was in clear view forty yards away, but his
hind quarters were toward us and his head was hidden by the root
of an upturned tree. Syers threw his rifle up to his cheek with a
look feat meant business, and was glancing along the barrels for a
shot, wisen I gave him a dig in the ribs and hurriedly whispered :
it, man, don't fire yet 1 "
I ^aa Mt Mm here well enough," he protested, in an
** But jcm 6orf3a% possibly kill him. We must get up to that
rooi dose by bis head before we fire."
EUNTIHG IK THE IKTEEIOR OF SELANGOEE. 323
I hardly knew whether to be vexed or amused at my good
friend's impetuosity, for I felt that as an old elephant hunter of
four months' standing (and running also !) he should have allowed
me to lead the attack. I shall always regard it as a hunter's mira
cle that we succeeded in approaching that animal when making so
much noise and going ahead so precipitately in open cover.
With every nerve strained to highest tension, we crept out
recklessly toward the upturned root, crouching almost into the
water, and after a few moments of breathless anxiety we reached it
and were within twelve paces of our elephant I was totally sur
prised at his not seeing, hearing, nor scenting us. He was utterly
unconscious of our presence until we both stepped from our cover,
aimed quickly at his temple and fired together.
The great beast gave a tremendous start as the bullets crashed
into his skull, threw his trunk aloft with a thrilling scream and
wheeled toward us.
Before he had time to make a single step forward we aimed for
the fatal spot over the eye and fired again. Down sank the pon
derous head, the legs gave way, and the huge beast settled down
where he stood and rested in the mud, back uppermost, with his
feet doubled under him.
We instantly reloaded and came to a "ready," just as the tough
old pachyderm began to slightly recover and struggle to regain his
feet Choosing our positions this time, a couple of shots behind
the ear penetrated his brain and settled matters. With a convul
sive shudder and a deep groan the great creature slowly sank
back upon the ground, moved his trunk feebly a few moments,
fetched a deep sigh and expired.
Of course all the other elephants had bolted at the first alarm,
and were by that time far away. Our followers came running up,
grinning from ear to ear at our success, and when they surrounded
the fallen giant their exclamations of astonishment were loud and
fervent. We could not measure our game, but according to the
circumference of his fore foot, and his general appearance, he was
about eight feet in height at the shoulders. His back was thickly
encrusted all over with a half-inch coating of dried mud, the wise
provision of a sagacious animal against the attacks of the swarm of
huge gad-flies which buzzed about him. They bit tlte blood out
of us more than once, and annoyed us exceedingly while we were
at work on the dead elephant.
In a pouring rain, we cut off MB he&c$ a&4 took Ms skull, eero
324 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNGLE.
cal vertebrae, and feet quite enough of that sort of thing in that
pestilential swamp. We carried home all except the skull, which
we left to be brought out the next day by a party of Malays.
We reached home thoroughly tired, hungry, and bedraggled,
but Jules Mumm and Cat's Face came to our rescue, and as Syers
and I sat on the slatted floor and banqueted from the top of our
camp chest we ran the chase all over again.
The next day the elephant's skull was carried out of the jungle,
and I stayed at home to clean it carefully with knife and scraper,
while Mr. Syers went off on an unsuccessful hunt after wild cattle.
The day following that we had another go at elephants. We
overtook a-herd, and attacked it in thick cover, bareheaded, in a
pouring rain which half blinded us. The only tusker in the herd
Was small and young, and I was for letting him go, but my eager
companion insisted that elephants were a nuisance in Selangore,
and ought to be killed off for that reason if no other. We fired at
the young tusker, but failed to bring him down, and the herd made
oft very deliberately. They thought our firing was thunder, or at
least a part of the storm. I was willing to let them go, but Syers
voted to follow them up, so I assented with every appearance of
*aidsfaction. For three mortal hours we went at our best speed
along that trail, through mud and water a foot deep, through bog
and brake, over fallen trees, and through thickets of thorny palms,
until finally, when quite tired out, we came up to the elephants in
the densest of cover.
As we were advancing promptly to the attack, across a bit of
open ground with the herd on our left, we heard a sudden crashing
in the bushes on our right, and in another instant saw a young
seven-foot elephant coming full tilt, straight toward us, and not
twenty yards away. I thought, "Merciful heavens ! The beast is
charging us ! " and we instantly threw up our guns to fire. I took
a quick aim at his forehead, and was in the act of pressing the
trigger, when the elephant, then within twenty feet of us, suddenly
sfaeered off at a right angle to his former course, and fairly humped
Ijimself to get safely away. He went at a splendid gait, directly
away from us.
" All right, my young friend, its a bargain ! " thought I, thank-
lei me alone and m do the same by " bang ! went
frith a infernal roar just beside my ear, aimed at the
elephant Had he shot him in the hind quarter?
fsff5& & shrffl little scream, humped his back still higher,
HUNTING IN THE INTEBIOR OF SELANGOBE. 325
pulled Ms throttle wide open, and rushed off through the jungle
like a runaway locomotive.
I turned to Syers in astonishment.
" What on earth did you shoot for, and where did you hit him ? "
" Why, confound it, I thought he was going to run over us, and
he scared me so I put a ball through the butt of his ear to pay
him oft"
I enjoyed a good laugh at my vindictive friend's expense, in
which he joined very heartily, for I certainly never saw a more ab
surd performance in the hunting field. The idea of his firing a
ball at that little elephant, who was already doing his best to get
away from us, was comical, to say the least, and the joke lasted
many a day.
On the way home we made a very interesting discovery, quite
by accident. We fell in with an old Malay and some Jacoons,
who walked along with us for some distance. As we were going
through the forest* a short distance from the foot of a gray lime
stone cliff about two hundred feet high, covered on the top with
forest, we noticed in the air a very curious, pungent odor, like
guano, the cause of which we could not divine. Mr. Syers turned
to the old Malay, who was familiar with the neighborhood, and in
quired :
"What is it that stinks so ?"
"Bats' dung, sir."
" Bats* dung ! Where is it ? "
"La the cave yonder in the rocks, sir."
" Why did you not teE us of it the other time we were here, old
simpleton ? "
"I didn't know you wanted to know about it, sir," said the old
fellow, innocently.
We turned about directly and made for the clh% under the old
man's guidance. The cave was soon reached. We climbed up
forty feet or so over a huge pile of angular rocks that had fallen
from the face of the ftHff, and on going down a sharp incline found
ourselves underneath a huge mass of bare limestone rock, leaning
at an angle of forty-five degrees against the side of the clinv form
ing a cavernous arch, open at both ends and a hundred feet high.
It was hung with smooth, dull-gray stalactites, which, when broken
oi showed such a clean white limestone formation that it might
almost be called marble.
From near the bottom of this curiously formed arch a wiefo
326 TWO TEABS IN" THE JUNGLE.
opening led into the cave proper. We procured a torch of dry
bamboo and entered forthwith. This cave, which it seems is called
Gua Belah, or the Double Cave, is about sixty feet wide, a hundred
and fifty feet long, to where it terminates in a narrow cleft in the
rock, and about forty feet high at the highest point The ground
plan of the cavern is therefore an isosceles triangle. The walls
were smooth, of a light-gray color, and without stalactites. The
floor was covered to an unknown depth with a layer of loose and
dry bat guano, which gave off the odor we had noticed half a mile
away.
The cave was full of bats (Eonycteris spUla) which left their
resting places on the walls as we entered, and flew round and round
above us in a roaring swarm, at times coming within a foot of our
faces. Our footsteps fell noiselessly on the soft and spongy bed of
guano, and had we been provided with sticks we could have easily
knocked many bats from the walls. There must have been two
thousand of them there. In the outer cavern we easily shot a num
ber of specimens as they clung to the rocks high above us.
Not far from that cave was another in the same mountain,
which we visited on the following day. The mouth was simply a
hole in the base of the rocky wall, leading straight into a low, but
very extensive, cavern, which must have been an acre and a half in
extent. The low roof reminded me of a mine, and the numerous
galleries and narrow passages leading off on either side rather
heightened the resemblance. In the light of our torches the roof
was yellowish-white and very dean looking, generally smooth, and
without stalactites. The floor also was bare rock.
We found the mouth of the cave entirely stopped with branches
excepting one opening about a foot square and were informed
hai^ after thus blocking the mouth, the Jacoons send two or three
iBen inside to scare the bats out so they can be knocked down by
tihe stidks of those who stand outside at the opening. We tried
tlae same dodge in order to get a few more perfect specimens, and
easily secured five by this knock-down process. The scheme is so
easy to work, however, and so successful that the Jacoons have al-
most entirely depopulated the cave of its winged inhabitants.
Afte leaving this cave, which is called " Gua Lada," or Chilli
Qvf% *w& wea?e conducted through a mile of very wet jungle to a
W% malted "Gro Lambong," wHch is really a very fine cav-
40L. At fee uaotitli there is a perfect little vestibule scooped out
of i&e solid rock % fe tad of natoe f or tha expa^^
HUNTING IN THE INTERIOR OF 8ELANGORE.
327
tion of the party who will keep a stand there for the sale of refresh
ments, photographs, and torches to the tourists who will visit the
cave during the next century.
On entering the cave at the yawning black hole, we found our
selves in a grand cathedral, whose floor, walls, and roof were of
smooth white limestone rock. Descending for a few yards from
the mouth we came to a clear stream of water rippling across the
rocky floor and seeking an exit near the mouth. Crossing this, we
walked forward along a grand gallery, with clean and level floor,
perpendicular walls and gothic roof, like the nave of a cathedral,
fifty feet wide and sixty feet high. At the farther end of the gal
lery which was by our estimate about three hundred feet in length
the roof suddenly rose in a great round dome ninety or a hun
dred feet in height, completing so perfectly the resemblance of SI
Peter's, at Borne, that had I the privilege of naming the cavern I
could call it nothing else than Cathedral Cave. The accompanying
diagram represents a vertical section, as nearly as could be ob
tained without measurements.
We stood for some time gazing in silence about us, quite awed
by the grandeur of the natural rock-temple we had discovered.
Kemembering the Baptistry at Pisa, and, recalling its beautiful
echo, I sang out dear and strong,
m
Sol mi do.
The echo of the three notes mingled directly in a be&utiful chord,
wonderfully prolonged, like the sound of three voices winging their
way upward until they were lost in the distance. The illusion was
338 TWO YEARS IN THE JUK&LE.
perfect and the effect of the echo highly weird and impressive. It
seemed fully a qiiarter of a minute that the echo reverberated in
the top of that rocky dome. As a further experiment, Mr. Syers
discharged his rifle, and the report sounded like a deep boom of
thunder, prolonged and rolling, echoing in the dome and at the
farther end of the long gallery with a long-continued roar.
Under the dome the floor began to rise as we progressed, and
sloped up all the rest of the way to where the cavern terminated
in a narrow cleft. This portion of the floor was covered with a
thick deposit of bat guano, loose and dry, but there were very few
bats in the cave.
All these caves are about three miles east of Batu, and nine
from ELwala Lumpor, in a northerly direction. The whole hill is a
solid mass of white crystalline limestone, and its greatest height is
about three hundred feet Besides catching bats in the caves, the
Racoons say that they often retreat to them for safety at certain sea
sons when the woods are overrun by wild elephants and other dan
gerous ftTnfnfllB,
We made several other hunting excursions in different direc
tions from Batu, always under good guidance, but, although we
often saw the tracks of wild cattle, we were never fortunate enough
to fall in with the animals themselves. The inevitable krah monkey
(Macacus cynomolgus) was often seen and sometimes shot
Squirrels were plentiful, and besides two other species (Sciurus
eplnppium and tricolor) we shot several specimens of the beautiful
black and white Sciurus Eafflesi.
The Malays and Jacoons brought us many specimens of the
pretty little motise-deer CFragulus napu and kanchil), several small
Felinae (Fdis marmorata and Bengalensis), and two species of civet cat
( Viverra), all of which they caught in traps for our especial benefit
We collected a few bright birds also, and one rhinoceros hornbilL
Having spent a week at Batu with both pleasure and profit, we
sent OUT elephant bones, rock specimens from the caves and other
dead weight down to Hang by the river, while we packed up and re
turned to Kwala Lumpor. On the ride back Mr. Syers' pony went
down when at full gallop and gave him a terrible fall, which, but for
$x& protection of his thick pith helmet, might have resulted very seri
ously. It would have sent almost any other man to bed for a week,
Iwt my plucky friend insisted on his ability to carry out the pro-
and would scarcely let me rub hi with my favorite
HTOTIKG IN THE INTERIOR OF SELANGORU. 329
On reaching Kwala he took me off four miles south to see a
number of tin mines. The road was good all the way, and lay
through open uplands of dark alluvial soil We passed several fine
fields of sugar-cane, two of tobacco, and my guide pointed out sev
eral coffee bushes hanging full of berries. There were houses and
huts of both Malays and Chinese scattered along the road, and the
two could always be distinguished at a glance. Those of the Chi
nese were always in good repair, and surrounded by flourishing and
beautifully-kept vegetable gardens of one to two acres in extent.
The houses of the Malays were always in bad repair, and their gar
dens, when they had any, were neglected and weedy. Every China
man we met or saw was carrying something, or else at work in his
garden. Every Malay was either strolling along empty-handed, or
else loafing in the door of his hut. If Selangore were my territory I
would give it to the Chinese. Before returning, however, we were
astonished beyond measure at seeing two Malays actually at work
in a garden, and we stopped and gazed at them in incredulous
amazement.
The first tin mine is about four miles from Kwala, situated in
the middle of a "fiat," near the foot of a range of hills.
The tin is found in the form of dark-colored sand or fine gravel
about fifteen feet below the surface, and is reached by simply re
moving all the over-lying strata of soil, clay, and gravel. The tin
lay in a bed, like a vein of coal, about two feet in thickness. The
water which runs into the excavation is pumped out by an overshot
water-wheel and an endless chain, a very ingenious contrivance
which I cannot take time io describe. In the smelting-ahed near
by the tin is simply melted out and run into ingots of a size aad
shape convenient to handle.
On reaching Kwala again we found the " Captain Oheeaaa" at
home, and he sat us down to a superb dinner, consisting of soup,
fish, roast capon, roast duck, green peas, potatoes, cucumbers, pork
chops, curry and rice, a monster tart, mangosteens, durianSj ba
nanas and champagne. The captain does not apeak Ifogliah, so I
lost the benefit of a conversation with him.
The next day we returned to Hang, and after a da/s rest I be
gan to get ready to " move on."
We were again entertained at dinner by Captain and lira
Douglas at the Eesideacy, aad spent a most enjoyable evening.
Although the country is perfectly tranquil, the Malays are & trifle
uncertain and the Chinese aba, as the murder of Europeans so4
S30 TWO TEAKS IK THE JUNGLE.
long since in Perak, and later at the Bindings, has rendered pain*
folly evident A body guard of six stalwart policemen from Mr.
Syers' force watches over the Residency night and day, so that
there is little to fear from foes without Captain Douglas has en
tered, heart and soul, into the development of the territory of
which he is virtually the governor ; and it is gratifying to see such
a promising country in such good hands. Under the control of
the shiftless Malays its resources would never have been developed.
It takes the British Government to rule such places and make
them habitable for producers, and worth something to the world.
Nominally, the old Sultan of S elan gore is still a sultan, and
ruler of the country, but actually he is a mere figure-head, living
off in a corner at Selangore, and quietly enjoying the royalty of
$2,000 per month, which is paid him out of the revenues of the
country which he is not competent to govern and develop. His
son, the heir apparent to the figure-headship, has a much larger
harem than his sultanic papa, and also some notions of his own
about government, which may result in giving the country a back
set if he ever acquires the power to put them in force.
The Territory of Selangore has a coast line of one hundred and
twenty miles, and it extends into the interior about fifty miles,
where it joins Pahang, another territory of the same political com
plexion. Its population in 1880 was fifteen thousand. The chief
productions of the country are tin, gutta, rattans, rice, gambier
(pepper), and tobacco. The principal industries are tin-mining,
gardening, and gambling. The average monthly production of tin
is six hundred bharas, or two hundred and forty thousand pounds.
The soil of the interior is certainly very rich, and I should think
could be made to produce sugar-cane, tobacco, and perhaps coffee
also, with great profit
As a sort of parting send-off; we were dined the last evening of
cto slay by Mr. Turney, Treasurer of Selangore and his estimable
My. This is what the Elang people mean by being "civil" to
strangers. Healthy civility surely, but the odds are every time in
favor of the stranger.
Almost my only disappointment in Selangore was that, from first
to las&, we found no snakes in the jungle. I fondly hoped to meet
a python in Ms native wilds and see what he would do, or at least
an Opiftopiiagus elaps snake-eating cobra but neither did we see.
B, had picteed the forests of the East Indies as pro-
a 1% snake f or evezy square mile, but they are almost ag
HUNTING IN THE INTERIOR OF SELAN<H>RE* 331
scarce as snakes in Ireland. In all my jungle wanderings in the
far east I did not encounter a snake four feet long, although. I
looked for them very hopefully. It was disgusting after all the
big snake stories I had heard. The only snake I saw in Selangore
was a -vicious little viperine affair, eight inches long, which I killed
with a prayer-book in Captain Douglas' drawing room at the Besi-
dency, while kneeling at prayers one Sunday evening. He came
wriggling toward me across the matting, and I took him in. Jusfc
before my visit Mr. Syers killed three cobras in his house in the fort,
which had taken up quarters under the floor. Fortunately I am
not at all nervous, and this discovery did not disturb my slumbers
in the least.
On the last day of my stay, an old Malay came into the fort
dragging the headless body of a python which measured twelve
feet six inches. He was walking through the jungle, and in pass
ing by a hollow tree, the snake thrust its head out of a hole near
the bottom. He whipped out his parong and very neatly de<sapi-
tated the reptile at a single blow. I bought the body and sent Trim
back for the head, which he presently produced, and at the last
moment we removed the skin and preserved it for mounting. The
jungle had relented and given me a snake after all
A few months later I saw in Singapore a fine living Ophwphagu&
elaps, about seven feet long, which Captain Douglas had sent down
to the Museum the third specimen of that species he had secured.
When the time came for me to leave Klang I was in no way
thankful to go. My visit had been so pleasant that I was really
sorry that I could not stay longer. My collection made a very sat
isfactory showing for six weeks 1 work, and Mr. Syers* hearty hospi
tality had made the place seem like a home. He himself was the
most interesting specimen I found in this territory, and as a char
acter study he was " immense." In point of modest reminiscence
of " dangers he had passed, and moving accidents by flood and
field," he was another Othello, a fit type for the hero of a stalwart
romance.
But my time came, and I had to leave his rambling, roomy, and
cool bungalow in the fort ; the Malay bugler who used to practise
the " Dead March in Saul" every morning ; the drills and parades ;
and the jolly friend who entertained me so patiently to the last.
At parting, he gave me a Malay kris, and a "pig-tail" which he cut
from the head of a Chinese murderer just before hanging him, a&
souvenirs of the visit.
382 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNGI/E.
Three days later I reached Singapore once more, and prepared
to depart for Borneo.
At this point I desire to mention the kindness of Mr. Bobert
Campbell, now, alas ! numbered with the silent majority, who was
my good genius all the time I remained within his reach. I was a
total stranger to him -until a London firm placed a sum of money
to my credit with the firm of Messrs. Martin, Dyee & Co., of which
"ba was the head. "When the time came for me to start to Borneo
the balance remaining to my credit was not at all sufficient for the
and my good friend insisted upon advancing all that I needed,
that time -until I started home I spent my funds faster than
they came, and every time I became embarrassed Mr. Campbell
generously came to my relief, But for his self-forgetful generosity
I should more than once have found myself in most unpleasant
straits, due, I admit, to my own fault in disregarding Professor
"Ward's instructions, and going ahead full speed with my work in-
siead of resting and waiting for funds. All thanks to Bobert
Campbell, and the firm of Martin, Dyce & Co. Thank heaven that
my faith in humanity is so often and so handsomely justified !
But it passes my understanding how any stranger, who under
firaoh circumstances is trusted without any security, can be so un
speakably contemptible as to defraud his benefactors, as I have
known some to do.
PART IV. BORNEO.
OH AFTER XXVIEL
SABAWAK, PAST AND PBESENT.
Geographical Position and Area of Borneo. Explorations. -From Singapore
to Sarawak. The Finest City in Borneo. Historical Sketch of Sarawak
Territory. Sir James Brooke. Anarchy and Oppression. Cession of the
Territory. Order out of Chaos. Evolution of a Model Government A
Wise and Good Rajah. Justice in Sarawak and the United States*
Present Prosperity. A Lesson for Political Economists.
THESE hundred miles east of Singapore, directly under the equator,
lies a vast island clad from centre to circumference with a wonder
ful and luxuriant growth of unbroken forest, and peopled with the
strangest men and beasts to be found in all the East ladies.
Rich in both vegetable and mineral products, teeming with
animal life, and filled with both social and scientific problems,
Borneo is a most inviting field, interesting alike to the naturalist,
the anthropologist, and the student of political economy. la time,
also, when its vast agricultural resources are properly developed,
it will offer a chance for life, liberty, and happiness to the over
crowded millions of China, Hindostan, and even Ikirope*
With an area of one hundred and ninety thousand square mBes,
and a coast line of over three thousand miles, Borneo is the second
largest island in the world. When we look at its proportions on a
map which compresses the whole of Asia or Australasia into the
limits of a single atlas page, we fail to realize its actual immenmtgf.
The whole of New England, the Middle States, and Maryland
could be set down in the forest which covers Borneo, and still be
surrounded by a wide belt of jungle. The length of the Maad is
eight hundred and iffey miles* and its greatest wictth si
and twenty-five.
334 v TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
Politically, the island is divided into the Dutch Territory, which
embraces the whole southern, central, and western parts of the is
land, fully one-half its entire area ; the Territory of Sarawak on
the north coast, ruled by an English rajah ; the sultanate of Bru
nei, or Borneo Proper, northeast of Sarawak ; and beyond that a
fine tract of territory, now called Sabah, almost as large as Sara
wak, which has had the good fortune to pass from the protection
of the sultan of Sulu into the hands of a new mercantile organiza
tion called the British North Borneo Company. This territory has
the Kimanis Eiver (between Gaya Bay and Labuan Island) for its
western boundary, and the Sibuco Eiver on the east coast, for its
southern boundary. Its area is between twenty and twenty-five
thousand square miles. Its five hundred miles of coast line include a
great many finely sheltered bays and harbors, and its interior has not
only a number of large rivers, but, also, the highest mountains in
Borneo, including Kina Balu. It is extremely gratifying that such
a naturally rich and promising country should have fallen into such
good bands as those of Sir Rutherford Alcock, and Messrs. Dent,
Martin, Head, and Mayne. Success and long life to the British
North Borneo Company !
South of Brunei lies Kotei, a large triangular territory, ruled
by a Malay sultan, under Dutch protection, but as independent of
the Dutch Government as Nicaragua is of the United States, and
which should have boundaries and a color of its own on every map.
Above Kotei lies another independent territory of similar shape,
also under Dutch protection, but about as little known as the Kina
Balu country which joins it on the north.
Even in this age of venturesome and persistent travellers, no
white roan has crossed Borneo from side to side, and its interior
remains in great measure a sealed book No European has ever
succeeded in doing more than to ascend one river to near its
source, cross a narrow water-shed and descend a contiguous stream
to the same coast from which he started. In this way Yon Gafiron
ascended the Barito and descended the Kapooas, Bock journeyed
up tbe Mahakkam and down the Barito, and Wallace traversed the
Sadong and the Sarawak. An energetic Scotchman, prospecting
far cliamonds, also crossed from the Kapooas River to the Sarawak,
jjk John i&oroughly explored to their sources the lambang and
Baram Bikers on the north coast, and both he and Hugh Low as-
cended Hie greafe mountain of T^-n^ Balu^ear the northeastern
erfcremity of the island.
SARAWAK, PAST AM) PB^ENT. 335
Nothing could be more arduous and full of risk to life and limb
than overland travel in the interior of Borneo, where the traveller
is confronted by dense, dark forests and rugged mountains from
the beginning to the end of his journey. The interior is practi
cally an uninhabited wilderness, destitute of nearly everything fit
for human food, and he who would explore it must carry on his
back, through forests and rivers, and over mountains, sufficient
food, clothing, and medicines, to last to the end of the journey.
The heart of Africa is not nearly so inaccessible as the heart of Bor
neo. The difficulties of overland travel in the interior are almost
beyond belief.
Even in the extreme northeast, accessible from the coast on
three sides, there is said to be a great lake and a mountain-peak
higher than Kina Balu, never yet visited by a white man, which
beckon to the explorer with whispered promises of undiscovered
wonders. From the remote interior of the island come wonderful
stories of a race of men with tails, with descriptions of their form
and habits, stories implicitly believed by many intelligent natives,
but which even the most skeptical white men are powerless to dis
prove.
The dense ignorance which prevails in Singapore regarding
Borneo is quite phenomenal Although so near and in regular
steam communication with the island, I found it utterly impossible
to obtain there any definite information regarding the distribution
or abundance of the orang-utan. At last, when on the point of buy-
ing a steamer ticket for the Dutch settlement at Pontianak, I was
introduced, quite by chance, to the late A. B. Haughton, Esq. His
Highness 1 resident of the Eejang District, Sarawak which piece
of good fortune led to an immediate and important change in my
plans. From this most agreeable and obliging official, who, from
his eighteen years of service in the Sarawak Government, was pre
pared to answer any question regarding Northern Borneo, I learned
that the orang-utan had not yet been exterminated in the rajah's
territory, and that the valleys of the Sadong and Batang Lupar
Kivers abounded in animal life, I forthwith purchased a ticket for
Sarawak, and prepared to accompany my new friend, who was re
turning from leave of absence to England to regain his shattered
health.
I often think how differently I might have fared in my viat to
Borneo had I not rfefe Mr. Haughton at the critical moment
Ehanks to his courtesy and friendly interest, my introductkm to
336 TWO TEAES IN THE JTJHG-LE
the island was a Tery agreeable one ; and I shall always remembe*
that but for him I should have gone further and fared worse, for
I learned later that Pontianak would not have been the place for
me. Since my return to America, the sad news has reached me
that my genial friend has gone forever from the land he helped to
govern both wisely and well In his nineteenth year of service his
health failed utterly, and on the voyage home he died on the pas
sage up the Bed Sea. The rajah lost a valuable officer and the
Dyaks a valuable and trusted friend.
The trim little steamer Rajah Brooke, belonging to the Honor
able Borneo Company, makes tri-monthly trips between Singapore
aaad Sarawak (pronounced Sar-aft-wok), carrying to the latter Chi
nese emigrants, cloth, brass a and ironware, crockery, opium, to
bacco, sugar and manufactured sundries, and returning with sago,
flour, gutta-percha, dried fish, rattans, edible bird's nests, timber
and other jungle products, and also a very considerable quantity
of antimony and quicksilver from the mines of the Borneo Com
pany.
On August 7th I embarked myself, a first-class Chinese servant
named Ah Kee, a half-caste Portuguese lad named Perara to assist
in hunting and preparing specimens, and a complete jungle outfit,
with provisions for three months.
At three o'clock we left the Singapore Roads, and, while at our
six o'clock dinner, steamed out between Horsburgh Light and
Point Bomania, the extreme southeastern point of Asia, heading
" easfc-b -north " for Sarawak. The day following was one of
fflBQoth, uneventful sailing o'er a " sultry summer sea," with here
and there a pretty green islet in sight, but the cloudless sunrise of
the third day out found us running close along the coast of Bor
neo. Cape Data lay directly astern, Cape Sipang stood out di
rectly ahead, while all along the south stretched the yellow, sandy
beach and evergreen forest of my new land of promise. Borneo at
!as&, the land of apes and monkeys, the home of the orang-utan,
tlie otmtry of the head-hunter, perhaps the sepulchre of the mys-
teoious Missing link !
Ifaar in the interior there loomed up the rugged masses and iso-
lated pseaks of the Kmmbang range, clad with tropical verdure,
looking dreamily blue and hazy in the distance. As we proceeded,
H ww cfiselosedi sfcill more lofty and extensive ranges farther in*
al iasl the whole interior seenaed to be composed of
between which aad the sea there stretched a wide
SABAWAK, PAST AKD PBBSEKT. 337
expanse of level forest. A lofty, flat-topped mountain called Penris-
sen, elevation four thousand four hundred and fifty feet, lying di
rectly south from Cape Sipang, was pointed out as the site which
had been selected by the Government of Sarawak for a sanitarium.
The Sarawak Eiver has two main entrances, one called the
Santubong, which forms a northwest pass, while the Moritabas is
the northeast pass. On the triangular island thus formed, Santu-
bong Peak rises grandly up, like a nearly perfect cone, to a height
of two thousand seven hundred and twelve feet, and forms a noble
landmark at the river's mouth, visible forty miles at sea.
The Santubong entrance is difficult and dangerous to navigate
on account of its sand banks and shoal water, and the Rajah Brooke
always acts on the principle that the longest way round is the
shortest way to Sarawak We passed Cape Sipang and presently
rounded Po Point, upon which rocky promontory sits a dumpy lit
tle light-house. From the flag-staff floats the flag of His Highness,
the Eajah of Sarawak, a St. George's cross half black and half red
on a yellow field. The face of Po Point is a smooth cliff of brown
ish limestone, which shows pale yellow in places where masses of
rock have been freshly broken away by round shot from British
gunboats and men-of-war. These vessels are in the habit of using
the cliff as a target for cannon practice whenever opportunity affords.
At the mouth of the Moritabas entrance, the river is about three
hundred yards in width. The west bank rises in a considerable
hill, but the eastern shore is a level, alluvial plain of soft mud,
scarcely above tide level At the foot of the hill is the village of
Santubong, inhabited by Malay fishermen. The tide is at the ebb
as we enter, and the smooth surface of the river is covered with
dead leaves and stems of the nipa palm, decayed logs, dry bamboo
stems, chunks of wood, sticks, leaves, and trash in short, a level
plain of driftwood floating swiftly out to sea. We wondered which
of those logs would be the one to drift far out past Point Po, into
the great equatorial current of the East Indies corresponding to our
Gulf Stream, and be borne along on the bosom of the Black Biver,
past Japan, until finally cast ashore on one of the Aleutian Islands
to serve some islander as firewood, or timber for a new harpoon
handle. The river needed skimming, badly, and like most equato
rial streams, it needed straining and filtering also, for it was brown
and murky with decayed vegetation and vegetable mould.
The banks are covered with low mangroves and nipa palms
{Nijpa fntMeans) growing in the soft mud, the latter sending up
22
338 T^O TEABS IN" THE JUNGLE.
their tall, feathery leaves so thickly in places as to exclude th
monotonous mangrove entirely. The nipa palm resembles a bunch
of cocoanut leaves growing stiffly up, and a cocoanut leaf looks like
a huge, uncurled ostrich plume dyed a deep green.
The scenery of the Sarawak River below the capital is decidedly
monotonous, and uninteresting except for the distant mountains ;
but I venture to assert the same may be said of any equatorial river
for the first twenty miles up. The banks are of soft mud, the
jungle is low and swampy, and -the trees are so small and strag
gling that even the monkeys disdain to inhabit them. We must
get farther from the coast to find the grand forests which are fairly
alive with wonderful monkeys, and apes, deer, wild "pigs" (fancy
a "pig" standing thirty-seven inches high at the shoulders !), civet
cats, flying squirrels, hornbills, and argus pheasants. On the way
up the Sarawak we saw not a single monkey nor other mammal, and
only one or two stray birds.
We followed the tortuous windings of the river for nearly four
teen miles before we came to any signs of civilization ; and, for a
time, we were in a quandary whether or not to class as such the first
Malay houses we saw. The Malay loves water like a duck, and, if
possible, he builds his house on piles over a running stream. Tail
ing in that, he builds over stagnant water ; and, failing in that, he
builds over the softest mud he can find.
He cannot build over the Sarawak River suitably for various
reasons, so, leaving thousands of dry acres tenantless, lie builds
over the soft mud on the river-bank His boat-house is a pole
stock in the mud, and his wharf is a slimy, slippery, slanting log,
reaching down from the top of the bank, across the mud, and into
iibe water indefinitely. If your Malay is really industrious and en
terprising, he may even go so far as to cut a few rough notches
along the top of his landing-log ; but even then it is a difficult and
perilous feat for a booted European to make a landing just after
fee tide has gone out and left a good thick deposit of slippery mud
al along the top of the wharf.
As we neared the capital a lofty green peak seemed to rise
fefflt Just behind the town, but in reality it was several miles
It was Malang Peak, three thousand one hundred and
feet in height, We passed a number of Malay houses
and fffeeaggpiiig villages strung along the banks> passed a flourishing
j^He^j; ymA&mQ containing a million rattan canes, a numbe*
of am*B boats and a few large ones, came to some airy European
SABAWAK, PAST AKD PBESEOT.
houses, rounded a little promontory and came in sight of the snow-
white walls and battlemented tower of the new prison. We passed
the point, the clean white " go-down " (business house) of the
Borneo Company, and next to it the long sheds in which the racing-
boats are housed from one New "Year's Day to the next "Wherever
an Englishman goes he takes with him all his national institutions,
and from Nova Zembla to New Zealand, wherever two or three
Englishmen are gathered together, there will they have their an
nual races and regatta ; their club, theatricals, and athletic sports ;
their Times, Punch, and Bass' pale ale. Forty-six hours from our
starting finds us at Sarawak, here known only as Kuehing the
Malay for " Cat " sixteen miles from the sea and four hundred
and twenty miles from Singapore.
After the Borneo Company's "go-down" came the Chinese
bazaar, a long regular row of two-story Chinese shops built solidly
together, designed and executed in the most substantial style of
Chinese architecture. On the opposite side of the river, which is
here about one hundred and fifty yards wide, is the new fort perched
upon a hilltop, a substantial brick structure, rather better calculated
to withstand an attack than the flimsy wooden stockade which the
Chinese assaulted and carried so easily during their insurrection
in 1857.
Just above the fort, at the top of a grassy slope which sweeps
tip from the riverside and overlooks the town, is the Astana, the
residence of His Highness the Rajah, the palace, in fact. It is really
three complete houses such as Europeans build in the Straits Set
tlements, differing from the regular Indian bungalow in being
much higher and possessing two stories instead of one. The base
ment floor contains the dining-room, billiard and store rooms*
while the more spacious upper floor, being -well above the mala
rious dampness of the earth, contains the drawing-room, library
and sleeping apartments. Along the entire front of the mam
building runs a cool and roomy verandah, furnished with tables,
easy chairs, and newspapers. Long strips of striped black and
white matting hang between the pillars which support the roof,
and, when let down at full length, they form for the verandah a
continuous ventilated screen to protect the interior from the dash
ing of rain, the glare of the sun and the inquisitive gaze of the
passers-by.
An ancient-looking square tower with battlements forms the
entrance to the Astaaoa, which, together with the coat of arms over
340 TWO YEARS IK THE JTTNGLE.
the door and the swarthy sentry in the doorway, gives to the edi*
fice the air of a feudal castle. But it is a very modest residence
for a man who is absolute monarch over such a large territory, and
who, were he avariciously disposed, could plunder his subjects suf
ficiently to enable him to maintain his position in truly regal style.
The river is well filled with craft, including decent schooners
of modern type, Malay trading praus, Malay and Dyak " sampans "
every small canoe is a " sampan " in Malay ana Chinese junks,
clumsy coasting vessels, a number of large sailing ships, and the
steam vessels Aline and Firefly of H. H J s Navy.
As soon as we touched the wharf, my fellow-passenger was sur
rounded by a crowd of good-looking young Englishmen, in corded
white uniform coats and cork helmets, who welcomed him back
with enthusiasm. Meanwhile, I was busy with my two servants,
and in a very short time we hired a cart and loaded it with the
boxes, bags, and parcels containing our jungle outfit, which in
cluded canned provisions, kitchenware, guns, ammunition in great
variety, preservatives, tools, alcohol cans, bedding, clothing, and
books, and last but not least two bags of Spanish dollars.
We took our way up a broad street which leads from the
handsome new jail, passed the south side of the bazaar, the court
house and public offices in the centre of a square, the hospital, the
government dispensary, the library, European residences in plenty,
and at last came to the hotel of the place, the Rajah's Arms. Just
above this hotel, on a pretty knoll, stands the handsome residence
and grounds of the Resident of Sarawak proper, an office filled at
that time by Mr. William M. Crocker.
In front of the court-house I noticed nearly a dozen extremely
long and wide-mouthed brass cannons, all of small calibre, however,
but each had a history. Some had been taken from pirates, others
from the stockades of rebellious rajahs in early days, while others
represented fines imposed by the government and paid by native
diefo who had violated the laws. It sounds oddly enough to be
told that "Nipah Tuah, of Tatu, has confessed to having murdered
a Jfekah Dyak, supposing him to be under arms against the gov-
eammesi^ and had been fined six piculs w (about eight hundred
$dis of brass guns) !
* A temr of observation through the bazaars and the town is full
One first notices that the streets are scrupulously
ifaafcage good, and that the town has been laid out with
There is nothing dip-shod or loose-jointed
SABAWAK, PAST AND PRESENT. 341
about Kuching. The principal business street is that facing the
river for about half a mile. The shops, which are kept almost ex
clusively by Chinese and Klings (Hindoos), are filled with a moder
ate assortment of European sundries, which include a gaudy array
of colored cotton cloth, cheap cutlery, fancy mirrors, tin boxes,
combs, glass beads, perfumery, belts, handkerchiefs, Malay caps,
tools of many kinds, thread, needles, buttons, brass wire, paddles,
spectacles, ammunition, etc. In the provision shops were the usual
food staples; and also quantities of alum, blue vitriol, washing-
soda, soap, indigo, and various kinds of roots, herbs and seeds " for
the healing of nations."
Fruits were abundant, but vegetables were scarce. I noticed
quantities of bananas, jak fruit, custard apples, watermelons and
dates ; also hundreds of fresh turtle eggs from an island near the
coast, and poultry in plenty, but in the fish market the supply of
fish was very scanty.
Unlike all the other cities and towns in Borneo, Sarawak is
high and dry, and quite substantially built The houses are nearly
all of brick, neatly whitewashed, and those of the European resi
dents are nearly always surrounded by spacious ornamental grounds
full of trees and flowering shrubs. The houses of the Malays line
the river-banks for a considerable distance both above and below
the bazaar, but there is not a Dyak residence in the placa They
prefer the freedom and seclusion of the jungles.
When we compare the present condition of Sarawak Territory
and its people with the state of affairs which existed prior to the
year 1841, we are lost in wonder at the mighty changes which have
been effected, and admiration for the agencies by which they have
been wrought.
In the year 1839, there landed at the town of Sarawak an Eng
lish gentleman of fortune with a heart full of good- will to men, in
short, a real nobleman of the highest type our modern civilization
is capable of producing. He found the country in a state which
must have awakened sympathy in any but a heart of stone. As a
study in political economy it is interesting to note the principal
features of the condition of Sarawak then and now.
When James Brooke, Esq., arrived from England in his little
vessel, the Royalist, he found the territory in an almost indescrib
able state of anarchy, oppression, and murderous confusion. Form
ing, as it did at that time, a part of the Kingdom of Borneo proper ;
and under the dominion of the Malay Sultan of Brunei Sarawak
343 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNGLE.
was ruled, or rather misruled, by the Kajah Muda Hassim and
his prime minister, Pangeran Makota, the greatest villain who ever
wore a sarong. Attached to these worthies and their immediate re
lations was a swarm of reprobate Malay nobles (?) and lesser fol
lowers, representing every degree of worthlessness and profligacy,
most of whom lived solely by officially plundering the people, and not
a few by covert piracy. The Dyaks were the only producers, and,
as such, the Malays considered them their lawful prey. Upon those
wretched jungle-dwellers were practised every species of oppression,
extortion, and open robbery from the most brutal to the most re
fined. To prevent any attempt at a combined resistance, the various
tribes were encouraged to wage murderous wars with each other,
which often led to the utter extermination of whole villages at a
single blow. In this way the short-sighted Malays more than once
destroyed their own sources of revenue. Head-hunting was the
chief business of life with the Dyaks ; and robbery was that of the
Malays.
The degree of oppression patiently endured by the poor Dyaks
is almost incredible. The Malays, from time immemorial, have
regarded them as their natural bondsmen, heathens with no more
claims to consideration than oxen, with no inalienable rights even
to life. Therefore, in the first place, they were taxed first by the
local officers on account of the rajah, and then for the benefit of
the officers themselves. The jungle produce collected by the Dyaks
was monopolized, i.e., taken at a fixed price by the patingi, who
also claimed their mats, boats, fowls, and fruit at his pleasure, and
had the power to claim their services at whatever price suited his
convenience. When the rajah or the patingi had received all they
cared to extort, their relatives and immediate followers claimed the
right of forced trade, and gradually this privilege was extended to
every Malay in the territory.
To the Dyaks this was a two-edged sword, which was wielded
in a very simple manner. The Pangeran Makota, for instance, would
send to a Dyak village an invoice of rice, cloth, gongs, iron, or salt
at a price from six to eight times their real value, and in payment
he would demand, at one-eighth of its value, any produce the Dyaks
possessed. The profits from these transactions sometimes reached
a& high as one thousand five hundred per cent, of the amount in
vested. If the Dyak declared himself wholly without property
starving, and unable to pay, the reply would be : " Then give me
yomr wife, or jour child ; " and there was generally sufficient power
SARAWAK, PAST AKD PBESEtfT. 343
behind the demand to enforce payment in some form. If a whole
clan stubbornly refused payment, it would be threatened with
an attack from a more powerful hostile clan, and, in one way or
another, the Malays managed to keep them in abject poverty. The
arch-villain, Makota, used to assert that he liked to get even their
cooking-pots from them. Not only were the Dyaks robbed, but in
most instances they were compelled to carry to the boats the very
plunder which had been taken from them.
If a Malay was ever injured in body or estate, and the injury,
however slight, could in any way be attributed to a Dyak, the latter
would be fined heavily for " a fault." To seriously injure a Malay,
no matter how accidentally, was ruin to the Dyak. Matters finally
came to such a pass that the wretched aborigines abstained from
growing crops which only brought their oppressors upon them,
and, in many instances, were able to live only by secreting food in
the jungles. Hundreds of women and children were seized and
kept as slaves, and scores of Dyak men became slave debtors.
Seriff Sahib and his brother, Seriff Muller, two atrocious pirate
chieftains, both of whom were incontinently thrashed and utterly
crushed by Captain Keppel and Kajah Brooke, were formerly in the
habit of sending armed parties to the Dyak settlements to bring
down all the young boys and girls they could catch. It is stated,
on good authority, that three hundred boys and girls have fre
quently been captured at one time, and kept as slaves.
The Malay rulers not only permitted indiscriminate head-hunt
ing and sanguinary warfare among the Dyak tribes, but openly
connived at it It is hard to imagine a ruler giving a powerful
clan permission to attack and exterminate a weaker one, also his
own subjects, but this was often done.
As a consequence, the Dyaks could no longer live in clans, but
sought refuge in the mountains or the jungle, a few together ; and
one of them pathetically said : " We do not live like men ; we are
like monkeys ; we are hunted from place to place ; we have no houses;
and when we light a fire we fear the smoke will draw our enemies
upon us."
All these miseries were inflicted upon a people naturally amiable
and peaceful, honest, of cheerful disposition, and almost childlike
simplicity of manner. The result can be readily imagined. In
two years' time, by reason of famine, sword, slavery, forced labor,
and sickness, the Dyak population of Sarawak proper was reduced
Irom 14,360 persons to 6,792, or less than one-half ! Some clans
344 TWO YEAES IN THE JTJKOLE.
were reduced from 330 families to 50 ; one of 100 families had lost
all its women and children ; another had been reduced from 120
families to 2 ; and two tribes had been utterly exterminated, or
driven from the territory.
Such was the condition of the people when, on September 24,
1841, the Territory of Sarawak proper was formally ceded to James
Brooke, and he became its "rajah" with the fullest powers. He
was the man for the hour. His first official act was the release and
restoration to their families of over a hundred married women and
girls who had been confined at the capital for a whole year by the
former rajah. Just previous to this formal cession of the territory,
there arrived at the capital, Kuching, a hundred war-boats manned
by two thousand five hundred blood-thirsty Dyaks, who came to ask
permission of Muda Hassim to attack a weaker tribe on the Sambas !
But James Brooke was there, and the petition was urged in vain.
For once it really seems that Providence directly espoused the
cause of suffering humanity in sending a philanthropic statesman
to distressed Sarawak. The diplomatic difficulties he encountered
would have hopelessly entangled a smaller mind or crushed a
weaker character. It is surprising that he was not assassinated by
Makota's followers during his first year of office. But out of re
bellion and chaos he brought tranquillity and order. He ruled a
superior and an inferior race, masters and slaves, to the complete
satisfaction of both. With a judicial wisdom unparalleled in the
history of nations, he formulated a code of laws and a system of
government which actually dispensed equal justice to all, in practice
as well as theory, and which was entirely satisfactory to Moham
medan Malays, and heathen Dyaks.
The present Territory of Sarawak is the fruit of Eajah Brooke's
policy, as inaugurated by Tiim and perpetuated by his successor.
From a territory of at first only 3,000 square miles, Sarawak has
been increased by concessions until its area is now 25,000 square
miles. The population of the capital has risen from 1,500 to 21,000,
while that of the whole territory is 225,000, of which there are of
Hill and Sea Dyaks 125,000 ; Kyans, of all clans, 30,000 ; Malays 60,-
000, and Chinese 8,000. The government "is able and willing to
maintain order and to offer security to life and property." The Dyaks
are peaceful, prosperous and happy ; head-hunting has been en
tirely suppressed, and piracy, on the north coast of Borneo at least,
fe a iihiTTg of the past Even-handed and speedy justice is meted
onl to eveay subject so fairly that none can complain.
SARAWAK, PAST A3S"D PRESENT. 345
Criminal cases are tried by jury, but there are no lawyers in the
territory, and no elaborate system of loop-holes known as "legal
precedents/' whereby error is systematically perpetuated and jua
tice perverted.
The Sarawak murderer is certain to meet his just deserts, and
quickly, for the native juror has not yet acquired that degree of
civilized intelligence which would enable him to find a verdict of
" not guilty " for a wilful and brutal murderer. A short residence
in some of our more enlightened States would be a revelation to
their simple minds. In Sarawak it is the barbarous custom to hang
murderers as soon as their guilt is proven, instead of keeping them
in confinement and trying them again and again at great expense,
or putting them in prison to be pardoned out on the Connecticut
plan. Sarawak has very few laws, but " a heap of justice," which
is cheap, speedy, and of prime quality ; in all of which she is the
opposite of every other civilized country in the world. In Sarawak
no innocent man is convicted and no guilty man escapes. To most
of my countrymen this statement may sound preposterous and ab
surd, but to any one who can imagine a country absolutely without
lawyers to shield criminals and thwart justice, or " legal precedents' 1
and (t technicalities " to convict the innocent and acquit the guilty,
the assertion is, perhaps, not beyond belief.
Sir James Brooke's success was very largely due to the liberality
of his views on all political matters. When he framed the primary
code of laws for the government of his distracted little country, he
pleased the Mohammedan Malays and disarmed the suspicions of
their priests by incorporating in it many of the precepts of the
Koran. He was extremely tolerant of harmless native prejudice.
The dignity and candor of his character, his firmness and courage,
and his devotion to justice won the respect, confidence, and even
affection of the better class of Malays and all the Dyaks, save those
who were professional pirates. The latter soon had good cause to
fear him, for, with a large force of Dyaks, aided by Captain Keppel
and other officers of the British navy, the pirates all along the north
coast were thrashed into peaceful agriculturists, and their depreda
tions stopped forever.
Sarawak is a model of good government. It has already been
stated that the people are peaceful and prosperous, and that life is
secure in all parts of the country. With a revenue, in 1879, of
$229,302, the rajah managed to maintain a civil list which included
about twenty picked European officers and a host of Malays j a mili<
346 TWO TEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
tary force of about two hundred men ; fourteen forts with their gar*
risons ; a number of light-houses ; a steam war vessel, the Aline, and
two steam launches ; to pay pensions ; to build two new forts ; to
operate a coal mine ; to pay European passages to and from Eng
land ; to take $20,000 for his own use, and yet have the snug little
sum of $37,673 remaining from the annual revenue to the credit of
the government. What a lesson for the ex-Khedive of Egypt, and
others nearer home 1
CHAPTEK XXIX.
FROM SARAWAK TO THE SADONQ.
Hunting near Kuching. Crocodiles in the Sarawak. A Dangerous Pest. War
of Extermination. Prom Sarawak to the Sadong, The Simujan Village.
A Hunt for an Orang-utan. In the Swamp. On the Mountain. Valu
able Information at Last.
WHILE I remained a few days at Sarawak to gather information
about the orang-utan and other animals before mating a start for
the jungles, I purchased from a Malay a very good small boat to
use as a hunting-boat, and made several excursions up and down
the river.
I was surprised at finding proboscis monkeys (Nasalis larmtus)
along the west bank of the river, not more than two miles below the
town. I fired my rifle at one we found sunning himself at the edge
of the jungle, knocked him off his perch in a twinkling, and the
next moment we sprang ashore, or at least into two feet of soft
mud, and waded landward We reached the edge of the under
growth and endeavored to penetrate it, but after a long struggle
with the thorny tangle we gave up beaten, and the monkey got
away. We found another monkey, the krah (Macaous cynomolgus),
quite numerous along the river, but, the mud was so deep and the
jungle so thick and thorny that we failed to secure more than one
specimen. Had this been my only opportunity we would have
secured good specimens of both species regardless of difficulties ;
but we knew we would have better chances elsewhere.
A few specimens were brought to me at the hotel, among which
was a fine female Manis Javanica, here called " tingeling," with a
tiny yotfng one clinging to her. The latter was quite a prize, being
of a good size to preserve entire in alcohol, while the mother fur
nished a fine skeleton. Squirrels are abundant along the river, and
my new hunter distinguished himself by bringing in half a dozen.
Turtles and beetles were brought to me by the Malay small boy,
34:8 TWO YEABS I3ST THE JUNGLE.
and for a few days we did a thriving "business. Two professional
crocodile hunters brought in a CrocodUus porosus eleven feet long,
and delivered it to Mr. Buck, the superintendent of police, for the
government reward of thirty-five cents per foot. The reptile was alive,
but securely bound, and Mr. Buck kindly placed it at my disposal.
Having just taken a goodly number of the same species at Selan-
gore, I decided to take the head only, and a Malay was called to
decapitate the animal as it lay. He drew his "parong latok," a
very heavy sword with an edge like a razor, and with two terrific
blows severed the crocodile's head from its body.
Owing to the fact that the crocodiles which infest all the rivers of
Sarawak Territory are voracious man-eaters and destroy several lives
annually, the government is waging a war of extermination against
the species, and with telling effect During that year (1878) 266
crocodiles were brought to Kuching for the reward, 153 of which
were caught in the Sarawak River and its branches, and 113 in the
Samarahan ; 53 were caught by one man, a Malay named Mau, and
48 by another named Bujang, both of whom follow that business
exclusively. Nearly all were taken with the " alir," on the same
plan as that we pursued in Selangore, described in Chapter XXVL
The largest crocodile taken that year measured 13 feet 10 inches,
and of the whole number only two others exceeded 13 feet. Two
were between twelve and thirteen feet, ten between eleven and
twelve, and eighteen between ten and eleven, while th0 remaining
two hundred and thirty-three were under ten feet, the majority
measuring from seven to nine feet. The amount paid out in re
wards was $738.28.
Mr. Crocker gave me a huge skull of Crocodilus porosus, which
was 2 feet 10 inches in length, and must have come from a speci
men not less than sixteen feet long. Besides the salt-water croco
dile, a true gavial (Tomistoma Schlegellii), is found growing to a
great size in the Sarawak Eiver and the Kejang, and perhaps, in
nearly all the large rivers of the territory above tidal influence. I
procured of Mr. A. Hart Everett, the naturalist, a very large skull
of this species from the Upper Sarawak, which measured 3 feet 3
inches in length. This species, however, is much more rare than
the other, and I did not succeed in securing a fresh specimen.
The information that I received concerning the orang-utan was
to the effect that they inhabit the valleys of the rivers Sadong and
Bafcang Lupar, but not the Sarawak or Samarahan, and are usually
seem in the fruit season. But the fruit season had passed months
FBOM SARAWAK TO THE SADOK0. 349
before my arrival, tlie orangs had retired to the depth of the forest,
and no one could give me the least information as to where they
had gone, or how I could manage to find them. Three or four
were killed annually on the Sadong or its tributaries, and I decided
to visit that locality in search of others. Mr. Crocker, the resi
dent of Sarawak proper, very kindly offered me the government
' house on the Sadong as a residence and base of operations during
my stay in that region, an offer which I was very glad to accept.
In addition to this he also offered me a passage in the government
schooner Gertrude, then about to make a trip to Sadong for a
cargo of coal.
One day about sunset, we dropped down the river with the ebb
ing tide and, catching a light breeze at the river mouth, stood out
to sea. All the next day we moved quietly along, and at sunset
stood in and came to anchor at the mouth of the Sadong, to wait
for the flowing tide to carry us up. Late that night I was dimly
conscious of the fact that something was done about the anchor,
and it seemed to me that the very next minute our vessel brought
up with a loud " bump " and a violent jerk. " Run aground ! " I
said to myself, and went on deck to see what the trouble was. It
was gray dawn of another day, a mist was slowly rising from the
river, and the cocks were crowing loudly among the weather-beaten
attap roofs that lined the river banks. We were at anchor in the
mouth of the Simujan River, where it enters the Sadong, about
twenty miles up. Along the left bank of the stream were about
thirty Malay houses, nestling among the cocoanut-trees, forming
the Malay kampong, while on the opposite side about half as many
dwellings and shops built close up to the edge of the bank made
up the Chinese kampong. As is the rule throughout Sarawak, the
Chinese own nearly all the shops and do nearly all the trading.
What the Malays do for a living I never could imagine.
The government house stands a hundred yards above the con
fluence of the two rivers, and I was surprised at finding it so well-
built, roomy, and comfortable. It was built to accommodate such
of the government officers as might have occasion to visit this local
ity in the discharge of their duties. As usual the house stands on
posts six feet high, and the space underneath is quite well adapted
to such work as skinning and skeletonizing animals. It contains
two suites of rooms, and a latticed verandah in front of each sleep
ing apartment, which is a capital place for keeping pet monkeys
and orang-utans.
350 TWO TEABS IN THE JUKGLE.
At the front of the house the steps lead up into a spacious audi*
ence-room, from the door of which there is a fine view of several
miles directly down the Sadong, here a mighty river half a mile
wide. The house is used as a police station by a detachment of
half a dozen men, whose duties consist mainly in striking the hours
on a deep-toned gong which hangs in the verandah. Ah me ! that
gong! As I recall its deep mellow "boom/' which was always
music to my ears, there rise before me pictures of half-naked
Dyaks, red-haired orang-utans, dark-green jungle, wet trousers,
canned salmon, green peas, and Bass' pale ale.
The grounds in front of the house are tastefully laid out, and
quite filled with flowering shrubs and curious plants from the sur
rounding jungle, all of which seem to thrive without care.
The virgin jungle comes up to within a hundred yards of the
house at the back, and the Malay kampong nestles at its edge.
Near the house stands the government rice store, where the Dyak
revenue (of one dollar's worth of rice per family) is received and
stored. The whole establishment was then in charge of Mr. Eng
Quee, the government writer, a Chinese half-caste, to whom I
brought, from Mr. Crocker, a letter which proved an open sesame
to all the privileges the place afforded. No one could be more
obliging than I found Mr. Eng Quee, and he was of infinite service
tome.
An hour after we landed, the Malay headman of the village
came to pay his respects ; and a little later a party of Dyaks came
to be questioned regarding the possibilities of finding orang-utans.
In his own country this animal is universally called the " niias," al
though he is occasionally referred to by the Malays as an " orang
utan," which means, literally, jungle-man, from " orang " man, and
"utan" jungle.
The English name of the mias is a corruption of the Malay,
commonly written as "orang-outang."
None of the Dyaks or Malays could give any definite informa
tion as to the abundance of these animals in the Sadong valley, their
present whereabouts, or the best ways and means of finding them.
They assured me there were "mias somewhere in the jungle/'
but they could not tell me where to seek them. They thought I
might kill at least one every week, which was quite encouraging,
and I thought I would be satisfied with as good luck as that would
be. I gave powder and lead to such of the Dyaks and Malays as
were willing to hunt orangs for me, and started them out
FROM SABATTAK TO THE SADOlTGk 351
Two miles from the Chinese kampong, on the eastern side of
the Simujan, is the government coal mine, to which a wooden tram
way leads through the swamps, the only railway in all Borneo.
With a letter in my pocket to Mr. Walters, the superintendent of
the mine, I started to walk up the tramway, and half way to the
mine I found the gentleman himself coming to see me. We were
friends in five minutes. He entered heartily into my plans, and
gave me much valuable information and advice. Our acquaintance
throughout was a most pleasant one, and I never wearied of his
sketches of jungle life. But on the subject of orang-utan hunting
he confessed himself at fault. He had seen many orangs and killed
several, but for several months he had not even heard of any in
that vicinity.
Two days later he hurriedly sent word to me that a mias had
just been seen in the jungle about two miles above the mine. In
less than an hour we were at the mine, and, accompanied by Mr.
Walters and several Dyaks and Malays, we set out under consider
able excitement to find the animal We followed a rugged forest
path until we reached the spot, but the mias was nowhere to be
seen. We divided our party and hunted about until nightfall, but
found nothing save a fresh mias' nest, and so returned in disap
pointment.
The next day we determined to try the experiment of hunting
through the forest at random. Early in the morning there arrived
a Dyak named Dundang, who has the reputation of being a very
successful hunter. He was a fine specimen, though loo muscular
to be considered a typical Dyak. His entire costume consisted
of a yard-wide strip of bark-cloth wound around his loins and
passed between his thighs with the ends falling down apron-wise
in front His head-gear was a strip of faded pink calico wound
around his head and partly confining his long jet-black locks. He
was accompanied by another Dyak, and, with them to guide us,
Perera and I set out for a tramp.
No sooner had we fairly turned our backs on the coolie quarters
at the mines than we were in the jungle. We had decided to try
the swamp forest first, and if that yielded us nothing we would
take to the low mountain which rises out of it like an idand. We
plunged into the swamp and for several hours waded through its
miry mazes, but saw no animals save one monkey and a few small
birds and insects for which we cared nothing.
The trees were rather low, as a rule, but grew very thickly to-
352 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUGGLE.
gather, so that their tops formed a compact mass of green foliage
which shut out every ray of sunlight from the ground below. In
stead of tangled and spreading brushwood, the undergrowth con
sisted of saplings, with the stems of rattans, rope-like creepers and
lianas hanging from the tree-tops or twining in awkward, angular
fashion around their trunks. The ground beneath was little more
than a net- work of gnarled roots, rising out of a thick pulp of water
and decayed vegetable matter often a foot deep. It was not water,
for it was too thick to be called a liquid ; it was not mud, for there
was scarcely any soil in it ; but it was as wet as water and soft as the
softest mud. It is this vegetable pulp which, when washed into
the rivers of Borneo, is immediately dissolved, and imparts to the
streams near the coast their murky brown color.
Almost the entire island of Borneo is quite encircled by a belt
of swamp forest such as the above, extending back from the sea
shore a distance of fifteen to forty miles, where the land rises and
asserts itself. Along the coast of Sarawak, particularly between
the Sambas and Batang Lupar Eivers, isolated hills and lofty peaks
rise abruptly from the level forest here and there evergreen islands
rising out of an evergreen sea. Along the seashore, the jungle
is low and scrubby, but it reaches qujje down to tide-mark.
Where the beach is clean and sandy it is fringed with graceful
casuarinas (0. littored), here called the arrooree tree ; but where the
shore is of mud, as it is between the Sadong and Batang Lupar, the
mangrove forms the boundary of the jungle. A few miles back
from the sea the jungle rapidly rises in height and attains its great
est altitude on the hills.
Progress on foot through the swamp is slow and difficult at
best, and even the man who prides himself on his ability to follow
wherever a native can lead, will find his powers of endurance put to
the test when he starts out to follow a naked Dyak through his na
tive swamps. It seems strange that any terrestrial quadruped
should voluntarily make its home in these gloomy fastnesses, where
there is not even a spot of dry ground large enough for a lair, and
yet the sambur deer (Eusa equind), the wild hog, and the tiny
Java deer are abundant in this very swamp. I say abundant, be
cause several were taken there during my stay, although on the
day of which I am now speaking we saw not one. The only
animal we saw was a large monkey with a short tail, called a pig-
tailed macaque (Macacus nemestrinuA), which I shot and skinned.
A day in the swamp, together with two or three shorter axcur-
SARAWAK TO THE SADOKG. 353
sions, convinced me that my way to the orang-utan did not lie in
that direction. Then we tried the mountain "back of the coal mine.
We traversed its entire length, hunted over its top and along its
sides, over sticks and stones, and across rocky gorges, but not a
sign of mias could we discover. After a week spent in such hunt
ing at random, without any success, we gave it up. Once more I
began to interview the natives as fast as I could catch them, Dyaks,
Malays, and Chinese as well, as to the present whereabouts of the
"piias. I elicited no information which I considered valuable until
one day two Dyaks arrived from the head-waters of the Simujan
River to buy rice at the government store-house. They informed
me that they saw two mias as they came down the river, that
they often saw them near their village at Padang Lake, and they
gave it as their opinion that if I would go up there and hunt for
three or four days I might get two or three mias, and perhaps
more. " Two or three ! " I held my breath in suspense until they
brought out their figures, and when they said " two or three " I
could have hugged them. Had they said I would find them in
" millions, sir, millions 1 " they would have blasted all my hopes for
that river. But the Dyak statement had a ring of truth in it, and
I instantly decided to put their advice to the test. I felt so certain
it would " pan out " well that I made arrangements to start up the
river immediately, and prepared for a prolonged absence.
2*
CHAPTER XXX.
AMONG THE ORANG-UTANS.
Start up the Simujan. Boat-roofs.- Among the Head-hunters. A Dyak Long*
house. Monkeys. Fire-flies. A Night on a Tropical River. Mias' Nests.
"Mias, Tuan." Death of the First Mias. Another Killed. Screw
Pines. tl Three Mias in one Day ! " Laborious Work. Swamp Wading.
Padang Lake. Cordial Reception at a Dyak House.
JUST twenty-four hours after our interview with the Dyaks from
Padang Lake we started on an expedition up the Simujan, solely on
the strength of the information given us by two semi-savage*.
"What if they were lying to me, as so many white, black, yellow,
and red men had done before, and sent me on fool's errands ? The
stock of provisions, ammunition, and preservatives I carried in my
boat showed that I fully believed every word told me by those sim
ple-minded children of the jungle.
Mr. Eng Quee had business up the river, and accompanied me-
in his own boat, with two stout Malays, Blou and Lamudin. ' My
boat was manned by a quiet and obedient little Malay named
Dobah, whom I had engaged by the month, Perara, my Portuguese
half-caste, Ah Kee, my servant and best man, and myself. Both
boats were amply roofed with kadjangs, which make a roof at once
water-proof, very light, easily adjusted, and so flexible that, when
desired, each section can be rolled up and stowed away in the bot
tom of the boat
These kadjangs are made of the long, blade-like leaves of the
nipa palm, on the same principle as a tile roof. The leaves are each
six or seven feet long by two inches wide. They are sewn together
with strips of rattan, each alternate leaf overlapping its neighbor
on either side, and so on until a section of roof is formed about six
and a half feet square. This section is then made to bend in the
middle cross-wise, at a sharp angle, so that it can be folded once
AMONG THE OKASTGHJTAKS. 365
and rolled up, or partly opened and made to stand up, tent-wise,
when it forms the very best kind of roof for such a climate.
We started up early in the afternoon with the flood tide, and
paddled along at good speed very comfortably. For the first ten
or twelve miles the Dyaks have cleared away the jungle on both
sides of the river for a hundred yards back, and grow their
crops of "paddi " (rice) there. At that time of the year (August)
the clearings were all overgrown with rank grass four feet high.
About eight miles above Simujan we came to a typical village of
the Sea Dyaks, and halted to pay it a visit. It stands on the left
bank of the river, quite near the stream, and, from the river, one
sees only the end of a house, with its single door and a long, gray,
moss-patched roof running far back, in ragged lines of perspective,
toward the jungle. The lower part of this structure is almost en
tirely concealed by the broad-leaved banana-trees which grow
closely around it.
The view from the top of the bank discloses, not a collection of
houses, but one immense house, one hundred and ninety feet long
and thirty feet wide. It stands on a small forest of round posts,
five or six inches in diameter, set firmly in the ground, and the floor
is ten feet above the ground. At either end is a door, to which
there leads up a small tree-trunk, cut on the upper side into notches,
which serve as steps. Four rows of posts, the two outer and two
middle rows, run up through the floor to the roof, and the rest are
cut off at the floor.
What is really the back wall of this long village house leans
outward rapidly as it rises from the floor, and is without either
door or window. The front is entirely open all the way along, 1
and the floor extends out thirty feet farther on additional posts,
forming a convenient open-air platform for drying rice and other
jungle produce. The ground underneath the house it is much
more like a house than a village is damp, wet, littered and dirty,
and smells feverish.
We climbed the notched tree-trunk at the end of the house and
entered. A delegation of mostly naked men, women, and children
met us at the door, with here and there a " Tabet, tuan ! " (Q-ood
day, sir ! ) in friendly greeting. Directly two or three women
appeared with clean mats, which they spread upon the floor so
that a considerable space was covered, and we all sat down. Mr.
Eng Quee opened a conversation with the old men, our Malays
talked with the young men, and the women and children flocked
356
TWO YEARS IN THE JTT3STGLE.
round to have a good look at the " orang-putei " (white man), who
repaid their inspection in full, principal and interest
From the numerous posts which ran up through the house there
hung a great many deer antlers, lower jaws of wild boar, p'arongs,
back-baskets (juahs), fish-traps, paddles and spears. Naked chil
dren scudded hither and thither over the floor, chasing the fowls,
teasing the dogs and playing with the little gibbon, all of whk$i
rightfully belonged to the population of the village. As we en
tered, we found a young woman with a five-foot bamboo pail on
her shoulder just starting to the river for water; one man was
sitting on the floor making a fish-trap, and another was hewing out
a new door with his " biliong," or adze-axe.
We were seated in a long hall, which extended without any
division the entire length of the house, and occupied a trifle more -
than half the entire structure. It was on the open side of the
house and faced the open-air platform. Along the other side of
the house, likewise extending its entire length from one end to the
other, was a row of sixteen rooms, each about twelve feet square,
entered by a single door from the middle passage.
LB
RE
H
BX
Q
IS
FAMILY
E9
ROOMS
B
a
'
FIRE I
PASSAGE
O O
COMMON HALL
PASSAQE
O O
COMMON HALL
OPEN-AIR PLATFORM
Plan of Dyak Long-house.
All the timbers of the house were lashed together with rattans,
not a nail nor even a wooden pin being used anywhere. Nor were
any of the timbers mortised together at any point. The Dyak idea
of fastening two objects together is to lash them with green rattan ;
civilized man believes in nailing, pinning, mortising, or fastening
with screws.
The floor was of narrow strips of the nibong palm, an inch and
a half wide, lashed to the sleepers about an inch apart, thus giving
a foor more open than lattice-work. The wall which divided the
*aoms from the open hall was of wide boards hewn out with the
placed upright, and lashed together and to a base-board
rattans. Bach door was one wide board with a projecting
AMONG THE ORASTGMJTAKS. 357
point at the bottom for it to turn upon in lieu of a hinge. On one
of the doors nearest us I noticed a figure of a crocodile rudely
carved in low relief. The outline was very good but no time had
been spent in working out the details.
The side of the house which was enclosed, and also the ends,
were made up of wide slabs of bark lashed to the framework. The
roof was of " attap," or large square sections of palm-leaves sewn
together and lashed to the rafters in courses, like shinglea
Each room in ,a Dyak long-house represents a family, or at
least a married couple, and a village is taxed according to the num
ber of its " doors." This, then, was "a village of sixteen doors."
The young unmarried men and boys slept over the hall in the loft
which forms a part of every such habitation, partly for storage and
partly for domiciliary purposes.
Each private room has no other door than the one opening from
the passage. The floor is generally covered with mats. In a cor
ner of the room next the outer wall is a bed of earth on which the
family fire is built. At this comer the roof is so constructed that a
portion of it, usually two or three rafters, can be lifted up bodily
for about two feet and propped up to admit light and air, and also
to allow the smoke to escape in case there should be an excess
of ii There are no tables or chairs indeed no furniture of any
kind.
In the centre of the long hall a fire was burning on a bed of
earth, and above it hung a bundle of about twenty human heads,
or rather skulls, for not a vestige of flesh remained on any of them.
Each skull was bound round securely with rattan, evidently to keep
the lower jaw in place. All were black and grimy with smoke and
soot, and those at the bottom of the bundle, nearest the fire, were
quite charred. We were among the head-hunters, and those were
trophies which our money could not buy. Thanks to the govern
ment of Sir James Brooke, those heads were all old trophies, no
doubt collected prior to 1841, by the skinny and toothless old fel
lows who now totter about the village, and pound their betel in a
joint of bamboo because they cannot chew it.
According to all accounts, the Dyaks of Southern Borneo are
tame subjects in comparison with the dashing, dare-devil tribes of
the north. A man may travel the whole length of the Mahakkam
or the Barito and visit the villages of the most warlike tribes with
out being able to set eyes on more than one skulL Here in the
Sadong we find a score in the first village of Sea Dyaks we set foot
358 TWO YEARS IK THE JUNGLE.
in, and we afterward saw a beautiful collection of forty-two skulls
in the first village of Hill Dyaks we visited on the upper Sarawak.
As I had abundant opportunity later on to study the Dyaks
themselves, I will not attempt here a description of the inhabitants
of this village. At the termination of our call two of the women
came and offered me half a dozen fresh eggs, which I accepted,
and gave them in return what their souls longed for tobacco.
As we returned to the boat, all the women and children of the
house trooped along after us, respectful and well-behaved to the
last, to see us off and to modestly request a little more tobacco.
I duly stood treat all round with leaves from the bundles I had laid
in store for this purpose, and we parted on good terms.
Just before sunset we passed the last Dyak village and clearing,
and came to where the large trees and dense undergrowth clothed
the banks to the water's edge and even beyond. Then we began
to see monkeys by the score, and as evening approached their num
bers seemed to increase as they began to perch in the branches that
overhung the river, and settle themselves for the night. Some
times as many as five or six would be seen sociably huddled to
gether on a single bough, and often one small tree-top contained
from fifteen to twenty of the little animals. They were all of one
species, Macacus cynomolgus, the commonest in Borneo, if not of
the neighboring islands as well, and by the natives it is called the
krah. They are about the color of a gray squirrel, and three times
as large. I think I never elsewhere saw so many monkeys in the
same length of time. I counted them as we paddled along until in a
few minutes Iran the number up into the eighties, and was obliged
to give up the attempt. They showed not the slightest fear of us,
and I could easily have killed a great many. As it was, I shot two,
which was all I cared to preserve just then.
Just as darkness set in we came to a large band of proboscis
monkeys (Nasalis larvatus), and, although we could only distin
guish their moving forms for a moment now and then, their pecu
liar nasal cry told us what they were.
Fifteen minutes after sunset the last gleam of twilight faded
out, and darkness closed over the forest. The river had narrowed
rapidly, and was then not over forty yards wide. On either side a
wall of green leaves rose from the surface of the stream, and the
banks were quite hidden behind the leafy screen.
Just here we were treated to the most glorious exhibition of
fire-flies I ever beheld. They congregated on certain trees in hun-
AMOffG THE ORANG-UTAWS. 359
dreds if not even thousands, in some instances, and resting quietly
on the leaves kept up an incessant and rapid scintillation, each
insect flashing about a hundred and twenty times per minute. For
three or four miles we passed in about every hundred yards a tree-
top literally filled with brilliant flashes of white light, which, in the
darkness, shone with novel and beautiful effect.
It gives one quite a feeling of awe to paddle along a narrow
river between two dark walls of forest in thick darkness. At such
times the most garrulous boatmen are quiet, the traveller's mind is
filled with romantic thoughts, and the only sounds which break the
sombre stillness are the measured dip of the paddles, the swish of
the eddies they make, the chirp of the tree-frogs and the occasional
twitter of a night-bird.
Having made several miles after sunset, we tied up to some
bushes, ate a frugal dinner, and lay down in our boats to sleep.
The mosquitoes were troublesome to the men who had no netting,
but being provided with adequate protection I fared better. But
my boat leaked from being overloaded, and I slept in water the
greater part of the night.
At break of day we were off again, and soon passed the mouth
of the southern branch of the Simujan. A few miles farther on we
halted at a small bit of cleared ground, built a fire over the water
on a pole platform which we covered with mud, and cooked break
fast. Before starting again we cleared the deck for action on Mr.
Eng Quee's boat, and made ready for aggressive warfare on the
monkey tribe. The kadjangs were rolled up, the supports taken
down and stored away below. This " sampan " of Eng Quee's was
the best shooting-boat I ever used, and, outside of Borneo, I shall
never see its like again. It was a simple dug-out, about fifteen feet
long by three and a half feet broad in the middle, pointed at both
ends, and just deep enough to be steady. Just below the edge it
was completely decked over with strips of nibong palm, and on this, .
amidships, I placed my ammunition-box for a seat, arranged rifle
and double gun, cartridges and field-glass within easy reach.
Leaving my boat to follow we again set out.
We were now some distance above tidal influence, and the river
had narrowed to twenty yards, but it was still very deep and flowed
swiftly. The water was much cleaner than below, and was indeed
moderately clear. The banks on both sides were entirely sub
merged for an unknown distance back from the stream, miles per
haps, but the forest was composed almost entirely of trees. The
360 TWO YEARS UST THE JUKGLE.
nipa palm had been replaced by the screw pine, rasow etam of the
Malays (Pandanus candelabrum), which formed a fringe along both
sides of the river. They grew in water eight to ten feet deep and
very thickly together, so that no boat could reach the shore with
out a great effort to get through them. The stems were from two
to three inches in diameter and thickly studded with short spines.
Owing to the depth at which they grew, it was sometimes possible
to push them aside and drive a boat through them, when they grew
rather thinly, but usually it was necessary to cut a passage in order
to reach the shore. I mention them thus particularly because they
afterwards caused us great trouble.
We saw no proboscis monkeys that morning, nor any others.
The men had to work hard at the paddles to make headway against
the rapid current. Early in the day we passed several abandoned
orang-utan nests, which aroused expectations of something better,
and presently we passed a green nest. From that moment four
pairs of eyes sharply scrutinized every dark object or moving twig
in the tree-tops as we paddled slowly and silently along. Every
doubtful object was instantly pointed out and examined by the
" tuan " with the field-glass.
We had just sighted another very green and fresh-looking nest,
when there was an excited whisper of,
" Mias, tuan ! mias ! mias ! " and a long arm in front of me
pointed it out
"There he is, sir ! there he is !" (in Malay, of course). The light
sampan fairly flew along until we came nearly opposite the tree
containing our intended victim, but he had recognized the approach
ing danger and hidden himself in a thick clump of leafy branches.
Presently we saw a big hairy arm clasping the trunk of the tree
about fifty feet from the ground, but that was all The boat was
stopped directly, and as we could do no better I stood up and sent
a bullet through the arm that was exposed, to stir the old fellow up.
It startled him, for with an angry growl, he immediately showed
himself and started to climb away. As soon as we saw his body I
fired again, which caused him to stop short for a moment. Then
the two Malays put forth all their strength and drove the boat as
far as possible into the thick fringe of screw pines. They stood
very thickly together, but their stems yielded a good desl, and by
feantic pulling, pushing aside, and chopping we forced a passage
tiirough for several yards. At last we came to a dead stop ; there
was not a speck of land in sight, but the boat could go no farther
WADING AFTER A WOUNDED OEANG-TJTAK.
(From Author's sketch.')
AM01TO THE OEAKGhtTTAKS. 361
We were near the large trees by this time, so two of the Malays
seized their parongs and slid down into the water while I quickly
followed with my rifle and a pocket full of cartridges. Fortunate
it was for me in my wading after orangs that my rifle was a breech
loader and that Maynard cartridges are water-proof.
We went quite under water, at first, but after swimming a few
yards, were able to touch bottom. We waded up to our necks in
water until it got shallower, the Malays pushing ahead as fast as
possible to keep the mias in sight, until presently they stood still,
waist deep in the water, and pointed upward. I soon saw the mias,
a fine large one, swinging himself slowly from one tree to another,
evidently disabled. I immediately fired for his breast, whereupon
he struggled violently for a moment, then made off in frantic haste,
climbing along a straight horizontal branch by the aid of his hands
alone, swinging along as a gymnast swings underneath a tight rope.
He reached fully five feet at every stretch.
Presently he stopped short and let go with one hand, which
dropped heavily at his side and came below his knee. For three
minutes he hung there facing us, holding by one hand only. How
huge and hairy he looked, outlined against the sky ! Presently his
hand slipped, his hold gave way entirely and, with outstretched
arms and legs, he came crashing heavily down through the branches
and fell into the water near us with a tremendous splash. He strug
gled up and turned savagely to bay, grasping the trunk of a sapling
to hold himself erect. The Malays rushed at him with their par
ongs, and one gave him a fierce slash in the neck while I was
shouting to them to desist. They were as yet wholly untrained,
and would have ruined the skin in a moment. The old mias flung
his long arms about, gasped and struggled violently, then quietly
settled down in the water, and in another moment was dead. Then
we towed him along back to the boat, lifted him in with consider
able difficulty and began to examine our prize.
Truly, he was a prize. His back was as broad and his chest as
deep as a prize fighter's, while his huge hands and feet seemed
made with but one end in view to grasp and hold on. His arms
were remarkably long and sinewy, but his legs were disproportion
ately short and thick. His body was large and heavy, with a chest
both broad and full; his eyes were villanously small and his canine
teeth were as large as those of a small bear. His arms and legs
were covered with long, coarse, brick-red hair, which grew also on
his abdomen and sides, but the skin which covered his breast hung
362 TWO TEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
in a loose, baggy fold. The face was bare except for a thin growth
of hair on the jaws and chin, which, in pictures of the orang utan
is usually magnified to a luxuriant beard. Has skin was of a shiny
brownish-black color, darkest on the face and throat.
We transferred the body of our dead mias to the other boat and
proceeded up the river as before. Nests were now quite numerous
in the trees along the banks, but we saw none even fifty yards back
from the shore. The Dyaks and Malays both assert that the orangs
are subject to fever, and resort to the open margins of rivers and
lakes for the benefit of the cooling breezes which blow there.
The nest of the orang-utan is simply a lot of small green boughs
and twigs broken off by the animal, and piled loosely in the fork of
a tree, or the top of a sapling. The pile is usually about three feet
in diameter, and on this the orang-utan lies on his back, and sleeps.
A few miles from the scene of our first capture we came to a
very fresh green nest, and Eng Quee remarked :
" Now there must be a mias very near that."
The next moment we saw the movement of a heavy body in a
tree just beyond, and he added :
" There he is, sir ! There's the mias ! "
We paddled quickly up and directly saw the mias climbing rap
idly away. I fired immediately, and the next moment the boat was
driven with full force into the screw pines. We tugged frantically
at the stems to force a passage, but were soon brought to a stand
still Holding my rifle above my head, I slid into the water, and
this time found it only up to my shoulders. The Malays followed
me closely in our wading-match, and in a few minutes we found
the mias in a tree-top, disabled, as I had expected. This time my
bullet went through his head, whereupon he settled back quietly
across two large branches which grew close together, and remained
there, dead, with forty feet of bare tree-trunk between him and us.
I offered half a dollar to any one who would climb up and throw
the mias down, which offer was accepted by one of the Malays.
After a hard struggle up the smooth trunk, he reached the animal
and sent it tumbling into the water below. Two mias in one day
was far better luck than we had dared hope for.
The river narrowed rapidly as we proceeded, and at length there
remained only a passage between the screw pines, which formed a
barrier thirty yards wide on either side between us and the shore.
In two places we found the channel choked with a wide drift of
dead pine stem% completely bridging the river, and barring our
AMONG THE OKAITO-TJTANS. 363
progress. With great labor we cut through one drift and cut a
passage around the other wide enough for our boats.
Just before reaching Little Padang Lake, we came to a spot
where about forty acres of jungle had been killed by fire, the Ma
lays said, although I hardly see how it could hare been burned.
The trees stood in the water leafless, dead, and bare, save for a
green epiphyte here and there on their branches. Acres of dead
screw pines reared their leafless stems aloft, and the prospect was
dreary enough. Winding in and out, and turning a great many
times, we came to Little Padang Lake, and found it a perfect jungle
of Pandanus. Threading our way through that, we came to forest
again, and a little farther on entered Padang Lake, also a labyrinth
of screw pines. As we were crossing a bit of open water, one of
the Malays chanced to look back and immediately exclaimed, in an
excited whisper : " Mias, tuan ! mias ! mias ! "
Sure enough, there we espied a mias fast asleep in a little tree
close to which we had passed. He lay on his back in the main fork
of the tree, holding on by the large limbs.
We paddled up very quietly to within fifty yards, when he dis
covered us and started up. I fired at him, and, as the boat crashed
into the pines, took another shot. The pines were very thick, and
there was no shore anywhere. We were obliged to take to the
water or lose the animal, so overboard we went, and kept our heads
above water by holding to the spiny stems which pricked our hands
painfully. After a while we touched a bottom of mud, and were
able to wade, though the water was up to our necks. It was slow
work. Our feet often got caught in vines, and roots, and some
times we came against submerged pine-stems waist high, while up
to our chins in water. Had the mias not have been hit hard, he
would have escaped, for, in spite of our eagerness, our progress
was slow and painful After forty yards of wading we came up
with him, and found him badly hurt, and visibly weakening. Not
wishing to prolong his sufferings, I sent a bullet through his head,
which smashed his skull all to pieces, and tumbled him like a log
into the water. Lamudin took him in tow, and we toiled back to
the boat.
Three orang-utans in one day I The men hurrahed loud and
long ; and I believe I must have indulged in a little shout on mj
own account
When you remember, my reader, that it was for the orang-utan
that I had made an expensive visit to Borneo, and up to that daj
364 TWO TEARS IN THE JTTKGLE.
had been in great doubt as to its whereabouts and abundance, you
can perhaps forgive a little honest enthusiasm over the results of
our first day's work.
A narrow and tortuous channel led for about a mile through a
wide tract of pines, from which we finally emerged on the open
lake. It was a shallow body of clear water, about five miles long
by two miles at the widest part The whole western half of the lake
is filled with Pandanus, which also chokes it at its southern ex
tremity. On the east they are happily absent, and the water is open
quite up to the edge of the forest
About two miles from the outlet of the lake, up the western
side, is a conical mountain, called Gunong Popook, about nine
hundred feet high, the end of a chain of low mountains extending
westward from the lake.
It was nearly sunset when we reached the open waters of the
lake and made for a Dyak house at the foot of Gunong Popook
We landed and walked fifty yards over "batangs" (saplings),
passed some huge bowlders of reddish porphyry and just beyond
them came to a small Dyak village, or long-house. We climbed
the ladder and were greeted very cordially by a pleasant-faced
young man, named Hakka, his wife Noonsong, and another woman .
who spread clean mats for us to sit upon. The betel box was
brought out, and we all sat down for a chat. We asked if we might
be allowed to stay there that night and perhaps a little longer. Of
course we could stay there ! Why not ? Any stranger was wel
come to stay ; and who ever heard of a Dyak refusing shelter to a
white man and the best the village afforded ? They would be glad
if we would honor them with a visit two months long.
Very true ; a Dyak was never known to refuse hospitality to
a friend, and aid when needed, in which my simple-minded
savage without any religion whatever is about five thousand per
cent better than the canting, hypocritical Hindoo, who would pre
fer to have you sleep out in the rain rather than have your pres
ence desecrate his mud sanctuary or even his verandah. The Dyak
is the man for me.
We were informed that the whole of the open hall was at our
disposal, and in a very short time we had taken formal possession.
Our three dead orangs we hung high up in the trees near the house
to get them beyond the reach of the lean and hungry dogs, or
rather animated dog-skeletons, which roamed about. The Dyaks
were really glad to see us, for to them our visit was quite an event,
AMONG THE CHANG-TITANS. 365
and had we owned the house we could scarcely haTe felt more at
home. I gave the men and women tobacco-boxes and looking-
glasses, and to the children about fifty coppers apiece, all of which
were received with childish enthusiasm.
After a long confab by lantern and torch-light, I hung my ham
mock and musquitero, for the mosquitoes were quite troublesome,
and Eng Quee rigged up his curtain in a corner close by. The
other members of our party sought soft places on the floor, and
/being thoroughly tired with our long day's work, we were soon
beyond the realms of thought or care.
CHAPTEE XXXI.
BOINGS IN THE ORANG-TJTAN COTJNTBY.
Preparation of Orang Skins and Skeletons. Return down the Simujan.
Three Orangs Killed. A Troublesome Infant. Accessions from Native
Hunters. Seven Orangs in One Day. Miscellaneous Gatherings. A
Battle-scarred Hero. The Bore in the Sadong. Another Trip up the
Sinmjan. Doctoring an Injured Hunter. The Dyak at his Worst. Death
of a Huge Orang, "the Bajah." Dimensions. A Rival Specimen. Two
Captives.
THE day folio-wing our arrival at the Popook village was a busy
one. We had three mias to skin and also to skeletonize, for all
the great apes (gorilla, chimpanzee, and orang-utan) are so rare and
valuable that the entire skeleton of each specimen is carefully dis
sected out, and makes a complete specimen by itself, quite as valu
able as the skin.
Near the house was a low platform of poles upon which the
Dyaks spread their paddy to dry, and being vacant at that time,
we converted it into a very serviceable work-table. "We erected
the kadjangs over it to protect us from both sun and rain, and,
calling all the members of our party, gathered round the festive
board for a picnic with the three dead mias. After each specimen
had been carefully measured and one sketch made we sharpened
the knives and went to work.
The forenoon was very hot and the afternoon very rainy ; but
we kept dry under the kadjangs and worked steadily on. It was a
great bother to skin the fingers without mutilating them. Fore
seeing that all my companions would very probably assist on simi
lar occasions in the future, I took pains to teach them the modus
operandi, and was pleased to find how intelligently and skilfully
they took hold of the work in hand. It was well that I did so ; for
not very long after that our resources were taxed to the utmost.
My method of preserving the skins and skeletons was very sim
ple, aakl I am happy to say proved entirely satisfactory. After re-
IK THE ORAlTO-UTAlsr COUNTRY. 367
moving and carefully cleaning the skins, we first treated them with
a liberal application of arsenical soap dissolved in a little water, and
then rubbed on all the powdered alum that would stick to the skin.
A pole was passed through the arms, and the skins were then hung
up to dry, the head and legs being distended with a little loose
straw or dry grass, and the skin of the body slightly distended by
short sticks placed crosswise.
In the hot, moist, bath-room air of Borneo a skin must dry im
mediately or it spoils. If it is hung up loosely, or in folds so that
the air cannot reach both sides of the entire surface, the hair will
drop off all portions that do not dry quickly. I have ventured to
state the above facts for the reason that the ignorance of them, sim
ple as they are, has entailed the loss of many a fine skin of orang,
chimpanzee, and gorilla.
Orang skeletons, like all others, are prepared, in a rough state,
by carefully denuding them of flesh with a knife, but leaving the
bones of the various members attached to each other by their liga
ments, anointing them with thin arsenical soap, 'then tying each
skeleton in a compact bundle and allowing it to dry in the shade.
Being fully convinced that our best pla,n for hunting orangs lay
in making trips up and down the Simujan Eiver we decided to re
turn forthwith to Sadong, hunting on the way down. On the fol
lowing morning we loaded our boats and took leave of the hospit
able Dyaks. They were loud and long in their invitations to us
to come again and stop a long time, promising to do all they could
to help us find animals. Having comforted them with the assur
ance that they would soon see us again, we embarked and set of
Soon after entering the river, we started several troops of pro
boscis monkeys, but being just then in quest of grander game,
we let them go, promising to call and pay our respects a little
later. A little farther down we surprised an orang in the act of
taking a drink He had climbed down within reach of the water
and hung at the foot of a stout sapling, dipping one hand into the
water, then holding it over his mouth and sucking the water off as
it dripped from the knuckles of his closed fingers. He was so
busily engaged that I got a good look at him with the glass before
he saw us. He was near the open water and I easily brought him
down with my rifle, after which we paddled our boat in to where
he fell and secured him without even getting out.
Three miles farther on I espied a baby orang up in a tree-top,
hanging to the small limbs with out-stretched arms and legs, look-
368 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGKLE.
ing like a big, red spider. It gazed down at us in stupid, childish
wonder, and I was just aiming for it, when Mr. Eng Quee called
my attention to the mother of the infant, who was concealed in the
top of the same tree. As soon as I fired at her, she climbed with
all haste up to her little one, which quickly clasped her round the
body, holding on by grasping her hair, and, with the little one
clinging to her, the mother started to climb rapidly away.
Fortunately, we were able to get the boat in amongst the trees
without much trouble, and all immediately went overboard. We
had scarcely done so when a third orang, a young male about two
years old, was discovered looking down from a nest overhead, which
he immediately left and started to follow the old mother. As he
went swinging along underneath a limb, with his body well drawn
up I gave him a shot which dropped him instantly, and then we
turned our attention to the female. She was resting on a couple
of branches, badly wounded, with her baby still clinging to her
body in great fright. Seeing that she was not likely to die for
some minutes I gave her another shot to promptly end her suffer
ing, and then she came crashing down through the top of the small
trees and fell into the water, which was waist deep.
We sprang to secure the baby, but it was under water fully a
minute before we found it, quite unable to swim and very nearly
drowned. We managed to resuscitate it, however, then the other
two were lifted into the boat and we drew out into the stream.
As soon as the baby recovered the use of all its faculties, it
seemed possessed of a little devil It was only about six months
old or eight at the most, and weighed about eleven pounds, but it
had the temper of a tiger. It made such persistent efforts to pull
my hands up to its mouth in order to bite them that I was obliged
to tie its elbows together behind its back, pinion its feet also and
make it fast by a cord to the side of the boat, so that it could not
reach me with its teeth. This, of course, increased its rage.
It was restless as an eel, and gave me endless trouble. Once
when I was not watching, it rolled over and before I was aware of
the movement seized the calf of my leg between its teeth with a
perfectly fiendish expression and bit me very severely. But for
my thick woollen stockings and cotton hunting trousers under
neath, I think the little wretch would have bitten out a piece of my
flesh. I gave Mm a sounding slap on the side of his head, which
caused him to let me go ; but for many days after I carried a large
black and blue mark in memory of him.
DOIKGS IN THE OEANG-UTAJST OOUKTBY. 369
Once it tumbled overboard, and I let it get a good ducting be
fore rescuing it.
A heavy rain came on during the afternoon but we set up our
kadjangs and kept quite dry. As soon as it ceased, we took to our
paddles and went down swiftly with the current, reaching Simujan
at sunset, wet, tired, and hungry, but very happy in the possession
of seven orangs taken in two days' hunting.
At the back of the government house, there was a wide open
space, between the two bath rooms, where the roof projected over
the hard ground, which made a capital open-air dissecting-room.
Mr. Eng Quee placed a table for me and there I skinned
orangs and received deputations of natives who came bringing
specimens, or wanting gunpowder. The ground under the house
was hard, dry and clean, and my motley crew of assistants retired
under the floor with their work. Mr. Eng Quee quite enjoyed the
novelty of orang-skinning, and quickly became an expert hand at
the business. Ah Kee, Perara and the three Malays, worked slowly
and required constant supervision, but they learned rapidly.
Early the next morning after our return, came an old China
man to whom I had given gunpowder a week previous/ escorting
two other Chinamen, who carried on a pole the dead body of a
good-sized orang, which he had shot the day before. I received it
with open arms, paid for it, measured it, and was proceeding to re
move the skin, when there arose a loud shout from those around
me, and the next moment, three naked Dyaks staggered up, also
bearing on a pole another dead mias. This was a fine, large " mias
chappin," with the intensely black skin and the remarkable expand
ed cheeks, or cheek callosities, so characteristic of Simia Wurmbii.
This was larger than any of the specimens I had taken thus far. The
Dyaks said they were out the night before trying to noose a deer,
and found this mias swinging himself from one tree to another,
when a branch suddenly broke and let him fall to the ground.
They attacked hi at once with their spears and killed him. There
were fifteen spear wounds in his chest, but I sewed them up care
fully and entered the old fellow as No. 8. The men facetiously re
marked that we had about enough mias to last through the remain
der of that day.
About noon there arose another and louder shout from the men
under the house, which increased to a perfect yell as a party of
Malays came around the corner with another mias, the largest of
all, alive, swinging underneath a pole which had been passed be-
24
370 TWO TEARS IE" THE JUNGLE.
tween his hands and feet after they were tied together. This was a
very old male, " mias rombi " (Simla satyr us), without the expanded
cheeks. He was much emaciated, and the Malays said he had jun
gle fever, which really seemed to be the case. The Malays shot
biro in the ankle, and, being too weak to climb fast, he fell an easy
prey and was taken alive.
Had he been unhurt I would gladly have kept him alive, but I
am averse to prolonging the sufferings of hopelessly wounded ani
mals under any pretext, or keeping any animal in painful and bar
barous captivity. So I quickly thrust the point of my knife into
the occiput of the half-dead animal, pierced his medulla oblongata,
and, with a hoarse growl, he instantly expired. This specimen
measured four feet four inches in height from head to heel, and
eight feet between the tips of his fingers with the arms extended.
Two hours later, the little baby orang relieved me of all anxiety
on its account by dying. Blou dryly remarked that it had found
dying was getting fashionable with the mias and it wanted to go
with the rest This made seven dead orangs, big and little, to skin
and skeletonize in one day ! I had adult specimens of both species,
male and female, and two young ones ; and, by a happy coincidence,
the Chinese, Dyaks and Malays had almost made a dead heat in the
race after specimens.
There are many good people, who are at a loss to understand
how a naturalist " can bear to skin and cut up dead animals," no
matter how rare and interesting they are. Many wonder how he
can have " an appetite to eat," and cry out in holy horror at sight
of the raw flesh under his knife. Well, tastes differ, that's all As
for myself, I would not have exchanged the pleasures of that day,
when we had those seven orangs to dissect, for a box at the opera
the whole season through.
It is a pity that men who " don't see how you can do it " could
not have been there on that memorable occasion. When we finished,
there was a small mountain of orang flesh, a long row of ghastly,
grinning skeletons, and big, red-haired skins enough to have car
peted a good-sized room. I forgot to eat, and did not fhiTilr of
sleeping till after midnight. It was the most valuable da/s work I
ever did, for the specimens we preserved were worth, unmounted,
not less than eight hundred dollars.
It was fortunate that we had such excellent facilities for drying
skins as the open space at the back of the house afforded. I ap
plied *& preservatives myself to every skin and skeleton, and
DOIFG-S IN THJE OEAKG-TJTAlSr COITNTEY. 371
watched tliem daily to see that they cured properly. The necessity
for this constant care of them kept me at Siinujan several days,
during which time the natives hunted diligently, and brought me
many fine specimens both dead and alive. This is the list of one
day's gatherings, exclusive of insects :
2 Spiny turtles (Q-eoemyda spinosa).
1 Box turtle (Emys Thurgii).
1 Hornbill head (Buceros rhinoceros).
1 Orang-utan skull (Simia Wurmbii).
3 Java deer, alive (Tragulus\
3 Thread fish (Polynemus).
4 Long-armed prawns (Pceneus}.
1 Python, seven feet long.
1 Gibbon, " wan-wan," alive (Hylobates concolor).
A few days after our great orang-utan day, a Dyak brought in
another specimen, which in some respects was a remarkable one.
It was a male mias chappin, with cheek callosities ten inches across,
and it was evidently a dwarf, though of adult age. Its height was
only three feet ten and one-fourth inches, and extent of arms six
feet nine inches. The hair on his arms and legs was extremely
long, that on his shoulders measuring twelve to fourteen inches in
length, which was the longest I have ever seen in an orang.
He bore the scars of many a hard-fought battle. A piece had
been bitten out of his upper lip, and the lower lip also had been
bitten through ; both middle fingers were off at the second joint,
leaving mere stumps ; the third right toe had disappeared from the
same cause ; the fourth left toe and both the great toes had been
bitten off at the end ; one finger was quite stiff and misshapen from
a bite, and, to crown all, he was actually hump-backed, caused, as
I found on dissecting, by some violent injury, possibly a fall. He
had evidently been a regular prize-fighter in his day, a first-class
desperado. One of his canine teeth had entirely disappeared, shat
tered in some bloody fracas, perhaps. I warrant his enemies had
good cause to remember him, for he was in prime fighting condition.
But, alas ! for him, his fighting days are over, and he now peacefully
sits on the branch of a tree in the American Museum of Natural
History, quietly eating a wax durian.
On the last day of August we made ready for another trip up
the Simujan to Padang Lake. The boats were ready at two o'clock,
but the tide was still at the ebb, a strong current was setting down
the river, and we waited for the flow. Moreover, a great bore was
372 TWO YEABS IN THE JTTITOLE.
expected to come up the river when the tide turned, and we were
anxious to see it. Two miles down the Sadong we saw a ragged
brown fringe, reaching across the broad river, and rapidly com
ing nearer. As it swung, like a long arm, around the point a
mile below, we plainly heard it roaring like a distant waterfall. On
it came, like a tidal wave, a great wall of surf, rolling and curling
over at the top, backed by a rushing plain of water nine feet thick.
It seemed like a thing of life and purpose, powerful, irresistible.
I watched it every moment with the glass until it reached the
mouth of the Simujan, where our boats lay. There were no boats on
the Sadong, except two little sampans, manned by daring Malays,
both of which were upset by the bore, but the occupants clung to
their boats, and presently got ashore.
The height of the bore, as nearly as I could determine, was between
nine and ten feet, and it travelled upward at the rate of about twelve
miles an hour. At a distance of half a mile, the sound it made
was like the roar of surf on a stormy beach. As the advancing
wave struck the sharp point of land at the confluence of the two
rivers, with a truly surf-like roar and thunder, a great volume of
water came sweeping up the Simujan, filling the little ditches and
catching up the boats that lay stranded high and dry on the muddy
banks. In less than half a minute the little river rose eight feet,
while, in the Sadong, we saw the great brown billows rolling past
the mouth of our snug harbor, and chasing each other up the river
in pursuit of the advancing torrent Oar light sampans swung
round with the rushing current, the word was given, and we sped
swiftly up the river with the advancing tide.
A short distance up we met a sampan containing two Dyaks
who were bringing me two more mias, one dead and one alive.
The latter was a two-year-old youngster, tied to a stout stick, with
its hands above its head and its feet drawn well down and pinioned
also.
It bit viciously at everything, and made strenuous efforts to
seize any one who came near it. I would as soon have trusted a
finger in a steel-trap as between those vicious jaws.
At last, despairing of getting a chance at any of us, the raging
little wretch seized one of the fingers of its dead companion and bit
it to the bone.
Both orangs were found on a tree near the Dyaks' village, and,
having no fire-arms, they promptly chopped down the tree. The
old OBe was kffled with spears and parongs, and so badly cut to
DOINGS IN THE OBANG-TJTAN COTHTTRY. 373
pieces that its skin was almost worthless. But I sent them on to
Simujan, where I had left Perara to receive and take care of what
ever specimens might arrive in my absence.
The Dyaks said that when the tree fell, a limb struck one of
their companions and dislocated his hip, and they begged us to stop
at the village and give him " obat " (medicine). An hour later we
came to the village where our enterprising Dyaks lived, and, taking
my box of medicines, I went ashore to see what I could do.
The house was of good size, containing about fifteen doors, and
we were conducted to a room at the farther end where the injured
man lay. He was not half so badly off as had been reported a
native rarely is for that matter. He lay on the floor with his in
jured leg lying in a swing, bared to the hip, and smeared all over
with turmeric, which gave the limb an appearance of ghastly morti
fication.
I soon found that the hip had not been dislocated, and that the
injury was only a very painful bruise. I bathed the limb with ar
nica and bound on a cloth saturated with the same, not so much
for the effect it would have upon the injured limb as upon the
mind of the sufferer.
Of course the inhabitants of the village crowded into the room
and around the door to see what was going on and such a crowd !
Some had that repulsive skin disease called ichthyosis, which causes
the epidermis to crack and loosen somewhat, and roll up in. thou
sands of minute rolls, giving the otherwise dark brown body a gray
ish appearance, Others had large ulcerous sores on their arms and
legs, which had been smeared over with turmeric and betel juice.
Some had sore eyes, others had tetter and ringworm, and I think
that of all the women who surrounded us in that room, about four
out of every five were afflicted with visible ailments. It was the
most unwholesome and afflicted crowd of Dyaks I ever saw, very
different indeed from nearly all those I had seen elsewhere and saw
subsequently.
Those who were not afflicted with cutaneous diseases were mostly
old women and men, toothless and gray, with the skin hanging on
their bare bodies in countless folds and wrinkles. Add to the
above, tangled masses of jet-black hair, general nakedness, plenty of
dirt, a little colored rattan and plenty of brass wire ornaments, and
you have the most prominent features of the crowd which sur
rounded us. The house stood rather low on its posts, and the
ground underneath was in a terribly filthy state, which, in a great
374 TWO TEARS IN THE JUGGLE.
measure, accounted for the ill-health of the occupants. My onlj
wonder is that they did not die off altogether in a single year. In
this Tillage, be it remembered, we saw tjie Dyak at his worst, and
we gladly left it behind.
Just before dark we passed the last Dyak village and kept on
paddling for some time longer, until high water, in fact, when we
tied up to the bushes for our evening meal, and, in spite of mos
quitoes, slept soundly in the boats until morning.
About ten o'clock the next day we killed another good-sized
orang, and at noon occurred the grand episode of our experience
in Borneo, the death of the "Kajah," the largest orang of all
We had just met a Malay sampan coming down the river, and,
in answer to our inquiries, the occupants said they had seen no
mias. Half a mile higher up we heard a deep guttural growl or
roar, coming from the jungle back from the river, we thought,
which put us on the alert. Presently Blou, who was steering my
boat, whispered, " Mias ! mias, tuan ! " and struggled frantically
to stop the boat The paddlers backed water directly, although
we saw nothing until the boat had backed several yards. Then we
espied the knee of a large orang, who was lying on a branch about
twenty feet above the water and only twenty yards from us. His
body was entirely hidden by the green foliage, so I stood up in the
boat and fired at his leg to rouse him.
"The Turk awoke." He started up instantly, growling hoarsely
with pain and anger, and started to swing away. His reach was
surprising in its length. Fortunately the water was deep, there
were no screw pines to hinder our progress, and in a moment our
sampan was directly under the old fellow, who then climbed high
to escape us. It was a huge mias chappin, long-haired, big and
burly. He growled savagely at us, and one of my men kept saying
in large capitals,
" CHAPPIN ! CHAPPIN ! MTA^ CHAPPIN ! FTBE, Sir ! fire ! fire ! That's
mias chappin, big, BIG ! ! ! "
The men were all greatly excited, but I knew that the old fel
low was ours and waited for a good shot. In a moment the oppor
tunity came, and I fired twice in quick succession at the orang's
breast. He stopped short, hung for a moment by his hands, then
Ms hold gave way and he came tearing down, snapping off a large
dead branch as he fell, and landed broadside in the water, which
lying all over us, He fell within ten feet of our boat, and
seWed ten .without getting out
A FIGHT IN THE TllEE-TOPS.
(Drcnonjrom the group in the U, S. National Museum mounted by the Author.)
DOISTGS IN* THE OBANGHJTAN COUNTRY.
376
As we seized the arms and pulled the massive head up to the
surface of the water, the monster gave a great gasp, apd looked re
proachfully at us out of his half-closed eyes. I ^an never forget
the strange and even awful sensation with which I*tegarded the
face of the dying animal. There was nothing in it in the least
suggestive of anything human, but I felt as if I had shot some
grim and terrible gnome or river-god, a satyr indeed !
"Ahdo ! Ahdo ! " exclaimed Lamudin in Malay, "the Eajah of
all the mias ! "
We were all filled with wonder at the huge beast before us.
He was a perfect giant in size, larger than any the natives had ever
seen before, and the largest ever shot by^a naturalist His head,
body, and limbs were simply immense, and his weight could not
have been much, if any, less than one hundred and ninety pounds.
To give an idea of his size and proportions, I append his meas
urements, together with those taken of a man of average weight
and stature.
The Orang.
(Male.)
Medium-sized Man.
(Anglo-Saxon.)
Height, liead to heel
Feet. Inches.
4 54-
Feet. Inches.
5 8
Spread of arms, between finger-tips . . .
Length of arm, armpit to finger-tips, . .
Length, of hand
7 10J
3 3
10f
5 74
2 5
7
Length of foot
12
10
Breadth of face
13
5i
Length of face
Hi
Si
Circumference of head, behind ears. . .
Circumference of neck
2 7i
2 3f
1 lOi
1 3
rHrftiTrnfT6T>AA of flhfifit . t ,......,..
3 5i
3 2$
fjirftxirnfftrftTifie nf waist ...,,,......,,,
4 2
2 10*
Circumference of arm
12i
Hi
CirfviiTnferfiTicA nf forearm --,-.,,,.,, T
1 2
10f
Circumference of thigh
1 7
1 9
Circumference of calf .......
lit
1 2
Weight (estimated) *
185 pounds.
160 pounds.
In anothepishapter will be found a somewhat extended descrip
tion of both species of the orang, and therefore I will not offer here
any information concerning the external characteristics of the ani
mal referred to above. He has since found a place, with several of
his nearest relatives, in a huge glass case in the National Museum
at Washington, where he is engaged in a sanguinary " Fight in the
376 TWO YEAKS IN THE JTO5TGLE.
Tree-Tops." In our illustration of that group, under the above
title, the figure on the left is that of the "Kajah."
Late in the afternoon we arrived at the Popook village, where
we stopped on our previous trip, and took up quarters as before.
We remained one day to prepare our specimens, and one more in
order to visit a large Dyak village, two miles above the north end of
the lake, and on the day following returned again to Simujan. On
the way down we took four rnias, two old females and two young
males, and overtook my old Chinese orang hunter in a sampan
with two Dyaks and two dead mias, the latter for me, of course.
One of the mias was a very large and fine one, although rather
sparely built, and my mind was filled with gloomy forebodings
that he was equal to the Kajah in height. When we reached Si-
mujan I measured him forthwith, and my worst fears were realized.
The animal was actually half an inch taller than the Eajah, and his
height was therefore 4 feet 6 inches.
This was indeed a sad blow to us all, and cast quite a gloom
over our spirits. Up to that moment the Kajah had been the tallest
orang that ever fell into the hands of a naturalist, and I would fain
have had him remain so. The old Chinaman had used me very
badly, and I was shocked to observe that he did not feel the slight
est contrition.
But, after all, the specimen I shot was considerably larger than
the other, and surpassed it in every thing except height and length
of arm. The Kajah outmeasured him in every other respect, had a
broader face, longer and thicker hair, and a far more massive build
generally. But for that disgusting half inch my specimen would
have been entirely satisfactory.
During my absence Perara had received three other orangs,
which made twenty-one in all. I had scarcely paid the old celes
tial for his specimens when a party of Dyaks arrived with two live
ones. I recognized the larger as the one we met on our way up,
and he was, if possible, more savage than ever. Even when I cut
his bonds he tried hard to bite me, and when he was free, with the
exception of a cord round his neck, the company very promptly and
respectfully made way for him. I tied him by a long line in the
unused bath-room, and he climbed up to the rafters, where he
hung, sullenly refusing food, and even knocking the bananas out
of my hand when I offered them.
The other live orang was a little fellow, a baby about six
months old, of very different disposition from the other two. He
DOINGS IN THE OKAKG-UTAET COUNTEY. 377
was quite peaceable, not even once attempting to bite, but whined
softly when I approached him, and rolled up his big brown eyes
appealingly. His petition was not to be refused. I cut the bark
that bound his hands and feet, and placed a pile of soft straw in fche
verandah for him, into the middle of which he immediately crawled
and curled himself up. Thus began a great friendship between
ape and man.
As a pet, the larger orang was not exactly a success. Day and
night he clung to the rafters of the bath-room, as high up as he could
get, sullenly refusing all food and repelling my most friendly ad
vances. In the middle of the second night after I got him we ^ere
awakened by hearing something strike with a terrific " bang " on
the bath-room floor, and, on going in, we found him lying where he
had fallen, stone dead.
CHAPTEE XXXII.
COLLECTING- AROUIST) SIMTJJAN.
Native Hunters. Two Orangs Killed at Simujan. Nest-making by an Orang.
A Harvest of Mammals. A Deputation of Dyaks from the Sibuyau.-^
An Inviting Invitation. The Rise and Progress of the Baby Orang. An
Interesting Pet. Humanlike Habits and Emotions. A Tuba-fishing
Picnic. Third Journey up the Simujan. Snake Curry. A Voyage in
the Dark.
I GAVE gunpowder (" obat," or gun-medicine !) quite liberally to all
the natives who requested it, Dyaks, Malays, and Chinese, and in
every possible way encouraged them to hunt animals for me. I
found them very diligent and businesslike, and not in the least
tricky or dishonest, as were the natives of India and Ceylon, whom
I had occasion to employ in the same way. It was a great pleasure
to deal with the Simujan people, for they were so frank and honest.
Only one of my hunters was ever guilty of a breach of trust,
and that was a young Chinaman of our village, who shot a wild
boar in the jungle, a mile from the kampong, and cut it up without
giving me a chance to skin it. Getting word of it I went over, con
fiscated the head, and read the young celestial a lecture that he re
membered afterward to our mutual advantage.
After getting back from my second trip up the Simujan I de
termined to remain some weeks at the village, and, with the aid of
my native hunters, give that locality a thorough overhauling.
Early one fine morning we heard the report of firearms coming
from the jungle on the right bank of the Sadong, not more than a
mile below the village. It continued for about an hour, during
which time about twenty-five shots were fired, when it ceased, and
a Malay came with a sampan after me. I got my rifle and returned
with him, and, on wading three hundred yards into the forest, we
found a large party of Dyaks and Malays with a dead mias on the
aad a live one " treed " in the top of a lofty tree. They
COLLECTING ABOUND SIMUJAIST. 379
were unable to hit it -with their weapons, and no wonder. They
were all old flint-lock muskets, and while the Malays aspired to
leaden bullets, the poor Dyaks used chunks of iron, made by cut
ting round iron rods or bolts into pieces an inch long. I now
understood why the Dyaks had never asked me for percussion caps.
I got there just in time to see the orang build a large nest for
liimself. He took up a position in a fork which was well screened
by the foliage, and began to break off small branches and pile them
loosely in the crotch. There was no attempt at weaving, nor even
regularity in anything. He reached out his long, hairy arm, snapped
sff the leafy branches with a practised hand, and laid them down
with the broken ends sticking out. He presently got on the pile
with his feet, and standing there to weight it down he turned
jlowly, breaking branches all the while, and laying them across the
pile in front of him, until he had built quite a large nest When
fre had finished, he laid down upon it, and was so effectually screened
from us that I could not dislodge him, and after two or three shots
[ told the natives they would have to cut the tree.
Three or four Dyaks were provided with biliongs, and after
tastily lashing together a few poles, to serve as a platform to enable
them to get at the trunk above the spur roots, they mounted it and
began chopping.
The rapidity with which those insignificant little axes ate into
the tree was wonderful In an incredibly short time less than
half an hour the tree fell, the orang revealed himself and was
promptly killed. After we got home I devoted the remainder of the
day to sketching the larger of the two orangs, a fine mias chappin,
in different positions. With considerable difficulty we hauled him
into the top of a tree that stood near the house, put him in a life
like attitude, with his hands and feet grasping the branches and
lashed him there, after which I made a careful sketch of him from
the ground.
My native hunters brought me many fine specimens of mammals,
a few large birds, many reptiles and a few fishes. The most suc
cessful of all my collectors was a fine Dyak named Dundang, already
spoken of, who shot four orangs, several rhinoceros hombills, two
or three proboscis monkeys, a wild hog, and quite a number of
small mammals. , One of the orangs he brought me had the hair
on its bacK quite biacKenecf and singed, as if it had been killed at
Aose range. Upon being questioned, he said he wounded the mias,
but could not bring it down, and having fired all his charges but
380 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
one, lie climbed into the tree containing the orang, put the muzzle
of his gun so near the animal's body that he could not fail to hit,
and fired.
The Malays are quite expert in catching deer. Besides noosing
a fine sambur buck (Eusa equina?) they caught for me Java deer
("plandok"), one after another, until I cried enough. The latter
(Tragulus napu) is the smallest of all the deer tribe 3 being a true
pigmy only nine inches high, very trim, graceful and pretty, but,
unfortunately, "without antlers. The sambur was a much-dwarfed,
faded-out, thin-haired representative of his species, in comparison
with the noble stags of the Animallais. His antlers were also very
insignificant in comparison, but as for that I have seen fully as
great variation in the antlers of our Virginia deer in a far smaller
area of distribution.
Two specimens of a curious viverrine animal, half cat and half
otter, the Cynogale Bennettii, were brought in, several civet cats, a
beautiful flying lemur (Galeopithecus volans), and* a slow-paced
lemur (Nycticebus tardigradus). The Cynogale, for which I believe
there is no common name unless we call it the otter cat, is peculiar
to Borneo, and only one species is known. Its muzzle is extremely
broad at the end (2f inches), but narrows suddenly midway be
tween the end of the nose and the eyes, which gives the head a
very strange appearance, totally unlike that of any other quadru
ped I am acquainted with. The animal is 24J inches in length of
head and body, and the tail measures 7 inches. It is covered with
a rather thick coat of moderately long but fine fur, of a uniform
dark-brown color. I shot in the neighborhood several specimens
of the common gray monkey ( Macacus cynomolgus), a pig-tailed ma
caque (M. nemestrinus), here called the " broque " in Malay, from
which the outlandish common name of " bruh " has been evolved.
One day a party of Dyaks arrived from the head of the Sibuyau
Biver, between the Sadong and Batang Lupar, bringing several
fragmentary skins of argus pheasant, which had been taken off in
native fashion for the wing and tail feathers, and also a live argus.
The poor bird had had a hard time of it, and in looking at it I felt
guilty of cruelty to animals. In its struggles it had lost half its
body feathers, and, worst of all, when it was caught in the noose
one of its legs had been dislocated. I lost no time in putting it
beyond the reach of further pain.
lih Sibuyau people told me that argus pheasants and animals
of many kinds I had not yet found were plentiful around their vil*
COLLECTING ABOUHD SIMTJJAN. 381
lage, and gave me a pressing invitation to make them a long visit
I determined to accept it as soon as I had worked up the Sadong
region sufficiently, and told them they might expect me in a few
weeks.
The baby orang mentioned at the end of the preceding chapter
became a striking example of the survival of the fittest. While my
first two captives were vicious to the last degree, and died promptly,
without repentance, my third pet turned out to be all that heart of
man could desire in an orang. He was by no means a thing of
beauty, but he certainly was a joy forever.
Judged by our standard of human beauty, he was perhaps as
ugly as any healthy child could be and live ; but, for all that, his
homeliness was interesting ; it seemed to conform to a general plan
of ugliness, and nothing was lacking to make it perfect. But ?
judged by the standard of anthropoid beauty, he was as handsome
and wholesome a little orang as ever climbed. His eyes were large,
bright and full of intelligence, and he had a forehead like a philos
opher.
Because of his bald and shiny head, his solemn, wrinkled and
melancholy visage, his air of profound gravity and senatorial wis
dom, we got to calling him the Old Man, and forgot to give him any
Christian name. A thin growth of brick-red hair grew straight up
the back of his head and over the crown, making, in certain lights,
a perfect halo around his bald, brown pate, remind ing one rather
forcibly of certain pictures by the old masters.
I measured hrm, for the first time, on October 15th, in spite of
his vigorous opposition, and found that his height was 2 If inches,
extent of arms 34J inches, and his weight 10^- pounds. His body
was short and thick, and, like all orangs, his arms were so long and
his legs so short that by stooping forward a little, his hands easily
touched the ground. In walking, he invariably went on all fours,
placing the back of the fingers and ball of the thumb, instead of
the palm, upon the ground, and he also turned his toes under. "FP
gait on the ground was very much like that of a man going on
crutches with both feet injured alike. On the ground he moved
slowly, seeming quite out of his element, but his feats in climbing
and his performances on the slack-rope were highly entertaining.
He was fresh from the jungle when brought to me, but I soon
convinced him that my intentions were honorable, and slowly gained
his confidence. For three or four days he would not allow me to
hold him in my arms unless I would let him grasp some firm object
382 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUGGLE.
-with at least one hand. The action plainly showed that he feared I
would play a trick on him by letting him fall. Presently, how
ever, I hit upon a plan which conquered his suspicion. I made
him climb tip to my shoulder to get the bananas of which he was
very fond, and, after that, a banana held at arm's length above my
liead would start him to climbing my body as if it were a tree
until the tempting bait was reached.
He soon became very fond of being held in my arms, and when
I grew tired of holding him, he would grasp the folds of my flannel
shirt and hold himself quite an improvement upon the puny help
lessness of human infants.
Next to eating seven bananas at once, his greatest delight was
in sitting lazily in my lap while I sat reading, writing, or even eat
ing, sprawling out his legs and arms, catching hold of my book, or
my penholder, or pulling at the table-cloth.
Once while holding him in my lap at dinner, he suddenly made
a pass at the roast duck which lay before me, and had his teeth in
it before I could recover from my surprise. On one occasion when
I sat eating, he leisurely climbed up the back of my chair, squatted
on the topmost round, leaned lazily forward against me, and rested
ids chin comfortably on my shoulder. And there he sat all
through the meal, watching the performance with the air of a
connoisseur.
For a long time he would eat nothing but bananas and sugar
cane, and I was at my wits' end to find a way to teach him to eat
boiled rice. One day, however, as he was sitting in my lap while
I was at dinner, I noticed that his eyes followed the journeys of my
spoon with great interest, and it occurred to me that human beings
always want what they cannot have. Happy thought ! I began to
pass each spoonful of rice close to his mouth on its way to mine.
He soon began to open his mouth every time he saw the spoon
coming, only to be disappointed by seeing it travel on to his next
neighbor. From being merely willing to try the rice, he became
very anxious when he saw it was denied "him, and a little more
tantalizing set him to straggling violently for the food he had
previously despised. When it was finally given, him he ate it with
fee greatest satisfaction, and thereafter, with the addition of milk,
it became his daily food.
He also learned to eat with relish all kinds of cooked meat,
TOgeWbles, canned fruit and bread, and to drink tea, cofiee, milk
and eboeolate, in all respects evincing the tastes of a human being
COLLECTING AKOmffD SIMUJAK. 383
except that he would not touch beer, -wine nor spirits. He lived
and died a teetotaler.
The Old Man soon grew fat and mischievous, and always did
his best to amuse me. Many an absurd childish game we
played upon the floor in highly undignified fashion. One of his
favorite tricks was to seize my hand suddenly, draw it to his mouth,
and make a feint of giving it a terrible bite. But he always knew
that he must bite gently, which is more than can be said of any
human infant I ever experimented with. Often he would entertain
me for half an hour by making the most comically wry faces, for
which his broad, india-rubber lips were specially adapted. He
was also a great contortionist, and, having no ligamentum teres, the
freedom with which he used his legs was at first quite surprising.
When at Simujan I slept in a tall and wide " four-poster," and
the little fellow was always anxious to sleep with me. "Whenever I
permitted him to do so, his happiness was complete. His -favorite
position was to lie sprawling upon my chest, affectionately clasp
ing my body with his outstretched arms and legs, with his head on
my shoulder and his face close to my neck. Being as clean and
wholesome as any human being, and without any odor of tobacco
or liquor on his breath, he made a very agreeable bed-fellow until
he got into the habit of snoring and sneezing so much as to disturb
my slumbers, when it became necessary for him to sleep by him
self. Meanwhile, I watched hrm closely, and did everything I could
think of to arouse his mind to action, and stimulate it to act in
different directions.
About this time I had another very interesting anthropoid pet,
a young gibbon, which I purchased at a Dyak village. Instead of
hobbling along like the little orang, which used its arms as if they
were crutches, it would stand perfectly erect, partially extend its
long, thin arms out sideways to balance himself, and walk across
the floor with brisk confidence. When in good health* it was quite
friendly, and even affectionate, but in spite of my efforts to prolong
its life it soon sickened and died.
On September 27th, a bore again came up the river, and on the
day following the tide rose to an unusual height, about fourteen feet,
covering every speck of land in the kampong, so that the Malays
paddled from house to house in their sampans, and Ah Kee had
to wade knee deep in water to get my dinner from the cook*
house to the tabla It was like a Mississippi freshet^ except that it
departed as suddenly as it came.
384 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUGGLE.
On October 2d Mr. Eng Quee got up a grand tuba-fishing
party, and invited me to make one of it, which I was very glad to
do. We rose at midnight and started down the river with the
ebb tide. I lay down in the boat and slept until we arrived at the
mouth of the Ensengi Biver, a large creek which empties into
the Sadong from the west, about six miles below the village. We
found there a number of Malays in sampans, patiently waiting for
Haybreak, and, after a good deal of time-killing banter, all hands
lay down and went to sleep.
At daybreak the little fleet of canoes started up the creek, and,
after paddling about two miles, the stream rose above tidal in
fluence, and the banks were thickly fringed with pandanus. The
rendezvous was about four miles up.
When all had arrived there were present twenty-three sampans,
manned by about sixty Malays. The first thing in order with the
Malays was the usual breakfast of boiled rice, which many had
brought cold, wrapped in banana leaves, and others cooked on the
spot After that, all fell to work to prepare the tuba, which is the
fine, fibrous root of a climbing plant (a species of Menispermum),
which possesses a powerful narcotic principle, and is grown for the
special purpose of taking fish. It was done up in small, close bun
dles, the thickness of a man's wrist and six or eight inches long,
and was dry and hard.
The bundles were distributed so that each boat received four or
five, each man procured a stout little club of green wood, and the
pounding began. The game was to reduce the tuba to a pulp, and
for an hour sixty clubs beat a lively tattoo on the root bundles as
they were held on the edges of the boats. A quantity of water,
perhaps tweniy gallons, was dipped into each boat, into which the
tuba was dipped and wrung out from time to time, until it gradu
ally softened under the pounding process and was reduced to
shreds. When water was squeezed out of the tuba it had a white,
frothy appearance, like soap-suds.
As fast as the bundles of tuba were reduced to fine shreds, they
were chopped up with a parong, and the particles mixed with the
water in the boata When all the root had been thus pounded and
chopped up, the Malays procured lumps of clay and dissolved them
in the solution until it was made quite murky. Each boat con
tained about twenty gallons of this narcotic extract.
The stream was about forty feet wide and eight to ten feet deep,
tike current was swift and the water rather murky.
COLLECTING ABOTTKD SIMTTJAN. 385
We waited until the tide was half out, and then, after selecting
a good place, the boats drew close together, the word was given,
and with a ringing cheer the extract was quickly dipped up and
thrown into the stream. As I looked at the small quantity of tuba-
water and the volume of water in the creek I must confess to en
tertaining doubts of the result.
Having performed the act of faith, we began at once to look for
fish. The stream absorbed the tuba-water as though it had been
so much dirty soap-suds, and not a trace of it was to be seen five
minutes after. We drifted slowly down to where there were curves
and quiet eddies in the stream, and each man looked for what he
considered the most likely place for a fish to rise. Presently we
saw two little fellows floating helplessly at the surface, and the man
nearest them kindly took them in out of the wet.
Each man had a small dip-net and a " grains " with two or
three prongs. The spear-head was set in the end of a bamboo
handle so that it would come out when a fish was struck, and of
course the spear-head was made fast to the handle by a stout line.
Mr. Eng Quee had provided me with a spear, which I was very anx
ious to use.
Just as our boats reached a wide bend in the stream, a large fish
showed its slimy, black back at the surface, just out of our reach.
My first thought was that it was a porpoise, it was so large and
black. Presently it appeared again and floated for a moment with
its back out of water. It was certainly four feet long. Mr. Eng
Quee and one of his Malays threw their spears at it but missed.
Then I skipped to the bow of my boat, and finding myself within
reach of the fish drove my spear into its side. It gave a lunge for
ward, almost throwing me overboard and upsetting the boat, and
then Oh 1 my soul ! the line snapped ! Down went the huge fish,
and we never saw him again. I hoped that some one of the party
would see him and take him in, but was disappointed.
Fifteen minutes later, another big fish of the same kind came
up, was speared by two Malays, and after a gallant struggle was
secured. It was a little over three feet long, scaleless, with a
broad, flat head, somewhat like that of a catfish, a thin body, small
dorsal fin and the anal fin very broad and long. Its color was
blackish-brown, with three light bands along the middle of the
side. Altogether nine large specimens of this species (Wdlago
leerii) were taken during the day.
The tide was still running out when we arrived at the mouth of
25
TWO TEAKS IN THE -JUNGLE.
the creek, and many fish were found stranded on the mud along
the banks, dead and dying. The Malays waded along at the water's
edge, knee deep in mud, to secure those that came ashore, and
also others that rose to the surface close to the bank.
Just at the mouth of the creek we found numbers of small fish
floating at the surface, of which we easily secured fifteen with our
dip-net. All but three were thread fishes, a strange species of
Polynemus, which is readily distinguished by the extremely long,
white, threadlike filaments, more than twice the length of the
whole fish, attached to the pectoral fins. This is, in more respects
than one, a very curious fish, as may be seen by an examination of
the excellent figure given herewith.
The Malays were desperately fish-hungry, and I could not in
duce them to sell many of their largest fish, but I consoled myself
with the purchase of the smaller ones, and also a very fine large
turtle which was caught in a net.
Among the most interesting species taken were Periophthalmus
scMosserii, our old friend of the Selangore mud banks, the air-
breathing Ophiocephalus, and the celebrated gourami (Osphro-
menus gourami), a large and fine fish of great economic value, and
well known to ichthyologists, especially those engaged in fish cul
ture, from the numerous efforts that have been made, many of
them successful, to acclimatize it in various countries from the
East Indies to the United States. I found it native to Selangore,
where I obtained one very fine specimen. Since there is already
an abundance of literature on the gourami, I will add only a refer
ence to the accompanying illustration, which is a reproduction of a
figure given by Dr. Theodore N. Gill in his paper on this species,
which appeared in the Eeport of the U. S. Commissioner of Fish
and Fisheries in 1876.
On the tuba-fishing pic-nic referred to above, I was fortunate
in securing a specimen of the very rare and curious little pike-head
(Ludocephaius pulch&r)* the jaws of which are capable of being
protruded far forward, thereby rendering the mouth sub-tubular.
The name, Luciocephalus, meaning as it does, "pike-head," is a
very apt one, for the head certainly much resembles that of the
familiar pike or pickerel of our home waters. The fish, however, is
* WOT the identification of tlie fishes I collected in the Sadong River and its
taritelams (35 apeeies), I am under obligations to Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, Cura
tor o Fiflhes, U. a National Museum.
COLLECTING AEOU3STD SIMUJA]*. 387
not at all related to the pike, but is nearest akin to the peculiar
fishes with labyrinthiform pharyngeals, known as the Anabantids,
and comprising, among others, the climbing fish and gourami.
Its combination of peculiar characters renders it an object of
great interest to naturalists, and by them it is considered to be
the representative of a special family, the Luciocephalids.
The next day my hunters brought me a rhinoceros hornbill,
two proboscis monkeys, a live slow-paced lemur (Nycticebus tardigra-
dus) and a brilliant emerald-green tree-snake (Passerita), about six
feet long, which was the most beautiful serpent I ever saw. A
Dyak boy brought it in his hands, and I received it in mine with
out any of the revulsion of feeling one ordinarily feels in handling
a live snake.
It was a sociable sort of a snake, not in the least nervous on ac
count of its captivity, and I kept it alive for some hours, and al
lowed it to crawl quietly over my table and around the room. I
was quite charmed with its splendid color, lithe, beautiful form, and
graceful movement. It was a painful matter to both of us when
I was at last obliged to consign it to the alchohol can.
Late in the afternoon of October 4th, I started on my third and
last trip to Padang Lake, with the intention of living at the Po-
pook village for two or three weeks. Our starting was delayed
by the arrival of a large civet cat, a wild cat, and a wild hog's head,
all of which had to be attended to immediately. I took the little
baby orang with me, partly because I did not like to risk leaving
him, and also because I liked his company.
Darkness overtook us before we had gone far, but it was a clear
moonlight night and we expected to make a long pull before tying
up. Very soon, however, the sky became overcast with heavy black
clouds, making the darkness very intense, and the lightning and
thunder foretold an approaching storm. Just before it broke,
we came to a tiny Dyak hut, about eight feet square, recently
erected at the edge of the bank, and, making fast to the shore, we
quickly climbed the ladder and craved shelter. " The man of the
house " was at home, with his wife and two children, and we were
received with true Dyak cordiality. A dammar torch was burning
near the door, and in a corner a small fire was smouldering on a bed
of clay. The hut which sheltered us from the pouring rain was of the
Mnd frequently seen along the Sadong and Simujan, a mere tempo
rary erection, built in three days, and occupied only while the owner
was planting a crop of paddi and afterward while liarvesting it
388 TWO TEARS IN THE
Learning that we were interested in animals, our host exhibited
a water-snake about four feet in length, which he had caught in the
river that afternoon, and intended to eat. He said it was a clean
snake, because it lived on fish. Ah Kee expressed some surprise
and incredulity at his intention, whereupon the Dyak immediately
proceeded to roast the serpent on the fire and strip off the skin,
preparatory to making a snake curry. He said that his people eat
large lizards also.
As soon as the ram ceased we proceeded, but before long it
began anew, so we tied up at the first Dyak village we came to,
and made ourselves comfortable until morning.
The next day was beautifully clear and balmy, of the kind which
makes mere existence a delight. We paddled up stream in high
spirits, shooting a monkey now and then, halting at noon for a
good square meal on a fine bit of dry ground, left so by the greatly
lowered waters of the stream. When it came time to eat, my
stomach was empty and craved supplies ; but it utterly refused Ah
Kee's oft-repeated stewed duck, rice, and yams. My appetite called
for a new deal, and Ah Kee responded with a tin of "biscuits"
(crackers), another of American pressed beef, and a can of delicious
cherries, all from San Francisco. How appetizing was that ration
of home-grown beef and fruit !
The water in the river was about three feet lower than we had
before found it, and dry ground was noticed in several places.
Just before sunset we became involved in a chase after a big troop
of proboscis monkeys, which consumed considerable time and left
us wet, tired, and baffled. Then darkness fell and it began to rain.
We were four miles from the Popook village and with a labyrinth
of screw pines to go through in the dark, but we were in no condi
tion to remain all night where we were. The two Malays who .
paddled Eng Quee's boat announced their determination to stay
where they were until morning, so I got into my own boat, and
told my boys we would go on. The Malays declared it was impos
sible to go through the screw pines in the dark, but we left them
to their own devices and proceeded.
I fhiTilr I never saw a blacker night It rained steadily, though
nolin torrents, and the lightning aided us very effectively. My little
Malay man Dobah did the steering. Ah Kee and Perara sat under
the kadjangs and paddled, while I sat in the bow, paddling also,
aded as a pilot How we ever found the entrance to that
passage through the .pines will always be a mystery to me,
COLLECTING AROUND SIMUJAN.
and how we ever got through that narrow, zigzag tunnel in the
dark without going astray also passes my comprehension at this
time. In many places the channel was so filled with floating Pan-
danus stems as to be almost impassable, and many times our boat-
roof was caught by overhanging branches and nearly dragged oi
Aided by the lightning flashes, and the slight reflection on the open
water, I was able to spy out the passage a few yards at a time and
give directions to the steersman.
At last, to our inexpressible relief, we emerged on the open
water of the lake, and headed north. By this time the clouds had
lifted a little, and we were able to distinguish Gunong Popook.
After several trials we found the landing, and a few moments later
climbed the ladder of the village. Great was the astonishment of
the Dyaks when they saw a white man enter at the door, rifle in
hand, with a little red-haired orang-utan clinging to his shirt.
There was a large party of visitors in the village, and when we
told them from whence we came since nightfall their surprise was
profound.
" And who showed you the way ? " they demanded.
" The tman " (mister).
" Ah-doe ! Ah-doe I Ah-doe ! "
We were wet, cold, and hungry, but all these evils were speedily
corrected, and our enjoyment of them was intensified by the thought
of Lamudin and his companion in their wet boat on the river,
plagued by darkness, rain, mosquitoes and hunger.
OHAPTEE XXXITL
OOLLECTINa AT PADASTa TiATTR!.
A Hunt on Gunong Popook. A Lost Hunter. A Handsome Dyak. A Becep-
tion by Torchlight. More Orang-utans. How an Orang Sleeps. Probos
cis Monkeys. Living versus Stuffed Specimens. A Remarkable Nose.
Luckless Gibbon-hunting. Luckless Wild-hog Hunting. Mud and
Thorns. Picturesque Vegetation. Fresh- water Turtles and Fishes. ^Re
turn to the Sadong.
I SPENT a most delightful fortnight "with the Dyaks at the Popook
Tillage. The weather was continuously fine, the Dyaks were
agreeable and interesting, the jungle yielded a good harvest of
specimens, and every day there was something new to see and
to do.
I presently sent Lamudin and his companion back to Simujan,
and with my three other men settled down comfortably to live and
work
My first experience was a rather ridiculous one for me, and con
sisted in my getting lost, almost within sight of the village. Dur
ing the afternoon of the day following our arrival, we heard some
wah-wahs (gibbons), crying in the tree-tops, far up the steep side of
Gunong Popook, and, hastily catching up my shot-gun, I started
for them.
My boy Perara was also hunting on the mountain, and, before I
had quite reached my game, he fired twice, close-by, which scared
the wah-wahs into silence and out of the neighborhood. I climbed
on until I reached the summit of the mountain, -which is a perfect
cone only a few yards across at the top. Just as I reached the
summit, a female sambur deer ran along the steep slope, forty yards
below me, in full view. Having only small shot in my gun, it would
have been worse than useless to have fired.
Presently, I began to slowly descend. As I was quietly stoop
ing down to examine some shells,, another sambttr, aiBo a ctbe, trotted
COLLECTING AT PADANG LAKE. 391
up, halted, and stood stock still in full view, not more than twenty
yards away. I thought of Balaam and how he wished for his sword,
and sympathized with him while I thought of my rifle. She im
pressed me as being the least handsome of all the deer tribe, except
ing, perhaps, the female moose. After we had stared at each other
a few seconds she trotted of and a few moments later I saw a stag
of the same species, whose antlers were in the velvet It literally
rained sambur because my dish was bottom up.
After wandering about for some time to no purpose, I set out to
return to the house. Half way down I shot a black monkey or
" bijit " (Semnopithecus femoralis), slung it over my shoulder to
carry home, and made for the clearing on the mountainside. After
a slow and painful struggle through several acres of thorns I heard
a dog bark, saw the edge of the clearing, and knew that I was near
the house. At last I reached the edge of the clearing and heaved a
sigh of relief, but lo ! it wasn't our clearing at all ! I had never
seen it before, and knew that there was no such spot within a mile
of the Popook village. The explanation was not difficult. In com
ing down the mountain I had made altogether too many degrees of
longitude at the top, which brought me out on the west side in
stead of on the south. It was almost sunset, there was no path
leading south from the clearing, and I knew that I could not possi
bly make my way through that thorny jungle at that time of day
without getting lost and benighted.
Seeing smoke at the farther end of the clearing, toward the
north, I went toward it, resolved to bivouac in good style, and, if
it became necessary, roast my black monkey and sup on ii But I
found a path leading away from the clearing, and followed it up
rapidly. After walking about a mile, I came to a small Dyak house
of four or five doors. Calling out the inhabitants I said to them
in Malay, " Give me two men go Popook Dyak house, quick ! "
They asked a question or two which I did not quite understand,
and therefore answered somewhat at random. They civilly invited
me to come in and sit down, and chew betel with them, but with
equal civility I declined and urged them to come on. Straight
way two of the young men arose, took a fresh chew of the betel,
girded up their loins, tied on their parongs and said they were
ready. I said we had " better go lake, go boat," and we started
for the lake at onca
Both my guides were as fine-looking Dyaks as any I saw in
Sarawak Territory. One was a youth about seventeen years old.
392 TWO TEARS IK THE JUNGLE.
with an intelligent, even handsome face, a beautifully-moulded form,
erect carriage, and easy, graceful movement. On the score of good
looks and general physique he could discount nine-tenths of all the
white boys I ever saw.
The two were dressed alike, in decidedly picturesque cos
tumes. The head-dress was a clean turban of bright scarlet cloth,
neatly wound around the head, with a loose end falling over the
left ear. The crown of the head was wholly uncovered, and a pro
fusion of jet black locks fell over the top of the turban. The
" chawat," or loin-cloth, was also scarlet cloth disposed in. ample
folds, fringed at both ends, one of which hung down apronlike in
front, and the other at the back.
Each of the Dyaks wore behind him, suspended by a cord around
the waist, a shield-shaped mat of many colors, which quite covered
the body from the loins half way down to the thighs, and was evi
dently worn to sit upon. One of these protectors was ornamented
by a border of cowries sewn on close together all the way round.
Their parong sheaths were each bedecked at the end with a
bunch of the most showy wing and tail feathers of the argus pheas
ant The persons of my guides were further ornamented by several
copper rings worn in each ear, which proclaimed them to be Seri-
bas men, bracelets and armlets of finely-plaited rattan, and leglets
of beaded rattan worn just below the knee. Taken altogether they
were as handsome savages as one -could wish to see.
On reaching the lake, which was about a mile from the house, the
Dyaks found two paddles that had been hidden in the grass, dipped
the water out of a sunken canoe, and, getting into it, we set off just
as it grew dark As we neared the Popook village we heard people
calling for me far up the side of the mountain, but I was not able
to make them hear my answering shout As soon as we reached
the village the gong was beaten and several shots fired to call back
the four Dyaks and Dobah, who were then far beyond the clearing.
I was very well pleased to find that they had turned out so prompt
ly to look for me ; going, as they did, naked and barefooted, in
the dark, into thick jungle among rocks and thorns. As they were
returning, one of the Dyaks was charged upon by some large ani
mal, presumably a deer, knocked down, considerably bruised and
dreadfully scratched, besides receiving a cut on his leg and another
on his ear. The suddenness of the assault and its mysterious nat
ure caused great excitement and a volume of loud talk. I served
out tobacco to the crowd and dressed the wounds of the injured
COLLECTING AT PADAKG LAKE. 393
party with arnica and court plaster, which pleased all the Dyaks
very much and placed us all on confidential terms.
The natives sat by and looked on with great curiosity while I
ate my supper.' Afterward they examined my shoes with great
interest, and one man succeeded in putting one of them on. They
also inspected my feet closely, and a comparison of theirs with mine
was the cause of much merriment
I took advantage of their good humor to ask them about the
little metallic plates on some of their front teeth, which looked like
gold. I found that each upper incisor and canine tooth was capped
by a smooth plate of copper, held in place by a pin driven into a
hole in the tooth. The Dyaks showed me how the hole is drilled
(with a bow), and one imitated the agony they endure during the
operation. He was a good actor, and his facial and bodily contor
tions and writhings excited roars of laughter.
The next day, while again climbing up the mountain after wah-
wahs, my Dyak companion discovered an old female orang-utan
seated quietly on a branch not more than thirty feet distant. I
fired at her, and my bullet killed both her and the baby which she
was holding in her arms. Although she was very small, only 3
feet 6 inches in height, she was so old her teeth were worn down
to mere stumps, and several had entirely disappeared. Her hair
was rather short, on account of which the Dyaks declared her to be
a "mias kassar," and therefore different from the other varieties,
" rombi " and " chappin."
On the morning of the third day, I took one Dyak and Dobah,
and set off in my boat to visit the southern end of the laka It
was delightful weather. There was not a ripple on the surface of
the lake, which lay like a polished mirror, reflecting the blue sky
and its fleecy clouds, the dark-green mountain and the fringe of forest
trees along the banks. Scarcely a bird's song broke the stillness.
It was like a landscape in a dream sunny, silent, balmy and clear.
One day in such a spot is worth the toil of half a year to gain it.
Half way down the lake we discovered a fine old orang, lazily
finishing his morning nap. His nest, which was nearly three feet
across, was not more than fifteen feet above the water, and he lay
sprawled out upon it, flat on his back, with the sun at the back of
his head, sound asleep. His hairy arms and legs were thrust out
ward and upward, and his hands (an orang has hands on his legs,
if you please) were firmly but mechanically grasping the largest
branches -while he slept. The back of his head was toward us, and,
394 TWO YEARS Itf THE JUNGLE.
after silently paddling up to within fifteen yards of him, I stood
in the boat to observe and afterward to make a rough sketch of him
on the inside of an envelope.
"While we were watching him, he snored almost continously,
*' not loud, but deep," until presently the flies bothered him and
lie awoke. With a slow, awkward sweep of his ponderous right arm
he drove the flies from his face, and a moment later was wide
awake. He was just rising to a sitting posture when my rifle-ball
caught him between his shoulders. He sprang up quickly, gave a
deep growl, flung himself forward into the tangled mass of green
vines and branches which surrounded the nest on three sides, and
was instantly lost to view. He went crashing forward for a few
yards and then stopped ; there was a moment's silence, then a heavy
fall and a dull splash. Lamudin and Blou went into the water and
worked their way in to where the old fellow lay, and presently
towed him out
We went on down to the head of the lake, which, like the west
ern side, is completely filled with screw pines growing in the water.
A small creek called Batang Rejang empties into the lake at this
point. We entered it and paddled up until it became so obstructed
with overhanging branches that further progress was impossible.
On the way back we encountered a large troop of proboscis
monkeys, and, by a sudden assault, I succeeded in killing two fine
old male specimens. As usual, they were over water, and, being
swift climbers and quite shy, were hard to kill. I saw, altogether,
during my ramblings in the forests of Borneo, perhaps a hundred
and fifty proboscis monkeys ; and, without a single exception, all
were over water, either river, lake or submerged forest. As long as
they are in sight they are very conspicuous objects, choosing the
most commanding positions in open tree-tops. Once I saw thirteen
in one tree, sitting lazily on the branches, as is their habit, sunning
themselves and enjoying the scenery. It was the finest sight I eve*
saw in which monkeys played a part.
The cry of the "blanda," as the natives call it, is peculiar and
unmistakable. Written phonetically it would be " honk," and occa
sionally "kee-honk," long drawn and deeply resonant, quite like
the tone of a bass viol.
As the name would imply, the most striking feature of the pro
boscis monkey is its nose. In old male specimens this organ reaches
its grandest proportions, and is ruly enormous in length, breadth
and tMckness. It hangs from the face like well, totally unlike any*
COLLECTING AT PADANG LAKE. 395
thing else in the world, coming quite below the lowest point of the
chin, shaped like a pear except for a furrow down the middle and
a contracted septum, which causes the organ to terminate in two
points. It is broadest at the middle of the free portion instead of
at the base.
Nothing could be more unnatural than the noses of all the
stuffed proboscis monkeys I have jet seen in museums. They do
not even suggest the natural form or size of the organ. The pict
ures of the animal sin against nature in the same fashion, and, in
order to set Nasalis right before the world and vindicate his nasal
character, I fixed my best specimen on a branch in a natural atti
tude, and drew a picture of him, to scale, a copy of which is sub
mitted in the accompanying engraving.
The proboscis monkey, which, by the way, is found only in
Borneo, is a large animal and of strikmg appearance both in form
and color. Its face is cinnamon brown, and its body conspicuously
marked with reddish brown and white, the tails of old specimens,
being white as snow. Taken altogether, Nasalis larvatus is, to the
hunter-naturalist, a very interesting object of pursuit, and were he
not partially eclipsed by the orang he would be the most famous
quadrumane in the East Indies.
I tried six different times, on as many days, to get a shot at the
family of wah-wahs which called to us daily from the summit of
Gunong Popook, but the mountain was so steep and the tree-tops
so thick that I did not even get a shot. At last I gave it up as a
bad job, and determined to reserve my efforts for the Sibuyau,
where they were said to be plentiful Dundang, who followed me
up the Simujan in order to hunt for me, killed one fine large speci
men during my stay at the lake, but where he shot it I could not
quite understand. He also killed more proboscis monkeys for me,
a wild pig, two small orangs, and a few other animals. Black mon
keys (S.femoralis) were numerous within two hundred yards of the
house, and Perara succeeded in killing several, which was about all
he did kill
"Wild hogs were so plentiful in the jungle that the Dyaks had
built a pole fence four feet high around three sides of their
clearing to protect their crop of rice. Both Mr. Houghton and
Eng Quee had assured me they had seen wild pigs which stood
thirty-six, and even forty, inches high at the shoulders, their great
height being due to the unusual length of their legs, developed in
the animal's struggle for existence in low, swampy forest,
396 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE.
The accounts I had had of the wild pig made me very anxioua
to secure at least one large specimen. But, although they were so
abundant in the jungle about us as to seriously threaten the rice
field, I did not even get sight of one in my first week's hunting on
Gunong Popook, so I determined to try for them in the swamps.
The oldest Dyak in the village, who was therefore an experienced
hunter, offered to guide me to the most likely spots, and, with a
stout, active lad, named Munkah, to accompany us, early one bright
morning we set out.
For several hours we toiled through the swamp, wading through
water and thin mud of various depths from ankle to hip, and finally
crossed it and came to high ground, at the edge of which we ex
pected to find wild pigs feeding on the fallen fruit of a tree the
Dyaks called ejoke. But the pigs were not there. Then we took
to the high ground, and for some hours longer we tramped up and
down a succession of the steepest of hills, covered with the thorniest
kind of jungle. Thorns, did I say ? Well, I meant fish-hooks,
needles, pins, tacks, and porcupine quills.
Magnificent spreading palms (Livistona sinensis) grew thickly
everywhere ; very beautiful to the eye their long, slender stems
were, but always set with rows of stout and sharp thorns, curved
just the wrong way for comfort, and always ready to catch a pass
ing victim. The branches of a worthless climbing rattan ( Calamus)
were particularly cruel. This species is very abundant, climbing
over the underbrush and sending out many long, slender branches
which droop like those of the weeping willow. The end of each
is leafless for about two feet from the tip, and the slender, sup
ple stem resolves itself into a long row of animated trout-hooka
The way those threadlike stems will reach out to seize a victim
and then hang on, is enough to make one believe them an invention
of the devil. One will catch you suddenly by the ear and hold
you very still, while another flies back from the man ahead of you
and rakes you across the cheek like a fine saw, cutting a neat little
gash as it goes. Again, one will spring suddenly and lay hold of
your neck with a score of needlelike points, while others fasten
themselves in your clothes, or upon your bare hands.
If anathemas could kill, I would take bell and candle and so
corse every thorn-bearing plaiit of the tropics, that beside my
anathema the curse of the Catholic Church on Victor-Emmanuel
would read like a blessing* In all the vegetable kingdom, there is
notching sopseiess and wholly objectionable as a thorn, especially the
POKTEAIT OF A PROBOSCIS MONKEY.
(From a sketch by the Author.')
COLLECTING- AT PADANG LAKE. 391
accursed fish-hook thorn of the tropics, and if any intelligent reason
can be assigned for either its deliberate creation or its evolution, it
would be balm to my wounded cuticle. For my part, I consider
the thorn one of nature's unmitigated blunders.
Our long tramp was wholly fruitless, for we saw not a single
object worth shooting. Fortunately for my collection, my native
hunters were more successful, for Dundang sent in a large broque
(Macacus nemestrinus) and a baby of the same species ; a friendly
Dyak brought a large soft-shell turtle which he caught in the lake,
And Perara managed to shoot a bijit.
A few days later, Hakka and I made another trial for wild pigs
to Gunong Poondah, a low mountain a short distance to the north.
We went by boat quite to its foot, up an arm of the lake, and along
a narrow creek which led through a bit of lovely forest. The
mossy tree-trunks were often covered with beautiful orchids, small
ferns, and other parasitical plants, while palms of many species rose
out of the water and drooped over the banks. The warm, still air,
the subdued light of the forest, and the profusion of picturesque
vegetation made up a bit of tropical forest scenery which quite
realized my preconceived ideal.
We hunted along the foot of the mountain and stalked carefully
up to the ejoke trees, but saw no pigs. Once indeed we started
a troop of wah-wahs, but when I was about to fire we heard un
mistakably the grunt of a wild pig. Turning reluctantly from the
" bird in the hand " we tried to discover the pigs, but failed, and so
lost both. The Dyaks fished d. igently in the lake during my stay,
and everything caught wc,s brought to me. The largest fish taken
was a very handsome goby (Eleotris marmorata), seventeen inches^
Jong ; and the most interesting were three species of climbing perch, "'
Andbas scandens and two others.
After a fortnight's sojourn at the Popook village, I felt satisfied
that I had exhausted that locality, and, when Mr. Eng Quee's boat
arrived, we loaded up, took leave of our friendly and hospitable hosts
not without regret, on my part, I am bound to say and returned
to Simujan without hap or mishap.
CHAPTEE XXXIV.
FACTS ABOUT THE ORA2TG-TJTAN.
Distribution of the Orang-utan. Its Affinities. External Appearance. Re-
maskable Facial Ornament (?). Color of Skin. Hair. Eyes. Mode
of Fighting. Pugnacity. Food. Unsocial Habits. Young at Birth.
Nesting Habits. Locomotive Powers. Inability to Walk or Stand Erect.
Height of Adults. General Measurements.- Two Species Recognized.
Characters of Szmia Wurmbii and Satyrus. Individual Peculiarities.
BOHNEO is truly tlie land of apes and monkeys. Among its four
teen species, five of which occur nowhere else,* are found the fol
lowing very interesting forms : the orang-utan (two species), the
proboscis monkey, the gibbon, the slow lemur, tarsier, and the fly
ing lemur.
For an island, Borneo is favored with a great variety of very in
teresting quadrupeds, both large and small, and a far greater num
ber of species peculiar to itself than any of its neighbors of the
Archipelago can boast So far as known at present, it has ninety-
six species of mammals, thirty-three of which, or more than one-
third, are not found elsewhere. The largest species are the
elephant, rhinoceros, tapir, wild cattle, sambur, and wild hog, and
the most interesting are the apes and monkeys, insectivores, bats,
and porcupines.
The genus Simia occurs in northern Sumatra, but its distribu
tion in Borneo is so much more extensive that we may well say
the latter is the home of the orang-utan. It inhabits that wide
belt of low, forest-covered swamp forest which lies between the sea-
coast and the mountain ranges of the interior, extending entirely
around the western half of the island. But even this great alluvial
plain is inhabited by the orang in certain districts only ; although
* The following are the species peculiar to Borneo : Hylobates concolor,
Hasalis larvatus, Senmopithecus rubicundus, Semnopithecus ohrysomelaa,
Bamnopithecus frontatua.
FACTS ABOUT THE OBANG-UTAN. 399
all those portions which are covered by lofty virgin forests seem to
present the same features. In the Territory of Sarawak the orang,
or " mias," as it is called by the natives, is found along the rivers
Batang Lupar and Sadong and their small tributaries, such as the
Lingga and Simujan. It does not occur at all along the Sarawak
or Samarahan rivers, but farther west it is found, though more
rarely, from the river Sambas to the Kapooas, which latter lies di
rectly under the equator. It is also found in Kotei near Samarinda,
at the mouth of the Mahakkam, and also on the Tewah River, which
flows into the Barifco from the east, almost directly under the equa
tor.
Leaving the genus homo out of the question, the orang occu
pies the third place from the highest in the animal kingdom. The
gorilla (Troglodites gorilla) is given the highest place, next in order
is the chimpanzee (T. niger), after which comes the orang-utan
(Simw Wurmbii and satyrus), followed by the Siamawga syndactyla,
the link between the orangs and the gibbons (Hylobates). The
orang well deserves the place it occupies. It agrees with the go
rilla and chimpanzee in positive size and quality of the brain, but
its fore-limbs, as compared with the hind ones, are longer than
theirs, while they are also proportionally shorter than those of
Siamcmga and Hylobates. The heel-bone (calcaneum) is proportion
ally longer in Simia than in Hylobates, and its thumb is also better
developed than that of the gibbons. Among the higher apes,
the orang comes nearest to man in the number of ribs (twelve pairs)
and form of the cerebral hemispheres, but differs from him in
other respects, especially in the limbs, more than do the gorilla
and chimpanzee.
The chimpanzee approaches man most closely in the character
of its cranium, its dentition, and the proportional size of its arms.
The gorilla is more manlike in the proportion of the leg to the
body, size of the heel, curvature of the spine, form of pelvis and
absolute capacity of the cranium. In its habits the orang resem
bles the gorilla and chimpanzee, which are not gregarious, while
the gibbons are.
The most striking feature of the orang is its great size and gen
eral resemblance to man. The chest, arms and hands are espe
cially human in their size and general outline. Since the animal
depends mainly upon these members for the means of locomotion
they are necessarily of massive proportions. The natural position
of the human hand at rest is with the fingers slightly bent, but
400 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
that of the orang is with the fingers tightly closed, and, when meas*
uring our dead specimens, we often found it an absolute impos
sibility to straighten a single finger without cutting the tendon in
the palm of the hand. Thus, when an orang is asleep, the most
natural position he can assume is to firmly grasp a branch with
each hand.
Male individuals of Simia WurmUi are distinguished by their
wonderful cheek callosities, each side of the face being greatly ex
panded and flattened into a thick, semi-circular disk extending ver
tically from the top of the forehead to the angle of the jaw. This
remarkable feature is a sexual characteristic, for it is never pos
sessed by the female orangs. So far as I have been able to deter
mine, these facial callosities are purely ornamental, since they are
not controlled by voluntary muscles, and are composed merely of
tough, white, semi-cartilaginous tissue. In different individuals
these callosities vary in width from ten to thirteen and one-half
inchea
The skin color of orangs varies according to age, as follows : In
infants and all young individuals up to three or four years of age
the skin is generally chocolate brown, yellowish on the abdomen
and in the palms, while the skin surrounding each eye to the edge
of the orbit, and the entire muzzle, or projecting lower portion of
the face, is of a more decidedly yellowish or raw-sienna color. In
dividuals between childhood and middle age vary from dark-yel
lowish to blackish-brown, the latter color largely predominating.
Very often the face and neck is almost or quite black, the palms
light-brown and the breast and abdomen mulatto-yellow. In
old specimens, especially males of Simla WurmUi, or the "mias
chappin " species, the skin is everywhere a deep, shiny-black, ex
cept in the palms, where, from constant wear on rough bark, the
cuticle lies in several thick, calloused layers, and is of a dirty
gray color.
The hair of orangs varies greatly in color, quantity, quality, and
distribution, and has no bearing whatever on the question of spe
cies. Speaking generally, it may be described as brick-red, or to
be exact, of the color known to painters as Indian-red. It may be
said, however, that marked differences in color are found almost
entirely on adult male specimens. On all others, it varies but
Kfefcla from pure Indian-red ; but on old males it often assumes a
yellow or raw-sienna color on the arms and legs.
It is always longest on the arms, shoulder-blades, and thighs,
TACTS ABOUT THE ORATTGK7TAN. 401
and shortest on the breast, abdomen, and back The face and
throat are quite bare except for a scanty chin-beard of uncertain
length in adult specimens, the longest hairs never exceeding four
inchea On the flat cheek callosities of Bimia Wurmbii there is a
curious growth of very short and uniformly dispersed hairs not
more than one-eighth of an inch in length, which lie so closely
upon the skin as to escape notice except upon very close inspection.
On the back of the arms and thighs, and on the sides and
shoulder-blades of old male orangs, the hair is long, coarse, straight
and thick, sometimes reaching a length of from twelve to fifteen
inches.
On most individuals of this class, the entire back will be found
almost bare from the neck down, having been worn off in the nest.
On younger specimens, the hair on the back is thick, and longer
than on the abdomen. The back of the hand and the fingers are
thinly covered with short stiff hairs. On the forearm the hair
grows upward from the wrist to the elbow, where it meets the
downward growth on the arm, and the two come together in a
point.
The eyes of adults are always very small, with iris of a dark
chestnut-brown, and no white visible. The teeth are invariably
very much discolored by vegetable acids and juices, and the base
of each tooth is always black.
On most of the Wurmbii there seems to be a superabundance of
skin on the throat and breast, for it is often found to bang in a
great baggy fold. Externally, the orang seems to have no neck
at all, the head being set squarely down upon the shoulders. The
chest is massive to correspond with the arms and head, but the
pelvis is small, and the lower limbs are small, short, and compara
tively weak The orang never sits down as do the gibbons, and
therefore has no ischial callosities like the Hylobates.
There is no tigamentum teres in the orang, and the absence of
this permits great freedom of movement in the lower limbs. In
deed, the legs seem to possess almost as much freedom of move
ment as do the arms. I have often seen my little pet orang hang
to a rope,, with one arm at an angle of fully seventy degrees and,
with the greatest comfort imaginable, reach up with his leg at the
same angle and grasp the rope with his foot.
Some naturalists attach importance to the facial resemblances
of different orangs. I have never seen living specimens of the Su-
matran orang, but so far as Bornean species are concerned, I aia
26
402 TWO TEAKS IN THE JTOGLE.
certain that each individual differs as -widely from Ms fellows, and
has as many facial peculiarities belonging to himself, as can be
found in the individuals of any unmixed race of human beings.
Male orangs are much given to fighting, and often bite off each
other's fingers and toes. The upper lip, also, is often found in a
mutilated condition from the same cause. I have never heard of
their biting off each other's ears, as human roughs do occasionally,
but a few hundred years more of evolution may bring their intelli
gence up to that point. Indeed, may we not confidently predict
that this is the next step in intellectual development the orang will
take, if he is ever to approach nearer to man.
It is the natural instinct of an orang to seize and bring the of
fending hand of another to its mouth, instead of moving its own
heavy head and body to the object. Thus, in every imaginable
way do the powerful and capable limbs and hands serve the inert
body and head upon all occasions.
The battered condition of one of my male specimens has already
been described (Chapter XXXI) ; another orang, No. 34, male
Wurnibii, had almost lost the edge of his entire upper lip. It had
been bitten diagonally across, but still adhered at the left corner,
and the wound had evidently healed very quickly, for that trian
gular piece of upper lip still hung dangling down two inches from
the corner of his mouth. He had also lost an entire finger.
No. 36 had lost a piece out of his upper lip, and one of his left
toes had been bitten quite off.
During the fruit season, which is from the middle of January
to the first of May, the food of the orang is the durian, mangosteen,
and rambutan, which are usually found upon the hills. There are
also other fruits which ripen at different times, such as the raso and!
kapayang, but of the former the orangs eat the shoots only. Be
sides these, they devour the shoots of the Pandanus, and also the
leaves of certain trees. During the months of May, June, and
July, they retire far into the depths of the forest and are exceed
ingly difficult to find, but during the season of the heaviest rains,
t.e., from August to November, when the forests are quite flooded,
they are found in the vicinity of the rivers.
The orang is quite solitary in his habits, the old males always
being found alone ; nor are two adult females ever found together.
On two occasions I found three individuals together, but one was
aa old female with a nursing infant, and the third was her next
oldest; offepring, apparently about a year and a h&lf old,, who had
FACTS ABOUT THE OEA1STG-TJTAN. 403
not yet left Ms mother's side to shift for himself. The female
orang has but one young at a birth, and from the instance just
cited, I infer that it does not leave its mother until nearly two
years of age, by which time it is fairly supplanted by a successor.
The size of the young of the orang at birth is quite remarkable,
considering the small stature of the adult female. My twenty-
eighth specimen was a gravid female 3 feet 8| inches in height,
carrying a foetus which weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces, and was, of
course, folly developed.
The nest of the orang-utan has already been described. He
usually selects a small tree, a sapling in fact, and builds his nest in
its top, even though his weight causes it to sway alarmingly. He
always builds his nest low down, often within twenty-five feet of
the ground, and seldom higher than forty feet. Sometimes it is
fully four feet in diameter, but usually not more than three, and
quite flat on the top. There is no weaving together of branches,
for they are merely piled cross-wise as a natural consequence of
their being broken off on different sides of the nest. In short, the
orang builds a nest precisely as a man would build one for himself
were he obliged to pass a night in a tree-top with neither axe nor
knife to cut branches. I have seen in the forest one or two such
nests of men where the builder had only his bare hands to work
with, and they were just as rudely constructed, of just such mate
rials, and in about the same general position, as the average orang
nest.
During one day's travel along the upper Simujan River we
counted thirty-six old nests and six which we set down as new or
fresh. I have never been able to ascertain to a certainty, but it is
my opinion that an orang, after building a nest, sleeps in it several
nights in succession, unless he is called upon to leave its neighbor
hood altogether. Certain it is that whenever a hunter finds a per
fectly fresh nest he may with confidence expect to find the builder
somewhere near it. An orang never uses a nest after the leaves
become withered and dry, no doubt for the reason that the bare
branches afford an uncomfortable resting-place. I never saw nor
heard of any house-building by orang-utans, though I am led to
believe that some individuals may have a habit of covering their
bodies with branches for protection against the dashing of the
rain-drops during a heavy storm. My little pet orang would in
variably cover his head and body with straw or loose clothing the
moment it began to rain, even though he was under a roof.
404 TWO YEARS IK THE JUNGLE.
Even \inder the most favorable circumstances, orangs ara
neither graceful nor active in their movements. I think we may
justly consider them the most helpless of all the quadrumana.
Owing to the great weight of their bodies, and the peculiar struct
ure of their hands, they cannot run nimbly, and never dare to spring
from one tree to the next The smaller monkeys gallop madly
along the larger branches, with outspread arms, legs, and tail, leap
recklessly from the tree-top, go flying through the air for several
yards, and fall sprawling and unhurt upon the side or in the leafy
top of the next tree. Not so the orang-utan, with his huge, flabby
stomach, fleshy thighs, and massive head. His weight, of one hun
dred and twenty to one hundred and sixty pounds, compels him to
move slowly and circumspectly so that he may not find himself
falling heavily to the ground. Owing to the disproportionate
shortness of his legs, his progress depends mostly upon his long,
sinewy arms, and very often he goes swinging through a tree-
top by their aid alone. I have frequently seen them swing along
beneath the large limbs as a gymnast swings along a tight rope,
reaching six feet at a stretch. When passing from one tree to
another, be reaches out and gathers in his grasp .a number of small
branches that he feels sure will sustain his weight then swings
himself across.
Upon the ground the orang is a picture of abject helplessness.
In his native forests he is very seldom known to descend to the
earth, and so far as my experience goes, I have never seen nor
heard of a single instance of the kind. True, he climbs down
when thirsty until he can reach the water with his hands, but this
occurs where there is no dry land to walk upon.
The orang-utan is utterly incapable of standing fully erect with
out touching the ground with its handa I have seen many orangs
in captivity, but not one of them ever stood erect upon its hind
legs for a single instant, and for orangs to be so represented in
drawings or museums is contrary to nature.
There has been considerable discussion in regard to the maxi
mum size attained by the orang-utan, and its general measure
ments. Mr. A. R Wallace, in his work on the " Malay Archi
pelago,** pp. 72 et seq., makes the following statements :
" I have myself examined the bodies of seventeen freshly-killed
rsBga Of this extensive series, sixteen were fully adult, nine being
Bo&les sad seven females. The adult males of the large orangs only
varied from 4 feet 1 inch to 4 feet 2 inches in height, measured
TACTS ABOUT THE ORANa-TJTAtf. 405
fairly to the heel, so as to give the height of the animal if it stood
perfectly erect ; the extent of the outstretched arms from 7 feet 2
inches to 7 feet 8 inches ; and the width of the face from 10 inches
to 13 inches. The dimensions of other naturalists closely agree
with mine. The largest orang measured by Temminck was four
feet high. Of twenty-five specimens collected by Schlegel and
Miiller, the largest old male was 4 feet 1 inch, and the largest
skeleton in the Calcutta Museum was, according to Blyth, 4 feet 1
inch; and no specimen has yet reached Europe exceeding these
dimensions, although the total number must amount to over a
hundred. On the whole, therefore/' concludes NX. "Wallace, "I
think it will be allowed that up to this time we have not the
least reliable evidence of the existence of orangs in Borneo more
than 4 feet 2 inches high."
The total number of specimens of the orang-utan of both spe
cies, killed by me and my hunters, was forty-three, every one of
which I carefully measured while fresh, recording each measure
ment the moment it was made. I saved the skin of every one of
these specimens, and the skeletons of all save three or four of the
very youngest ones.
No fewer than seven of my specimens exceeded the maximum
height for orangs as given by Mr. "Wallace, viz., 4 feet 2 inches,
even by the most liberal measurement My tallest Simia Wurmbii,
or "mias chappin," measured 4 feet 6 inches from head to heel,
and the next in size 4 feet 5 J inches. Then a satyrus, or ** mias
rombi," measured 4 feet 4 inches, two other Wurmbii, 4 feet 4
inches, and 4 feet 3 inches respectively, a satyrus, 4 feet 3 inches,
and a Wurmbii, 4 feet 2 inches. Only one specimen measured
exactly 4 feet 2 inches, and the remaining nine fell below that
height One male specimen, with hair which grew to a length of
12 to 15 inches, in some places, measured only 3 feet 10 inches in
height The largest female measured 4 feet, and the smallest adult
female 3 feet 6 inches.
These measurements were a great surprise to me, and, feeling
that their accuracy might some time be questioned, I made and re
corded them with unusual care and exactness. To obtain the height
it was my practice to lay the animal upon its back with the legs
held straight by an assistant, then holding the blade of a large knife
flat against the top of the head, it was thrust perpendicularly into
the table or the earth. Then, while an assistant held the top of the
head against the first knife-blade, I pressed another blade firmly
406
TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE.
against the bottom of the heel andftrust it into the earth also.
After moving the animal aside a tape Hue stretched between the
^er Surfaces of the knife-blades gave the height of the animal.
Not a single figure was ever trusted to my memory alone, and my
largest orangs were each measured and recorded twice.
From the subjoined table of measurements it will be seen that
orangs vary in their proportions in precisely the same way as human
beings- Some are short and thick-set ; and others are more slen
derly built and longer limbed. Specimens Nos 6 and 9 have short
legs and bodies but unusually long arms, while Nos. 43 , and 38
are just the reverse. It will also be noticed that the breadth of the
facial callosities of WurnbK bears no relation whatever to the size of
the animal The tallest specimen of the whole series, No. 18, meas
ured only Hi inches across the face, while No. 25, which stood
three inches shorter, and was much smaller every way, measured
13 inches at the same point.
Measurements of Orang-Utans, Adutt Males and Females.
(Given in inches.)
Hght, from head to heel.. 54
Extent of outstretched arms QK
Length of arm and hand! ,
fromannpit. !,J?S#$.
length of hand. .
** of foot. . .
Breadth of hand,,
" of foot..
Circumference of head (per
pendicular), . ,
Breadth of face
Circumference of neck.. .
51
88^90
38 37
10
86
of chest
12
.42
32
of loin...
of arm.....
of forearm.
of wrist.. . .
of thigh... r
of calf 11%,H#
40 K 39# 36#
112*11
2%
26
10*
7%
8% 48
25
10)$
37X79
46*43
UK 10#
2% 2%
2% "
22^ 22% 22%
17
16
81X g#
44%
32
9
2X
^
22
Of the orang-utan there are two clearly defined species, and only
fewo, yiz. x Simta WwrmMi and 5. sa^rus. While the points of dif-
FACTS ABOUT THE ORAKG-UTAN. 407
ference between the males of the two species are strongly marked
and unmistakable, both externally and anatomically, the females
are all very much alike in their external appearance, but readily
distinguishable by their skulls.
Male specimens of Wurmbii are distinguished by their remarka
ble cheek callosities, already described, which are observed in young
as well as old individuals, and also by the joining of the two tem
poral ridges on the top of the skull to form an elevated sagittal
crest, of varying height. In females and young males the temporal
ridges subside to the level of the skull either at or before meeting in
front of the parietal suture, and are continued backward in a rough
line, almost to the lambdoidal crest.
In the skull of the male satyr us the temporal ridges pass back
ward and slightly converge, but still remain widely separated until
they diverge again at the back of the skull and rise to form the
lambdoidal crest. The skull of the female shows no continuous
elevated ridges, but a rough line instead, which scarcely rises above
the level of the skull. No female skull in the collection made by me
possesses either the two continuous temporal ridges or the elevated
sagittal crest, but the rough lines correspond to the elevated ridges
of the males of their respective species in every case, and leave their
identity unmistakeable.
Orangs are liable to possess individual peculiarities to a greater
extent than perhaps any other of the apes or monkeys. To illus
trate : No. 26, Simia Wurmbii, with a very prominent cranial ridge,
was utterly destitute of facial callosities or any signs of them, and
until dissection, was supposed to be a satyrus. No. 13 had a nail on
the hallus of its hinder hands. No. 21 had four molars in each side
of its lower jaw, while the other forty-two orangs had only three
each. The distance between the temporal ridges' of satyrus, and the
elevation of the sagittal crest of Wurmbii, varies greatly in different
specimens.
We will not say anything about the place the orang has in the
long chain of evolution ; but, while abstract argument leads hither
and thither, according as this or that writer is most ably gifted for
the same, there is still one argument or influence to which every
true naturalist is amenable, and which no one will ignore who has
studied, from nature, any group of typical forms. Let such an
one (if, indeed, one exists to-day) who is prejudiced against the
Darwinian views, go to Borneo. Let him there watch from day
to day this strangely human form in all its various phases of exist-
408 TWO TEARS TSC THE JUNGLE.
ence. Let him see the orang climb, walk, build its nest, eat,
drink, and fight like a human rough. Let him see the female
suckle her young and carry it astride her hip precisely as do the
coolie women of Hindostan. Let him witness their human-like
emotions of affection, satisfaction, pain, and rage, let him see all
this, and then he may feel how much more potent has been this
lesson than all he has read in pages of abstract ratiocination.
CHAPTEE XXXY.
A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS.
Journey to the Sibuyau. The River. A Malodorous Village. -Barriers.
Proboscis Monkeys and Flying Lemurs. Head of Canoe Navigation.
Swamp-wading. Our Journey's End. A Lodge in a Vast Wilderness.-
Fine Hunting-grounds. Source of the Biver. Hunting Gibbons. Lively
Sport Gibbons' Eemarkable Mode of Progress. A Mias. A Successful
Hunt. Affection and Courage of a Male Gibbon. Helplessness of the
Baby Orang in Water. A Live Tarsier. More Gibbons Shot. Argus
Pheasants. Dyak Mode of Snaring. A Deadly Pig-trap. A Shiftless
Village. A Magnificent Bird. Curious Rodent. Visit to Lanchang.
A Village of Head-hunters. Trophies of the Chase. A Fine Dyak Speci
men.
IT was only a bunch of argus pheasant feathers that lured me from
Sadong to the Sibuyau, to stay a month with the Dyaks, for better
or worse. The promise of wah-wahs, also, had something to do
with it, I suppose, even though they are hard to shoot. The Dyaks
said their settlement had never been visited by a white man, and in
spite of all I could learn from them, the nature of the country re
mained a profound mystery. But then, the greatest charm of
travel is going to places one knows nothing at all about, and satis
fying one's geographical curiosity.
Behold us, then, starting down the Sadong with the turning of
the tide, early on the morning of October 28th. At home the trees
have taken on their gayest autumn tints, but here the forest is still
clad in the same persistent, never-changing, monotonous green it
has always worn.
Under the kadjang roof of the old Malay headman's large boat,
there sit the " orang putei " (white man), " orang China " (China
man), and the " orang utan " or jungle man, my little pet, while
three stout Malays furnish the motive-power. Perara and Dobah
are coming after us in my own boat. It is a delightful day, quiet,
clear, and warm, such as fills a man with a sense of keen enjoyment,
provided his digestion is good and his conscience clear. My little
410 TWO YEAES IK THE JUGGLE.
baby mias seems to enjoy Hs surroundings as well as the rest of us,
for, with true childish instinct, he leans lazily over the edge of the
boat and dabbles in the water with his hairy brown hands as it
sweeps past the side.
On reaching the sea, we put up our much- mended sail and
steered eastward along the coast for a few miles, until, when almost
within the mouth of the Batang Lupar, we came about sharply and
ran into the mouth of the Sibuyau. A conical mountain rises on
the east bank, at the foot of which is a small Malay kampong, and
the house of Seriff Hassan, the Port-clearance clerk. We stopped
long enough to deliver our papers and hastened on up stream with
the flowing tide, to get as far as possible by night-fall.
The Sibuyau is a small stream, not over a hundred yards in
width at the mouth, and for a long distance up the banks are
prettily fringed with nipa palms. There are a few paddy fields
along the banks and the usual accompaniment of flimsy little tem
porary huts on stilts, reminding one of birds' nests.
About sunset we reached a Dyak village of eight doors standing
close to the bank, at which we stopped for the night. It was a
miserably dirty and foul-smelling place, or at least the ground un
derneath the house was giving off an odor like an ancient pig-sty.
The Dyaks were almost as dirty as their surroundings, but they
were civil, and immediately produced, for us to sit upon, two of the
finest mats I ever saw of Dyak manufacture. I tried to buy the
smaller one of the two, but they positively refused to sell it. Per
haps their mat-maker was dead.
We had a long confab about the prospect of getting up to the
settlement at the head of the river, and were told that the way was
long and difficult ; that our large boat was too large to go at all ;
that they had no boats which could take us ; and, furthermore,
that they would not go with us tinder any circumstances. Being
unable to see my way out of the difficulty which had suddenly pre
sented itself, I slung my hammock and mosquitero and went to
sleep.
In the morning three of the Dyaks agreed to go with me, for a
consideration, to help with the large boat ; but, when the time
came to start, they and two others put their weapons and dogs I
mean dog skeletons and cooking pots into one of their own
canoes, got into it, and paddled off down stream. With a devout
wish, expressed in four languages, that they might "go to the
devil,** we determined to paddle our own canoe, and immediately
A MONTH WITH THE BYAKS. 411
set off. I changed places with Dobah, thus leaving the four Malays
and Ah Kee to manage the large boat.
After a few miles, we passed the limit of the nipa palm, and
then the screw pine took its place. As the stream became more
narrow the fringe on either side became wider and almost impene
trable in density. About noon, we came to where the channel was
blocked by thousands of Pandanus stems, which had drifted
together and formed a wide barrier like a "jam" of pine logs.
The top of the drift was covered with rank grass, which bound the
whole mass together sometimes strongly enough to walk upon.
During the course of the afternoon we passed eight or ten such
barriers ; and each one cost a struggle. There was always a
passage cut large enough to accommodate small sampans ; but
our large boat was heavily laden, and the passage had to be inr
definitely enlarged. We were all of two hours in getting her
through one drift, which was finally accomplished by cutting a
wider passage and then hauling on her from the small boat made
fast a few yards in advance, while others lifted on her at the same
time. No wonder the Dyaks were chary of trusting their muscles
in our keeping for that day.
During the afternoon we saw several troops of proboscis
monkeys. They were not so shy as on the Simujan, but sat uncon
cernedly in the trees, watching us as we went by. As night ap
proached we tied up to the bushes at the edge of a fine bit of open
water, fourteen feet deep, and shifted our baggage so that we
could lie down. Affcer a most refreshing bath in which all partici
pated, we ate our rice and turned in. Ah Kee and the little mias
had a long and violent dispute as to whether they should sleep to
gether, of which question the mias took the affirmative side and
finally carried the day.
The large boat leaked badly, and, but for Ah Kee, I think we
should have filled and gone down before morning. Being unable
to swim he felt a lively interest in keeping the craft afloat, and
baled her out five times during the night.
As we proceeded, the next morning, we entered a perfect laby
rinth of screw pines, but fortunately there were no more bad drifts
and we wound our way along very agreeably. During the forenoon
we came upon a troop of proboscis monkeys which contained about
thirty-five individuals the greatest number of that species I ever
saw together. I could not resist the temptation to " collect " one
of the handsomest specimens of the lot, and the shot started two
412 TWO TEARS EST THE
flying lemurs (Galeopithecus variegatus) just out of range. They
spread their parachutes to their widest extent, launched boldly out
of a tree-top, sailed slowly through the air at an angle of about
f orty-five degrees, and alighted low down on the trunk of a tree
about forty feet distant from the one they had quitted. Climbing
nimbly up to the top of that tree, they sailed off again, and so on
until they were out of sight.
In the afternoon the growth of screw pines ceased abruptly,
and we entered a narrower and more tortuous channel which wound
in and out among trees and bushes, just wide enough for our
boats, but with nothing to spare. After four or five miles of this,
the identity of the river was completely lost ; but we followed the
channel persistently, and at last found ourselves in a little canal
not more than eight feet wide, that came down through the forest
as though cut by the hand of man. On either side were solid
banks and the trunks of great forest trees beautifully decorated
with ferns, orchids and dark-green moss, while the bare stems of
creepers, both great and small, hung in many a curve and twist
from the branches which met far above our heads. I would like
to rave a little over that scenery, and would, but for a constitutional
objection to emotional descriptions.
At length our little canal led out of the forest and into an open
grassy swamp of considerable width, at the edge of which we ar
rived at the head of navigation, and a getting-out place for everybody.
There was no house nor village anywhere in sight, but one of
our Malays said we could reach one by night-fall, so four of us
bundled up our beds, a cooking pot and food for one meal, and set
out. Our first half-mile lay across a swamp, through mud and
water from one to two feet deep, from which we landed on a bit of
dry ground and crossed over to another stretch of morass, worse
than the first. The water was from two to five feet deep, but on
the top lay a carpet of matted grass which kept us from sink
ing down out of sight Onco I had the luck to break through
and sink down to my waist before the others could fish me out
After a mile of dreadful floundering we came to some fields of
growing paddy and emerged upon terra firma once more. We fol
lowed a path through a bit of fine, dry open forest, crossed a beau
tifully clear running brook, our canal again, or rather the Sibuyau
Kiver and two hundred yards further on, came to a small clearing
in, Hxe middle of which (welcome sight) stood a Dyak village, or
ve doors.
A MOKTH WITH THE DYAKS. 413
We climbed the notched sapling which served as a ladder at
the end of the house, and received the customary Dyak greeting
of cheery smiles and pleasant words of welcome, while one of the
girls skurried off to fetch the clean mats. We were not sorry to
have reached our journey's end, and Ah Kee, never too tired to get
up the best meal the larder afforded, set to work, without a mo
ment's delay or waiting to be told, and soon had ready a fine cup
of tea with buttered toast accompaniment, and a plate of rice
adorned with butter and sugar. Ah Kee was the prince of good
servants, and I would that every traveller who knows how to treat
a servant could have one like him. He was marked with small-pox
and was not what an esthete would call handsome, far from it, but
in the jungle, his cheerful and efficient service condoned every phys
ical defect
The next morning the Dyaks turned out in force and carried
up our luggage, of which there were seventeen loads, at thirteen
cents per load. We took the three kadjangs which formed our
boat-roof and with them made a very cosy room, about twelve feet
square, at one end of the long hall
We bought of the Dyaks enough mats to cover the floor, ar
ranged our boxes to the best advantage to serve as furniture, and,
with a very handy fireplace constructed by Ah Kee, we were com
fortably fixed. One side of the room was entirely open and looked
out on the jungle. As soon as we had got fairly settled, all the
people of the house came in to pay us a visit. The floor of my
room was quite filled with half-naked men, women, and children
sitting upon their hams and enjoying the novelty of calling upon a
" tuan." The men were fine, healthy-looking fellows, the women
Were mostly rather ill-favored in personal appearance ; and the
children were, without exception, very dirty, but all were good-
natured and polite. One little girl had ichthyosis and was exceed
ingly repulsive, but, happily, she did not belong to our village, and
I soon saw the last of her.
Keeping Dobah with me, I paid the other Malays and sent
them back to Simujan with the large boat, to return for me at the
end of a month. Being comfortably settled in a house which was
really very clean and habitable, we immediately began to collect
I set Perara at work shooting and skinning birds, while I devoted
my attention to mammals in particular, and everything else in gen
eral I encouraged the Dyaks of the settlement there were two
other villages not far away to set snares for animals of all kinds,
414 TWO TEARS IK THE JUNGLE.
and, being at that season without money and very nearly without
rice, they bestirred themselves to earn a little money. The people of
our village agreed to furnish me with from two to three guides every
day for a cash consideration, and they never disappointed me.
There was a fine young man in our house who was not only
willing but anxious to accompany me in my hunting trips, and we
fraternized at once. With him for a guide and Dobah to carry
game, I set out in the afternoon to look over the ground.
On one side of our clearing lay a vast and almost impenetrable
tract of swamp-forest, choked with a dense, thorny undergrowth
growing in the water. On the other side, however, there rose a
succession of hills, neither too high nor too steep for comfort, cov
ered with fine high forest, while what little undergrowth there was
was not of the thorny kind. There were many charming little
glens and rocky ravines with small streams of clear, cold water
dashing down to where three of them came together and formed the
source of the Sibuyau Eiver. It gives one a strange sensation to
stand at the very source of a river, where it is a feeble brook which
one crosses at a single stride. It is a satisfaction to know all about
one river, at least, even though it be a small one, from its mouth,
where it loses itself in the sea, up to the very springs in the hills
from whence the first cupful of water starts down.
I was rejoiced at my good fortune in being led by blind in
stinct, I may say to such a delightful wilderness. It was the finest
hunting-ground I saw anywhere in Sarawak. I was sure that such
high ground and fine open forest must be frequented by correspond
ingly fine mammals and birds in great numbers, for it seemed to
me just the spot an animal would choose for a home I would have
been content to end my days there, had I been a monkey and the
Dyaks assured me my surmise was correct.
In order to place before the reader a pen picture of our daily
life in the jungle with the Dyaks, what we did, saw, and thought, I
venture to transcribe a portion of my much despised but faithfully
kept journal
" November 1st. That fine young Dyak accompanies me regu
larly now as a guide, and with him and my faithful little Malay man,
Dobah, I went out hunting for orang-utans and Hylobates. We
hunted far and wide over the hills, saw a great number of mias
nesfcs, but no Ttnaa. But we at last became absorbed in trying to
HE a gibbon, and it soon developed into genuine sport, about the
A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 415
only real c sport * I have yet had in Borneo, and this is about the
character of it.
" You are going along, we will say, at the heels of your Dyak
guide, carrying your rifle in the hope of a shot at big game, while
the guide carries your double-barrelled gun. All at once you hear
a slight vocal sound and a profound rustling in the thick branches
at the top of a tall tree, directly over your head.
" 'Apa ini?' (What's that?), you ask in a whisper.
" * Wah-wah, tuan ! ' (gibbons, sir !), says the guide in the same
tone.
" You take the double-barrel, loaded with No. 1 shot, and peer
anxiously upward to catch sight of the animal. Ah ! there he is,
on the other side of the tree, and evidently making off. You can
not see his body on account of the leaves, so you steal quickly round
and get directly under him to give him a surprise with a charge of
shot. But by the time you get around he is apparently no longer
there, for you hear a rustling in a tree-top forty yards away, and at
last catch a glimpse of his lank, gray body as he swings himself out
of sight, without leaving you a second for a shot. Perhaps, though,
you blaze away at him, right and left, feel pretty sure you must
have stopped him, and watch anxiously while you hurriedly push in
fresh cartridges.
" Ha I not dead yet, for there he goes as lively as ever, this time
sixty yards away. You see him quite plainly this time, and note with
astonishment how rapidly he progresses by swinging himself end
over end, holding by his hands while he gives his body a long swing
toward another branch. His body becomes horizontal, he grasps
the branch with his feet, and, letting go with his hands, swings,
head downward and backward, until he comes right side again,
lets go with his feet and goes flying through the air to the next
branch. He grasps that with his hands, swings the other end of
himself forward again, and so on. You see that by this revolution
ary method he goes just as well as if he had a head on each end of
his body, and that he gets along with astonishing rapidity and di
rectness.
"This will never do. He is about to get away from you, on fair
ground. You take your direction, stoop forward, and dart hurriedly
along in the direction the gibbon has taken.
" You run a hundred yards at your best speed, and stop, ex
pecting to find him directly over your head. Ha! the branches
phake. There he is, fully fifty yards away ! Then you get mad,
416 TWO TEARS IN 'THE JUNGLE.
drop your hat, grip your gun firmly, draw your head well down
between your shoulders, and, with one eye to the front, go tearing
through the underbrush like a wild bull, down the hill at full speed
and at the imminent risk of breaking your neck. You dart nimbly
through every little opening, and choose a practicable route with
surprising quickness of eye, as a monkey does when running through
tree-tops.
" After a hundred and fifty yards, good measure, you stop short,
cock your gun, and glare wildly upward to catch sight of your prey
as quickly as possible. In three seconds your greedy eyes have
scanned every tree-top within gun-shot, and at last you see some
branches shaking, a hundred yards away, on the opposite side of a
deep ravine 1 No use ! he has beaten you in a fair race, and goes
on swinging gayly from tree to tree, leaving you to sit down pant
ing like a steam-tug, bathed in perspiration, wishing for a drink of
water, and puzzled to know whether you ought to laugh or get mad.
" Then you proceed to comfort yourself by calling to mind the
fact that the trees are very tall, and it is almost impossible
to see a gibbon on account of his gray body harmonizing so
well in color with the leaves on which the sun shines ; that his
hair is fine and close, and his body and limbs so lean that to
shoot at one is almost like shooting at a skeleton ; that they never
stop running until three or four legs are broken ; and finally, that
they fly a great deal faster than you ever had an idea they could
anyway. But, all the same, you pronounce it genuine sport and
acknowledge that you have met your match. And so you draw off
to the nearest stream, throw yourself upon the sand, drink about two
quarts of clear, cold water, and proceed to repair damages generally.
" So far, I have had five just such experiences as the above with
wah-wahs, though the most notable occurred to-day. I had two
such chases, felt sure of killing at least one, had three snap shots,
and not a single gibbtin did I get. They are valuable animals, a
skra being worth at least $20, to say nothing of the rarity of good
ones, and one specimen represents a good day's work when taken !
To hunt them is the most exciting work I have done for some time,
violent exercise to be sure, but good to improve one's wind. The
troop we started this morning had at least ten individuals in it, the
most of them full grown and large.
" In the afternoon shot a goat sucker and four black monkeys
(Semnvpithecus femoralis) ; saw nothing else except one small gib-
bo^ wMeh I chased, of course, for practice I
A MONTH WITH THE DYAK8. 417
" Eain at night. Thermometer, 80 degrees F. at 8 P.M.
" November Zd.- The name of my young Dyak guide is Le
Tiac. He is just about my height, build, and age, a stout young
fellow, and the only differ^^e between us is that he is a Dyak and
I am an Anglo-Saxon whictrmakes all the difference in the world.
"We went out in the morning, far and high on the hills,
and saw, at first, only some big rhinoceros horn-bills (Buceros rhi
noceros), at which we got no shot Too many trees for us to see
through before they took flight Heard a troop of wah-wahs cry
ing, stalked up to them with the greatest skill and did not
see even one. Disgusting ! Little Dobah was taken with an at
tack of chills and fever on the way home.
" When we reached the clearing at noon we noticed how hot it
was out in the open, whereas in the jungle it was pleasantly cool,
damp, and intensely shady. Had we been hunting in the sunshine
all the morning, we would have been done up long before the
time we returned. The forest is so shady one does not even think
of the sun ; but in the house we felt the heat Then we took our
deliciously cold bath in the stream near the house, changed clothes,
and after a modest breakfast lay down with "Chesterfield's Let
ters " for a rest. At such times I always lie on the floor near the
Old Man, and he takes great delight in teasing me in various ways.
He pulls my hair, butts me with his head, sits on my stomach,
climbs all over me and wrestles with my bare feet, all in the droll
est and most comical way, as only a mias can.
" At 3 P.M. we went out again, without Dobah, and, in about an
hour, we saw a mias rombi swinging across a deep ravine. I fired
two shots and killed it directly. It fell what seemed a great dis
tance, to the bottom of the ravine, and landed in a very pict
uresque spot, just beside a clear gurgling stream, that came tum
bling down the rocky gorge. This mias, No. 39, female, is not a
large one. Le Tiac peeled some strips of bark from a sapling,
tied its elbows together behind its back, fixed a broad smooth
head-strap, and prepared to carry the animal alone. I proposed to
sling it over a pole and help him get away with it, but he preferred
to carry it alone ; so he backed it and carried it, unassisted, up the
steep side of that deep ravine to the top without resting, then
down the long ridge and so on home. I can kill ten mias easier
than one wah-wah.
" Thermometer : morning, 80 degrees F. ; noon, 90 ; night, 82.
" November 3d. A good score to-day. Just after I had fm-
418 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNGLE.
ished measuring the mias killed yesterday, and was preparing to
set out for the usual morning's hunt, a troop of gibbons began
whistling their cry sounds like whistling, and is easily imitated
in the jungle close "by, in fact within a hundred yards of the house.
Le Tiac and I were after them in less than a minute. It so hap
pened that several paths had been cut through the jungle just
where the gibbons were, and, by their help, we were soon close to
our prey. We saw one or two of them swinging off in the distance,
and at last I caught sight of a fine large one, feeding quietly on
leaves, within gun-shot. I fired both barrels to make sure of a kill,
and, in a minute or so, as I was walking under the tree to see
where my wah-wah was, down it came with a heavy " thud " within
two feet of me. A little more and it would have fallen on my head.
"To my surprise it was immediately followed by another, a
young one this time, which fell flat on its face on the soft earth a
yard further of We picked it up and found it was very much
alive, having only a wound in the neck, and Le Tiac held it while
I reloaded and looked for others. The little one set up a terrible
cry and kept it up steadily, which created a great commotion
amongst the other wah-wahs. They were all running away, but on
hearing the cries of the little one, two came back and came as near
as they dared, but kept so well concealed that I could not get a
shot. Then we carried the little one about and let it cry while we
ourselves kept very still It was, perhaps, a mean thing to do ; but
in collecting, necessity knows no law, every wild animal must die
some time, and gibbons are too valuable and hard to get for us to
let one go through sympathy. Under all other circumstances these
animals are exceedingly timid, and flee at the slightest alarm,
but this time two of them returned in response to the cries of
one of their children in distress. It was a mean thing to do, I
know, but when, at last, I got a fair shot at a large wah-wah, of
the rescuing party, I disabled him so that he could not get away.
He climbed to the topmost branches of the tree he was in, which
was about ninety feet high, and I fired at him from below. I was
surprised at the shooting it took to collect Trim.
" Altogether I fired seven shots with my No. 10 gun, loaded
with four drachms of powder and two ounces of No. 1 shot, before
he fell, and, to my still greater surprise, I found on examining the
"body only one bone broken a tibia. I expected to find the leg
ap,d arm-bones mostly smashed to bits. The specimen was a large
met its death solely on account of its paternal affection,
A MONTH WITH THE BTAKS. 419
sympathy, and genuine courage in the face of danger. It measured
as foflows : length of head and body, 1 foot 7 inches ; entire reach
of arms and legs, 5 feet 1 inch ; extent of outstretched arms, 5 feet
1 inch ; hand, 6 x 1 inches ; foot, 6 x 1 inches ; weight, 10 J
pounds.
" The young specimen was about one-third grown, but its brain
being affected and its spine injured by the shock, I killed it imme
diately for conscience's sake. Late in the evening, when I went
down to the creek to bathe, I took the little mias along to see if he
could swim. I gave him a perfectly fair chance, for instead of pitch
ing him plump into the water as we do dogs and puppies I waded
with him in my arms out to where the water was waist deep, and
then poising him on he surface let him go, much against his will.
Did he swim ? Hardly. He turned heels up in an instant and his
old head went down as if it had been filled with lead instead of
brains. Instead of striking out vigorously with his arms and legs
as other animals do, those useful members simply stuck straight
out from his body like four sticks and moved slowly and feebly,
first one way and then another, as the old fellow sank to the bottom.
I waited a moment to see if he would, in any measure, recover him
self, or come to the surface, but he only turned horizontally in the
water and remained a foot below the surface, stiff and helpless. I
waited until it would have been cruelty to have left him longer, and
then, like Pharaoh's daughter, I drew him out. He did not whine
or scream, but you should have seen his face. Its expression of in
jured innocence and disgust at the whole business spoke as plainly
as words. 'But he was soon all right and after wiping him dry I
put him down upon the pebbly bank while I went in for my bath.
The little rascal- began slowly climbing up the bushes, in a listless,
indifferent manner, to throw me off my guard. By and by I went
out to make him come down, but he was already beyond my reach,
and instead of obeying me he gazed down upon me with a superior,
patronizing air, and went on climbing higher. Very soon he was
twenty feet up, with jungle all around "him., and he had evidently
made up his mind to go from our gaze like a beautiful dream. It
was just sunset, and if not caught within ten minutes he would be
a total loss. I shouted for help and the Dyaks came running down
with axes and parongs to chop down trees if necessary. But one
of the men espied a slanting tree-trunk, and, by its aid, he climbed
nimbly and silently into the top of the tree containing the mias
while we below kept the little rascal's attention directed to our-
430 TWO YEABS IN" THE JUNGLE.
selves. He was not aware of this adroit flank movement until he
looked tip and saw the naked Dyak reaching down from above to
grab him. The little fellow was thoroughly terrified by the mon
strous apparition, and scrambled down in wild haste, until he landed
in my arms, and clung to me for protection. The Dyaks enjoyed a
hearty laugh at his expense.
" November 4tfi. Had a long, tiresome tramp in the forenoon,
over the hills and through the hollows, but saw not a thing worth
shooting. Myriads of leeches, however. A Dyak brought me a
female argus pheasant in poor plumage. Skeletonized it and ate
the flesh for dinner. It was palatable, but neither good nor bad.
It had no particular flavor, but was tender, and therefore acceptable.
"Another Dyak brought a flying dragon (Draco volans), and a
beautiful little tarsier (Tar&ius spectrum), alive and unhurt. Although
it is a monkey, it jumps like a kangaroo, which it is enabled to do
by means of its very long hind legs. The peculiar structure of its
cervical vertebrae permits great freedom of movement with the head,
which it easily turns in a complete circle, starting with the face
turned directly backward. It is a very erratic little creature and
bit me as severely as it was able when I took it out of its cage.
Wishing to make a drawing of it, I placed it on a pole held almost
perpendicular, where it hung for half an hour with its face toward
me as still as though conscious of the fact that I was taking its pict
ure. The structure of its hands is very peculiar. Each long slen
der finger terminates in a flat round disk which acts like the suckeir
of an octopus, and enables the little animal to hold on to a limb by
the side pressure of its hands and without grasping, as all the other
monkeys do. The eyes are very large, and of a clear liquid brown
color, proclaiming the nocturnal habits of the animal
" Dobah still has fever, Perara is complaining, and would like to
have it also in order to escape work. Ah Kee is a jewel, cheerful
and companionable. He has just made me a very creditable sleep
ing suit, pajamas and baju.
"November 5th. Three argus pheasants and a jungle cock
were brought in, all of which I bought and prepared. Having be
come somewhat acquainted with the inmates of our house, I have
commenced to lecture the women on the desirability of bringing
their children in contact with clean water at least once a month.
IBbey received my lecture as a fine bit of humor on my part, but I
4fefck they were ashamed nevertheless,
morning we heard another troop
A MOOTH WITH THE DYAKS. 421
of gibbons whistling in the jungle close by, and in twenty minutes
we were under them. Shot a fine old couple, male and female, and
a young one belonging to the latter. Allowed two other small ones
to get away on account of their tender age.
" November 1th. Out hunting all the forenoon. Came upon
a troop of gibbons, had a fair chance at an old female and let her
get away through sheer stupidity ; didn't fire when I had a chance,
hoping to get a better one. Saw a number of traps set by the
Dyaks to catch argus pheasants and small quadrupeds. In this in
stance a low hedge of green boughs had been built from one ravine
to another across a ridge in the most inviting part of the forest.
The hedge is a careless affair, about two feet high, but withal so
cunningly made that I actually walked into one of the traps with
out seeing it ! At every rod or so a clean gap is left just wide
enough for a bird or small mammal to walk through without sus
picion, and while in mid-passage he will suddenly be yanked heaven
ward by a ' twitch-up/ as we boys used to call it.
" The Dyaks make this very effective little engine of destruction
by bending down a stout bush close by the gap in the hedge,
previously trimming off all the branches, tying a thin strip of soft
bark to the end of the bush and making a noose at the other end
of the thong. Then a little platform about a foot square is made
with small palm-stems, a trigger is set underneath it to hold down
the noose and hold up the platform, then the noose is placed upon
the latter and opened as wide as the platform will allow.
" When the bird, or small beast steps upon the platform it in
stantly falls, the thong is freed, the bush springs up, and the
noose is jerked tight around the leg of the victim. Of course the
bird is jerked high in the air, sometimes dislocating the leg, and is
bound to hang there until the traps are visited. The Dyak twitch-
up is very effective, but the objections to it are that it punishes
the victim cruelly before it dies or is found and killed, and also
that the noose, in most cases, chafes off the feathers of the thigh
and sometimes even the hair and skin from the legs of mammals.
In that particular hedge I counted eleven traps, all very neatly
constructed. We also saw a machine called a peti, to kill wild
pigs, which made me shudder. Three stout, little, two-inch sap
lings had been selected which grew close beside a jungle path in
such a position that when cut off seven feet above ground and tied
together at the top they formed a perfect tripod, leaning over the
path. A fourth sapling was cut, about five feet of the stem taken,
422 TWO TEAKS 1ST THE JT7KGLE.
and one end firmly lashed in with the other three at the upper end
of the tripod. Into the free end of the fourth sapling, which was
about two feet above the ground, was firmly fixed a piece of hard,
well-seasoned bamboo shaped like a dagger, a foot long and point
ing inward. The sapling was sprung out by main force and
fastened at the lower end by a string stretched across the path
with a trigger attachment. The point is, that when a pig comes
tripping gayly along the path on his way to the Dyak's paddy field
to see how the crop is getting on, and thinking no guile, snap goes
the trigger-spring and he is instantly transfixed by a bayonet of
bamboo. How it must hurt ! The worst of it is that occasionally
an unsuspicious Dyak comes unawares upon one of these infernal
machines, gets the sharp bamboo driven through his thigh, and
usually dies in consequence.* Two more pheasants were brought
in. Perara shot a beautiful Cymbirhynchus, and, in spite of its
name, he assured me he killed it with one shot.
"November 8th. Out all the forenoon with Le Tiac and
Dobah, who is well now, thanks to quinine, but saw nothing. On
our way home, passed a Dyak house and clearing a mile distant
from ours. The house was a small one, four doors, and the
dirtiest, most higgledy-piggledy and utterly dejected looking
habitation I have seen amongst the Dyaks. The women must read
novels to excess ; for the place would do for a picture of the reign
of indolence. The way through the clearing to this house was
over tree-trunks which sometimes took us fifteen feet from the
ground. I am now becoming so accustomed to pole-walking that
I look upon a batang as thick as my arm as a very good road.
Give us this day our daily bath. How deliciously refreshing is a
leisurely dip in the clear, cold water of the shady creek after a
five-hours' tramp up hill and down dale !
" One of our Dyaks brought in a superb male argus pheasant
(Argus Grayii), which I took supreme pleasure in skinning.
What a truly splendid bird ! Such delicate richness of coloring is
not found in any other bird of my acquaintance. In life, the
feathers have a soft, velvety nap, and at the same time a satin-like
* Shortly after the above was written a Kalakah Dyak named Bakir, hunt
ing gutta on the upper Sarawak, was killed by a "peti," or pig- trap of the
kind described above. The lance entered his groin and passed quite through
his body. To the credit of the Sarawak Government it should be stated that
ihese traps are now prohibited under heavy penalty, and the owner of the one
was promptly fined $100, or four years' imprisonment.
A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 423
sheen which is not to be found on dry, preserved specimens. Tlie
longest wing feathers measured two feet seven inches in length,- and
the two long tail feathers, three feet two inches. One such bird as
this, a creature fit for Paradise, compensates for a thousand petty
annoyances. My last lamp chimney broke to-night, of its own ac
cord, which is a calamity indeed, for the lamp is now useless.
When my candles are all gone, the evenings will be very long.
" Saturday, November 9th. Just as I was starting out, a curi
ous porcupine (Atherura fasciculata) was brought in, which had
been caught in a pheasant snare. Most unfortunately, the snare
had caught three of the legs and so badly chafed and cut the skin
as to greatly damage it. It was a very singular animal, twenty-six
inches in total length, of which the tail was nine and a half ; the
body was covered with flattened, gray spines an inch and a half
long. I left Perara to remove the skin, with strict injunctions to
work carefully ; but when we returned, three hours later, he came
to me and plaintively said, * Can't skin that animal, sir ! '
Sure enough, the skin was in ruins, the tail off, and also one leg,
and the body torn in many places. On examination I found the
skin had no more strength than a sheet of wet writing-paper, so
we reconsidered the previous motion and took the complete
skeleton, but saved the skin for purposes of identification. Being
pretty well tired out, I decided to rest during the afternoon, and
the clerk of the weather took advantage of our remaining in-doors
and sent down a rain.
" November 11th. Le Tiac brought in two more atheruras, and
as Perara declared it was impossible to skin them successfully I went
to work and skinned both. Both were injured on the legs by the
snare, and it required careful work to make skins of them. When
ever Professor Ward wishes to take the conceit out of one of his
young taxidermists I will tell him to have one of these wet-paper
skins mounted. If I am not mistaken there will be some bad
language used by somebody before these skins are mounted ' in the
highest style of the art*
" I have not seen in this region a snake of any kind until one
was brought in to-day. It was only five and a half feet long ; head,
underparts, and tail a beautiful vermilion ; two narrow, white
stripes along the back, one along the side, and the intervening
space bluish black Two more flying dragons came in at the same
time.
" The women of our village have begun to make the children
424 TWO YEARS ITS THE JUNGLE.
wash daily, so every morning they all form a procession and
march down to the creek, where they proceed to remove the dirt
of the previous day. The first step toward civilization is cleanli
ness ; creeds can come a long ways after. Sent Dobah and Le
Tiac to the Sadong to bring me some more Spanish dollars and
other useful things. They will return in about six days.
"November 12th. Now that Le Tiac is away, Gumbong will
be my guide, philosopher, and friend in the jungles. He is a good,
active fellow, and knows every inch of the forest. To-day we went
out northeast, and at last heard wah-wahs calling to us. Killed an
old male, female, and a young one.
" In the course of our wandering we came to a small clearing,
in the centre of which stood a Dyak village, of ten doors, called
Lanchang. "We visited it, and found the house is a very roomy
one, well built and well kept, roofed with thin boards, and having
an extensive platform of poles adjoining the open side for its entire
length, level with the floor, evidently intended to accommodate a large
crop of paddy. Our arrival was greeted by a chorus of ' ohs ' and
' ah-dos ' from the old men, old women, and children. All the able-
bodied men and women had gone into the jungle to collect gutta, rat
tans, dammar gum, honey, and, in short, anything which they could
find of any value. One fine young fellow who was just starting
out, struck me as being the handsomest Dyak I had ever seen.
His name is Ne Siak. He is about twenty-two years of age,
tall for a Dyak, finely formed, with a strong and even handsome
face, and erect carriage. Around his middle he wore only the
customary bark-cloth chawat, but a scarf of blue cotton-cloth
was flung carelessly around his neck from behind, one end of which
spread over his left shoulder. A rather faded bandanna was tied
turban-wise around his head, with a tuft of hair straying out at the
top, while down his neck and upon his shoulders fell a mass of
glossy, raven-black hair in the prettiest natural ringlets imaginable.
At his side was the usual parong, in its wooden sheath, adorned with
a bunch of argus feathers at the lower end, and, slung securely at his
back, was a long, cylindrical basket (juah), open at the top, itself a
fine specimen of Dyak handiwork. In one hand he carried a stout
spear, and the other was free. I looked at him in undisguised ad
miration, until he stepped nimbly down the ladder at the end of the
house and disappeared in the jungle.
"The children were, as usual, very dirty, and some of the
women and older girls were but a shade better. Hanging upon the
A MOOTH WITH THE DYAKS. 425
posts of the long hall were an unusual number of antlers from the
Rusa, and lower jaws of the wild hog. After we had seated ourselves
upon the clean mats, we saw hanging directly over our heads a
bunch of fifteen human skulls., also trophies of the chase. They
were fleshless and bare., often toothless and jawless as well, charred
and backened with the smoke of several years. I expressed a de
sire to buy one, but the people of the house were unwilling to ne
gotiate, at least at a reasonable figure. The standard value of a
trophy head in the Sarawak Territory is $60, and there are none on
the market even at that price."
CHAPTER XXXVI.
A M03STH WITH THE DYAKS Concluded.
Leeches. Model Mating. Poor Shooting-Boots. Bad Ammunition. A Big
Buttress. Wild Honey. Human-like Emotions of the Baby Orang. My
Guides go on a Strike. Flying Gibbons. Boils and Butterflies. Bear and
Muntjac. Delicious Venison. Le Tiac's Omen Bird. Dyak Shiftlessnesa
in Trade. Gathering Gutta. Le Tiao Climbs a Tapong Tree. A Perilous
Feat. Ah Kee gets Lost A Torch-light Search in the Swamp. Another
Bear. Return to the Sadong. The Last Orang. The Mpa Palm. A
dangerous Squall. Nesting Habits of the Crocodile. Farewell to the Sa
dong.
" NOVEMBER 13TH. Long before daybreak, we heard wah-wahs
whistling off in the jungle in two directions. They are evidently
early risers. We went for one company of them as soon as it was
light, but, although we expected to find them within two hun
dred yards of the house, they were more than a mile away, in the
swamp. Had three fair shots, failed to bring down anything, and
returned crestfallen. Started a civet cat and fired at it also with
out result. After coffee at the house, we went out again, but 'got
nothing except about twenty leech-bites. Leeches swarmed where
we went to-day, and we were badly bitten. There are two kinds
one being the common, short, lead-colored species ; and the other
twice as long, with a narrow, yellow stripe along each side of its-
body. The bite of the latter is most painful.
"Perara shot a yellow-necked hornbilland two other birds, one
of which proved to be the celebrated Dyak omen bird (Harpactes
rutilus, Yieill), a sub-genus of the trogons, not at all rare on
the Sibuyau. The Dyaks at the house noticed it at once, and ex
pressed a desire that we would not kill any more of them, a request
to which we readily acceded.
** To-day I selected and bought a number of ethnological speci
mens of the "Dyaks, including spears, parongs, biliongs (axes), bark
doth and sundry smaller articles. After considerable encourage
ment and advice I got Qumbong to work making me a model of a
A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 437
Dyak long-house, to be a fac-simile of the real thing. I am to
pay him a dollar for it when it is completed. His only objection
to main Tig it was a lack of confidence in his ability to make
something entirely new and heretofore unseen. But he caught
the idea very quickly and went to work at once. Another Dyak
has undertaken to make for me a model of a prau (large boat), to
be likewise complete in every particular.
"November 14JA. Killed a gibbon in the morning. Perdition
seize all English-made foot-gear ! My ' superior London-made
shooting-boots ' (shoes), the best in the market at Singapore, went
entirely to pieces to-day, after precisely two-and-a-half months'
wear. The soles came off bodily. Would they had been immor
tal! The hunting-shoes made for me at Eochester lasted me
through fourteen months' constant wear in all sorts of wet and
dry weather ; through muddy swamps and over rocks as well
Now I shall be obliged to wear my Sunday (!) shoes to hunt in,
and they, being also of the best English make, will probably last
me through the month.
"November 15th. Shot a half-grown mias. In the afternoon,
Perara came running in from the jungle to tell me to come and
shoot two mias chappin which he had just seen about a mile
from the house. We ran all the way back to the spot, up hill and
down, splashing recklessly through mud and water and of course
the mias were both gone. And of course we failed to find them.
This is the third time the boys have played that little game on
me, and made me nearly drown myself in perspiration.
" November 16th. A disgusting day's work. Having nearly ex
hausted my stock of Berdan primers, I loaded all my shells yester
day with Ely's. To-day, in the course of a long jaunt, we found
two troops of gibbons, and five cartridges out of nine failed to go
oft One fine chance after another resulted in the ghastly metallic
< click ' of the hammer, which always chills a hunter's marrow and
makes him f.Tn'Tilr unutterable things. In spite of my hard work
and good opportunities I killed not even one gibbon, and at last,
tired out and disgusted, we started home. But I was doomed to
have Tantalus' cup offered me once more. On the way a fine wild
hog presented himself at fifty yards and stood still I quickly
drew a bead on his head with my rifle, pulled the trigger ' click,'
and away went the hog.
" November 18th. On going out with Le Tiac and Dobah we
found a fine, large porcupine (Hystrix longicauda) caught by a
428 TWO TBAES IN THE JUNGLE.
hind foot in a twitch-up, and held to its death by a slender bark
cord, which one nip of its sharp incisors would easily have severed.
Poor, stupid animal. We came upon a large tapang tree which
threw out one magnificent buttress fourteen feet long, twelve feet
high where it left the tree, and three feet high at the other end.
This curious spur-root was a natural plank, two inches in thick
ness, with perfectly straight sides, covered with thin, smooth bark
I had often heard and read of these buttresses, but not until see
ing one did I at all understand what they are like. As I looked at
that immense natural slab, hewn out by the hand of nature, I
thought of Robinson Crusoe, and how he would have leaped for
joy could he have found such ready-grown shelves and tables in
his forest. With considerable labor, I climbed into the top of a
small tree growing farther down the hill, so as to get a good view
of the buttresses, and in that uncomfortable position sketched the
foundation of the tree.
" Perara distinguished himself to-day by killing a gibbon, and
also a fine flying lemur (Galeopithecus variegatus). These two
specimens, our porcupine, and a Cynogale Bennettii, which was
brought in by one of our Dyaks, gave us work enough for the
afternoon. We ate the flesh of the porcupine, which was good
enough, although rather neutral in flavor. As we were obliged to
work indoors all the afternoon, it rained half the time. As a
general thing, the gnats, moths, mosquitoes, and other insect
abominations are so bad at night that it is almost impossible to
read or write with any degree of comfort.
" November 19th. A blank day for me. Perara killed a female
orang with my No. 16 gun and No. 1 shot ! Of course the animal
was roosting low. I am feasting now on wild honey, brought yes
terday by a foreign Dyak, who sold me three quarts of nice strained
honey for twenty-five cents. My boys protested against the extor
tion, and declared I need not pay more than fifteen cents, but I
would have been ashamed to buy honey for which a Dyak climbed
perhaps eighty or ninety feet, at less than eight cents a quart.
Were I to climb to the top of a tapang tree for honey it would cost
the buyer at least a hundred dollars a quart, if I got any.
" Hot cakes, butter and honey go well together, or at least my
baby orang thinks so. Whenever Ah Kee begins to set the table
the box, I mean for a meal, the Old Man is all animation. He
rises instantly from his straw, where he has been lying lazily play
ing with his toes or making up faces, and gets as near the table as
A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 429
his line will let him go. By standing as nearly erect as he can,
stretching his neck to the utmost, he can just see the dishes on the
box, and watch for the plates of food. As the crisis approaches,
he grows more and more excited, whining, coaxing, and plead
ing with his eyes for the food which is just beyond his anxious
fingers. If I sit down and begin to eat without feeding him, he
looks at me reproachfully, his nether lip drops disconsolately, and
he whines in an aggrieved tone. If I still refuse to serve him, his
whine rises to a shrill, child-like scream, and he throws himself
flat upon the floor, kicking and shrieking like a spoiled child.
This was the most human action I ever saw in ape or monkey.
More than once I attempted to discipline the little brute with a
small switch to see if I could make him stop screaming, but, true
to the impulses of nature, he only screamed the louder.
" The Old Man evinces a decided liking for me, and also for Ah
Kee ; but is shy of strangers. Whenever a dog makes his appear
ance in our room, or it thunders hard, the little fellow makes straight
for me, as fast as he can come, climbs quickly up my legs and nes
tles in my arms for protection. The Dyaks consider him unusually
bright, even for an orang, and several have travelled miles on pur
pose to see him.
"November 20A. Two argus pheasants and a civet cat (Viverra
tangalunga) were brought in yesterday, and to-day we prepared their
skins. Le Tiac finished making a fiddle for me, and when he de
livered it I paid him sixty cents as per agreement. After looking
at the money a quarter of an hour, he came to me and said he
would rather keep the fiddle, so I gave it back to him, and he re
turned the money. Foolish fellow. He can make a fiddle any time
in a day and a half, but he cannot find a market for another in
ten years, I venture to say. But I shall have that fiddle yet, all
the same.
" "When we arrived here, Ah Kee assured me there was not a cent
of money nor a measure of rice in the house. Since that, they havd
earned enough in various ways in my service to enable them to send
off twice, to buy rice ; but now they are getting stomach-proud,
and are prepared to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. For
example : the old man, Gumbong, who has hunted with me during
the past week, made up his mind last night that thirty cents per
day is not enough wages, and he has therefore struck for fifty. Ah
Pee lectured him roundly, and I told him to go to the blazes ; but
he declared that he would not for less than fifty cents a day. To my
480 TWO TEAES IT* THE JTJNGKLE.
greater grief, Le Tiac has also struck on the same grounds and there
is a coolness between us. He was somewhat surprised when I told
him I should not want him any more.
" November %lst. Leaving the Dyaks to amuse themselves in
doors as they saw fit, Dobah and I went out hunting and killed a
gibbon with the rifle at rather long range. The way these animals
can swing along is something marvellous. To-day I saw one going
down hill through the tree-tops where the forest was rather open,
and, for fifty yards, he went as straight as though he had been shot
Jut of a cannon, He flew straight along without an instant's pause
4r hesitation, always turning end over end. Talk about the po
etry of motion/ this is poetry set to music. A gibbon seems to pro
gress entirely by the sole act of his will, and without taking the
least thought as to the means.
"November ZZd. Two more argus pheasants in the morning,
and rain in the afternoon.
" November 23d A boil which has been coming on my elbow
has at last arrived in full force, and I am quite demoralized. A ham
mock and a boil do not go well together, especially when the latter
is on so salient a point as one's elbow. Spent all last night and
to-day in trying to make the thing comfortable. Noticed, very dis
interestedly, a great number of butterflies flitting about the wet
ground underneath the house. There were at least ,a dozen species
all large and brilliantly colored. An entomologist would have a
fine time of it among them, and the Dyaks would bring him hun
dreds at one cent each. To me they are no temptation. It is im
possible to collect and care for small objects, like insects, except at
the expense of large and important ones, like mammals. It is so
for my policy to shun small things, that I do not even pretend to
shoot and akin small birds.
"November 24#i. The boil and I are more comfortable. Spent
the day reading Maury's 'Physical Geography of the Sea } one of
the most charming books I ever read, deep but clear, like Lake Tahoe.
"What a pity all writers on scientific subjects have not Maury's won
derful ability to write clearly and to the point
"November 25th. When I started out in the morning, with
Dobah, Le Tiac repented and offered to go with me on the terms
of our old agreement, so we took him. Started out to make some
sketches in the jungle, but took my rifle on general principles,
iiiough not expecting to use it. After a long and skilfully con-
dttcted ebase of a troop of gibbons, they finally eluded u altogether.
A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 431
As we were toiling disconsolately up a steep hill we heard a sudden
rustling and saw the movement of some wild animal in the bushes
close to our path. I thought it was a wild pig. An instant later
a dark object came shuffling rapidly toward us, growling as it came,
and we saw it was a bear. The absurd little beast was actually
charging us. When it was within ten paces I gave it a ball exactly
between the eyes, which settled it forever. The instant my shot
rang out, another and even smaller bear appeared, also above us,
and came shuffling down the path, evidently intending to flank us.
" Le Tiac cried out excitedly, c Bruong, tuan ! Bruong ! ' where
upon the second bear wheeled about and started back up the hill as
fast as he could go. Eemembering my bear experience in the Ani-
mallais, I determined to stay by my first victim and make sure of that
one at least. I fixed two snap shots, however, at No. 2 ; but he was
ao much concealed by low bushes that I missed both times and he
got away. The one we had was a full-grown female Halarctos Malay-
anus, but it weighed only 60 pounds, too small to make our
grizzly a square meal ! Its total length was 36 inches exclusive of
tail (1 inch), and its height at the shoulders was 18 inches. This
bear is, I believe, the smallest species known. Its hair is short,
very even, smooth, and glossy black everywhere except on the
breast, where there is a cream-colored patch shaped like a V. Le
Tiac joyfully tied the little beast into a bundle, took it on his back,
supported by a strip of bark over his forehead, and we trudged on
to make our sketches.
"On reaching the spot where the large argus pheasant was
caught in a twitch-up, we all sat down and I began to work. We
had sat there very quietly for nearly an hour, when suddenly Dobah
exclaimed in a whisper, 'Kejang, tuan!' I looked in the direc
tion he pointed, and, sure enough, down below us-, a hundred yards
or so, was a pretty little muntjac (Cervulus aureus) walking jauntily
along the side of the ravine. I fired and it disappeared. My com
panions rushed down the hill and found the little animal lying
dead behind a log, shot through the heart. It was a beautiful
little buck, with perfect horns. After I finished my sketch, Le
Tiac backed the bear, Dobah shouldered the muntjac, and we
marched home.
" The Dyaks are rather demonstrative. As we approached the
house on the open side, the inmates quickly espied us, and we were
greeted by a deafening chorus of c ohs ! ' and ' ah-doe, ah-does ! '
as men, women, and children bawled and squealed out their aston-
432 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
ishment and delight. Ah Kee's whole face and head was covered
with one vast and all-pervading Chinese smile of delight at our
good luck. The secret of all this joy lay in the fact that our game
was thoroughly eatable. We gave the Dyaks the flesh of the bear,
which they cooked and ate immediately, and kept the muntjac
meat for ourselves. Ah Kee boiled down a quantity of it and made
the richest and most delicious soup I ever tasted. An epicure who
would not gush over the flavor of the muntjac would be unworthy
of the name. It certainly surpasses, in exquisite delicacy of
' game ' flavor, all the other meats I ever tasted.
" November %6th. In the jungle during the forenoon, to small
purpose, and in the afternoon it rained. Le Tiac started off this
morning on a six days' tramp after gutta, but about noon he heard
the cry of an omen bird, of the kind called brah-guy, on the right
hand, and he was therefore obliged to return and wait two or three
days before starting again. He told me that if the bird cries on
the right hand or behind one who is starting on a journey, it is a
bad sign and he must return at once ; but if it cries on the left
hand or in front of him he can go on without fear. If he should
go on after hearing the bad omen he would have bad luck either
be taken sick, cut his hand or foot, or perhaps the gutta-percha
trees would not run any sap when cut. He declared that only
once did he venture to go on after hearing the bad omen, and be
fore he returned he accidentally cut his hand with his parong.
" The Dyaks generally attach great importance to the omens or
signs which they recognize in the appearance or cry of certain
birds, quadrupeds, and insects, in connection with the more im
portant undertakings of their lives. In the Kyan country of the
upper Bejang, a large head-hunting expedition of over one thou
sand warriors, which had just set out on a grand foray, was instantly
turned back and broken up by a little kejang (muntjac) which ran
across the line of march in front of the expedition. Newly-married
couples are sometimes obliged to separate on account of hearing a
1 deer cry ' within three days after their nuptials, in order to pre
vent the death of one or the other within a year.* Insects often
warn warriors of the presence of their enemies, and again assure
them that they may rest securely for the night.
" What a glorious thing it would be for the American farmer's
boy if omen birds could be introduced into the United States. He
*St John.
A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 433
would certainly Lear one cry on the right hand when starting to
1ihe field on a ' show day/ and at least twice a week in the autumn
months, when the young prairie chickens were flocking around.
The lazy school-boy would listen eagerly for them as soon as the
strawberries and cherries ripened ; and a little later, in melon time,
when the days were awfully hot, he would hear an omen bird call
ing to him from every fence-post on the right as soon as he started
off to school. The omen bird would supply a long-felt want, and
no true American farmer's boy would be without a flock of them.
No other bird would be so safe from harm, or protected with such
tender solicitude. Had omen birds been as plentiful as blackbirds
on the Iowa prairies, I might have remained a farmer boy much
longer than I did ; but without them, life on the farm was unen
durable.
" A Chinese trader came to the village to-day, to trade rice for
gutta-percha, wax, etc. The Dyaks are either very stupid, very
lazy and shiftless, or all three together. Instead of taking their
gutta down to Kuehing, where they could sell it at 60 cents per
cattie (1-J pound), and buy rice at ten to eleven gantongs for a
dollar, they loaf around the village until a sharp Chinaman comes
'along and takes their gutta at 37 J cents per pound, in exchange for
rice at five gantongs to the dollar, and cheats them in the weight
of both !
" Ah Kee took his* wooden steelyards and showed me how a
Chinaman can cheat in weighing an article. By the insertion of a
tiny wooden peg beside the string which holds the weight at the
place where the end passes through the beam, it is easy to make an
article weigh too much or too little, as the weigher chooses. He
assured me most solemnly that Chinese traders nearly always cheat
ten per cent, in everything they weigh, when dealing with simple
people like the Dyaks.
"November 27th. Went with Gumbong to see how he col
lected gutta. A mile from the house he found a gutta tree, about
ten inches in diameter, and, after cutting it down, he ringed it
neatly all the way along the stem, at intervals of a yard or less.
Underneath each ring he put a calabash to catch the milk-white
sap which slowly exuded. From this tree and another about the
same size, he got about four quarts of sap, which, on being boiled
that night for my special benefit, precipitated the gutta at the
bottom in a mass like dough. The longer it was boiled, the harder
the mass became, and at last it was taken out, placed upon a
434 TWO YEARS IN THE
smooth board, kneaded vigorously with the hands, and afterward
trodden with the bare feet of the operator. When it got almost
too stiff to work, it was flattened out carefully, then rolled up in a
wedge-shaped mass, a hole was punched through the thin end to
serve as a handle, and it was declared ready for the trader. I
have seen the Dyaks roll up a good-sized wad of pounded bark in
the centre of these wedges of crude gutta, in order to get even with
the traders who cheat in weight, but I have also seen the sharp
trader cut every lump of gutta in two before buying it. If he
found bark, you may well believe he did not pay for ifc at the price
of gutta. The crude gutta has a mottled, or marbled, light-brown
appearance, is heavy and hard, and smooth on the outside.
" November 28th. To-day Le Tiac announced his intention of
climbing a large tapang tree we saw in the forest a few days ago,
and I went along to see it done. His object in climbing was to
secure some bees' nests, which we saw hanging to the under side
. of the largest limb. Some torch-wood was taken along with which
to make a smoke to protect the climber from the bees. The tree
was a grand specimen of its kind, about five feet in diameter at the
base, covered with fine-grained, soft, white bark, straight as a ship's
mast and without the smallest limb or knot for fully a hundred and
twenty feet up. It towered grandly above its neighbors, and to any
one but a Dyak its top was utterly inaccessible. Hanging from the
under side of the largest and lowest limb, was a good bees' nest,
simply a naked, triangular piece of white comb, but we could not
see any bees flying around it.
"A Dyak ' ladder/ by courtesy so called, reached from the
ground to the branches, put up the previous year, the Dyaks said,
but still strong. It was a very simple contrivance, but one requir
ing a bold man, utterly destitute of nerves, either to put it up or
ascend it. It consisted of seven twenty-foot bamboo poles held al
most end to end alongside the trunk by sharp pegs driven into the
soft wood about two feet apart, first on one side of the poles and
then on the other, to which the bamboo poles were lashed by rat
tans, and held firmly about eight inches from the tree. These pegs
served as the rungs of the ladder. The builder was obliged to let
the ends of the poles overlap a few feet in order to build the lad
der with safety to himself. Just imagine yourself a hundred feet
from the ground, clinging to a shaky lightning-rod and hauling up
aaiotter section twenty feet long, to put in place and peg fast at the
I$wer e&d, so that you can climb it and make it fast as you proceed !
A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 435
"Le Tiac had few preparations to make. He wore only his
chawat, which he adjusted securely, tucking the ends in tightly so
that they would not catch on the pegs and trouble him. At his
back was securely fastened a juah (back-basket) to receive the comb
if it contained honey. His torch was made up securely, and slung
from his neck by a cord, so that it would hang down his back lower
than his feel It was then ignited and waved to and fro, until it
smoked freely, and he started up. He threw his weight heavily on
the first bamboo to test its strength, and also tried the second,
more cautiously ; but they held firmly and on he went. It was like
climbing a tall factory chimney by the lightning-rod, and a very
shaky one at that. It was the most daring feat I ever witnessed,
and I regretted that the audience was so small. But the climber did
not seem to miss the crowd which his exploit would have attracted
in civilized America. He went up, hand and foot, with the most
perfect ease and nonchalance, until he had scaled the dizzy height,
and seated himself astride the lowest limb to rest a moment and
gaze off over the top of the jungle. It actually made my head swim
to look at Trim and imagine myself in his place. Taking his torch in
one hand, he held it in readiness and crawled out along the bare
limb until he was within reach of the coveted prize. He examined
it first on one side and then on the other. c No honey ! ' he shouted
down as cheerfully as though his climb was a matter of perfect in
difference. To our exclamations of disgust, he replied with lofty
smiles, and leaving the comb untouched he began to descend, and
soon reached the ground without accident.
" I am told that accidents do happen to honey and wax-gather-
ers'now and then, from a fault in the construction of the ladder,
but very rarely. Sometimes a number of bees' nests are found on
a single branch, and the climber gets so badly stung as to cause him
to fall Where there is any danger on account of the number of
bees, two or three Dyaks go up together to make the attack ; and,
while one gathers the comb, the others protect him from the bees
with the smoke of their torches.
" November %8th. A day of rain, which I spent in the house con
versing with the Dyaks, through the interpretation of Ah Kee.
They are a very remarkable people morally, and I have conceived a
great admiration for them. The more I see of them, the more I
see in them worthy of respect I regret that I cannot spend several
years among them and see all kinds of Dyaks under all kinds of
circumstances.
436 TWO YEABS IK THE JUNGLE.
"November ZQth. Last evening, after making my daily entry in
this journal, an incident occurred which promised to turn out very
seriously. Ah Kee is very fond of hunting, and often takes my gun
and goes off hunting by himself. This afternoon, after my dinner
was over, he took the big gun and went out. He did not return at
the usual time, and, just at sunset, I was standing in the door ex
pecting every moment to see him put in an appearance, when, all
at once we heard two reports of his gun coming in quick succession,
muffled and faint, and so distant that the sound barely reached our
ears. It seemed at least three rakes off, and I instantly exclaimed,
* Ah Kee is lost ! ' I told some of the Dyaks to go at once in the
direction of the sound and find him if ^>ssible. Perara and I be
gan firing our guns, and kept it up at intervals all the time. The
Dyaks and Dobah went as far as they could before darkness came
on, and I heard them calling and calling, but without an answer.
I waited to see if Ah Kee would come nearer, or if the men would
find him, and, at last, after it had grown pitch dark, we heard an
other muffled e boom ! ' even fainter and farther away than before,
and I saw that if we did not go and find him, he would have to stay
all night in the jungle and perhaps longer.
"Now, under certain circumstances, a night in the jungle is no
laughing matter. Ah Kee was in the worst swamp in the country,
without a parong or knife, or any means of making a fire, perhaps
with all his cartridges expended, wet of course, nothing to eat, and
tormented by myriads of mosquitoes and leeches, to say nothing
of the fear of poisonous snakes or pythons, or of being attacked in
the darkness by a bear or a tiger-cat. "We knew that even if he
heard our firing, he could not possibly come to us in the pitchy
darkness of that tangled, thorny jungle, and if left alone, he was
just as apt to go directly away from us as any other way. If not
found before to-morrow, he migiit wander where we could not find
him, and, all his cartridges being expended, he would be unable to
signal to us. Ah Kee was a faithful fellow perhaps the best ser
vant I have ever had and he was devoted heart and soul to my
wants and my interests regardless of himself. So I decided, in two
seconds, that we must find him at once.
"I called the Dyaks and told them to prepare torches and a
good supply of wood, while I put on my hunting gear. Taking
my revolver and rifle, with a bag half full of cartridges for each,
and a small bottle of gin, we set out. Perara seemed to think it a
good joke on Ah Kee, and declared he had often told him not to
A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 43?
go far away ; but I quickly silenced him by saying that there was
no possibility of his (Perara's) getting lost, for he seldom went out
of hearing of the house, and that if he had had pluck to go a little
farther now and then, he might have shot something. "We took a
torch of wood called c suloe/ which is full of resin and burns
brightly, and, with two extra bundles of it, we set out three
Dyaks, Dobah, and L The big alarm-gong was brought out and
loudly beaten, and, taking our departure by its sound, we went in
the direction of Ah Kee's last shot. We were soon half-knee deep
in water and ooze, but with the aid of the torch we got on reason
ably well At intervals I fired a shot as we proceeded, and the men
kept calling. After going a mile or so we heard a shot far away on
our left. We said that must be Ah Kee and we turned that way.
After a long time we heard two shots on our right and to the rear.
The men all said it was Ah Kee, but I declared it came from the
house, and was Perara's gun. No, they were sure that it was Ah
Kee, while I persisted that it was Perara, so we came to an unde
cided standstill They did not want to go on, and so I reluctantly
consented to turn back in the direction of the last reports.
"For several hours we wandered about, firing the rifle and call
ing, but could get no answer, and at last had no idea which way we
ourselves were going. If we had only had a compass we could have
gone straight from the house in the direction of Ah Kee's last shot ;
but alas 1 my only compass had been lost some weeks before. At
length the torch-wood was nearly exhausted and there was simply
nothing to do but go back, get more wood, and start again. For the
last time we fired the rifle ; then shouted : c Ho 1 Ah Kee ! ' until
the forest rang for a mile on every side, and as the echoes died away
we held our breath to listen. Only the soft twitter of the night
birds and the chirping of the tree frogs answered us. The brown
half-naked Dyaks looked at me and at each other in hopeless per
plexity, but no one had any new plan or thought to suggest The
torch-bearer knocked the ashes from his torch, waved it to and fro
until it blazed up again, and then, reluctantly enough, we turned
our faces homeward.
" We had gone but a short distance, and I was just planning
how we would arouse all the Dyaks in the three villages and offer
twenty-five dollars in silver (a fortune to a Dyak) as a reward for
finding Ah Kee, when we were startled by a deep ' boom ! ' from
behind us, which we knew at once was from Ah See. Luckily we
caught the direction exactly. In less than a minute, two men had
438 TWO TEAES IN THE JUKGLE.
received hurried directions to hasten to the house fur more wood
and to come after us with all speed, along the track we would cut
through the jungle from the spot where we stood in the direction
of the shot The two Dyaks and I then wheeled about and
started through the swamp, slashing our way rapidly along, climb
ing over fallen logs, tearing through thickets and stumbling through
mire, but keeping the direction very carefully. Every hundred
yards we would stop and call : 'Ho-o-Ah Kee-ee ! ' At last we
heard a faint, a very faint C 0-o-o-o-ho !'
" 'Hurrah, boys ! Now we've got him 1 ' and with one joyous,
simultaneous yell, which woke the echoes far and wide through the 4
swamp, we settled down to the task of cutting our way to him.
The water here was nearly knee-deep, and the palms so dense and
thorny that we were forced to cut a passage for every step we ad
vanced. It took us a good half hour to get to him from the time
we heard his first answering call. But we kept calling and he an
swering, so as to keep the right direction, until we were within a
few yards, when, cutting through a perfect cheval defrise of palms,
whose leaves were twelve feet in length and set with thousands of
thorns, we saw a black object wading slowly toward us through the
water and the darkness and Ah Kee was found !
" His wide trousers were rolled about his knees and hung upon
him in rags. His ' pig-tail' was wound tightly around his head,
his body scratched and bleeding, and, taken altogether, he was a
forlorn spectacle. He said he had taken off his clothes, because
they caught on all the thorns and hindered him from creeping
along. He put on his clothes, took a drink of gin, and as soon as
the supply of wood arrived we started home. I was very glad to
find him and he was equally glad to be found. He had two car
tridges remaining, which he proposed to save to defend himself
with, if attacked by any wild animal.
"He had fired only four times in all, and the others were Pe-
rara's marplot shots. Ah Kee heard our firing from the house,
and tried, by climbing a tree, to get the direction, but after getting
it could not keep it ten minutes. Even when we were firing every
tve minutes, he went first in one direction then another, then back
again, utterly unable to go straight. The forest is so thick that it
is almost impossible to judge of direction by sound. Ah Kee got
balin trying first to shoot a wah-wah, and then in following a horn-
Mi as it lew from tree to tree. At last we got to the house amid
gei2ai rejoicing. And what do you suppose was Ah Kee's first act
A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 439
after getting into his dry clothes? He built a fire and made a nice
cup of tea for me ! That act describes his whole character.
" November 30ft. This morning Gumbong and another Dyak
brought in the little bear -which escaped us the day we killed the
other. It was only about half grown, and they captured it alive.
How it did bawl and struggle as it lay on the floor, bound hand
and foot. It was a very pretty little specimen, a foot high and
twenty-two inches long, with a coat of smooth, fine, inky-black
hair. The Dyaks had the good sense to sell him to me, body and
soul, for a reasonable price, and his skin was soon added to my
collection. .Better that, a thousand times, than a life of miserable
captivity among the Dyaks.
" True to his engagement of a month previous, Blou arrived to
day with the large prau and two other Malays to take me back to
the Sadong. He also brought a large packet of letters, which I
received most gladly. After all, the greatest pleasure of jungle life
is getting letters from home. Sent eight loads down to the boats,
and Dobah slept there.
" The model Dyak house, prau, and the fiddle Le Tiac made
and loved, not wisely but too well, were all delivered to-day, to
gether with more bark-cloth, body ornaments, and musical (1) in
struments. The three articles first mentioned were very well made
and showed that Dyak mechanical skill is of no mean order when
encouraged a little.
" December 1st At peep of day, we were up and off, bag and
baggage. Of course the Dyaks assisted us in getting away with
our plunder. The men went with us to the river, and the women
who remained at the house, were loud in their protestations of re
gret at our departure. They said they would be very lonesome
when we were gone. I think each of the women said good-by
about fifty times, and as we left the clearing they stood on the
ladder and in the door, calling Malay good-bys to 'Tuan,' 'Ah
Kee/ and * PleJra,' one after another as fast as we would answer
them, and then begin again. They kept it up until their voices
were lost in the jungle behind us, and then a dog at the house set
up a dismal howling, as though he, too, were affected by the univer
sal sorrow. It was awful work getting across the grass swamp,
and afterward over the wretched 'batangs, 5 for the remainder of
the distance. The batangs were small smooth sapling stems laid
end to end over the mud, wet and slippery, so that we occasionally
took a sudden slip into the mud and water two feet deep. There
440 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUITGLE.
are plenty of saplings about, and, but for their lack of enterprise,
the Dyaks could soon cut enough, to lay two or three side by side
all along and make a passable road over the inud. But the idea
never occurred to them, or if it did, they were too lazy too carry it
out.
"Without losing a moment's time, we loaded the boats and
started, hoping, by hard paddling, to make the return journey in
two days. On the way down I shot my last orang, No. 43 a,
splendid old male ' chappin/ 4 feet 3 inches in height. He was
sitting low down in a tree, comfortably humped up with his chin
resting on his hand, facing us, not over thirty yards away, and he
did not evince the slightest alarm at our sudden appearance. I
shot him very easily, and when he let go, he fell like a bag of meal,
sprawling face downward, as mias nearly always fall.
" The nipa palm grows very thickly along the lower Sibuyau,
and at low water, when they are not partly submerged, they are very-
pretty. From fifteen to twenty finely cut leaves grow from each
root, of a dense green color, and very graceful. To the native,
the nipa is a gift of the gods, apparently designed to supply them
with everything in which the jungles are otherwise lacking. From
the leaves, the indispensable attap house-roofing is made, cheap,
durable, and easily portable, and also kadjangs for boat roofs, so per
fectly adapted to the purpose that even the inventive genius of a
patent-making American could not produce a better appliance ; the
roots when burned yield salt, from the spadix toddy is extracted,
convertible into vinegar by one process, arrack by another, and
sugar and molasses by another.
" Just before reaching the kampong at the mouth of the river,
we came to a house where the Malays had lately been making syrup
and also sugar. I tasted the former and found it delicious, better
than anything of the kind I ever ate, except that made from the
sugar maple. It was thick, frothy, and clear, with a peculiar sweet
ness in which there is a very perceptible flavor of salt. I bought
two joints of bamboo full of it, about a gallon, for twenty cents
certainly not an exorbitant price but alas, I had no buckwheat
cakes 1 "We reached the village at sunset, and have taken up quar
ters for the night% in a dismal, empty, and dilapidated hut on shore.
Have just finished my supper by courtesy so-called. My rations
to-day consisted solely of one can of salmon (one pound) and an
other of green peas (one-half pound) washed down with muddy
ri?er water* This is my birthday, my third since leaving
A MONTH WITH THE BTAKS. 441
and I sit here in this gloomy hut, flat on the floor, with my
blanket spread on the rough poles for a mat, and my ammu
nition-box between my knees for a writing desk, while outside
it is pitch dark, the rain is pouring down, and the tide is running
swiftly up. The men prefer to sleep in the boat, and I am left
alone in my glory. We have had a long, hard day of it, with pre
cious little to eat, and I will abandon this tiresome journal and
seek my swinging cradle.
" December %d. Up at daylight, and Perara and I made short
work of skinning and skeletonizing the mias. With a little help
from Dobah we finished it in two hours. Then we tumbled into
the boats and set off The Malays are working by the job, hence
their willingness to make good time. In the afternoon, as we were
about entering the mouth of the Sadong, a "violent squall caught us,
and we came very near being swamped. We certainly would have
been had not the wind ripped off our kadjangs clean and clear so
quickly that we were saved from going over. Luckily we did not
have the sail up. For a time it looked as if there would be an
amateur swimming match in which all who could swim would par
ticipate to see who could get to shore. But we presently found a
haven in the mouth of a small creek, which we ran into thankfully
enough, but with passengers and cargo thoroughly drenched, and
waited until the squall was over. Dined off a pint tin of hare soup,
which was short measure and very thin. Eeached Simujan at 10
P.M. and found my valuable collection and all other belongings in
perfect safety, just as I left them."
The day after my return Lamudin found the nest of a crocodile
on the bank of a small creek about four miles below the kampong ;
and after shooting at the old female and wounding her, he came
to let me know. On visiting the spot with him I found the croco
dile lying dead beside the nest whither she had crawled, mortally
wounded, to watch her charge to the lasi Her length was nine
and a half feet.
The nest was situated on a clear strip of marshy ground,
about fifty yards from the bank of the creek. It was simply a
mound of dead grass, grass-roots, and earth, about nine feet in di
ameter on the ground and three feet high. The ground around
the nest was covered with water at high tide, and the mound was
thrown up to afford the eggs a resting-place above high water
mark We went to work with our hands to dig open the nest, and
442 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNGLE.
after removing about eight inches of warm sodden grass and earth
in a high state of fermentation we came to the eggs. They had
evidently all been deposited at the same time, over the top of the
half-built mould, for they were disposed in a single layer. There
were fifty-five of them an unusually large number for a crocodile
and incubation had been in progress about ten days.
I took thirty-two of the eggs, at three cents each, and the re
mainder were eagerly purchased at the same price by the Malays
of the kampong, who ate them, notwithstanding the fact that each
egg contained a little embryo crocodile. I was very anxious to
hatch a number of the eggs in order to watch the development
of the embryo, and vainly offered five dollars for a setting hen or
duck to cover the eggs. I tried to hatch the eggs in warm sand,
but my going to Sarawak caused the failure of that plan also. I
am therefore only able to present a drawing of the embryo as we
first found it.
By this time (December 5th), I had eaten up all my provis
ions, spent all my money and allotted time, and having made a
rich and valuable collection of what I most desired, I was ready to
move on. After dining for the last time with genial Mr. Walters,
I engaged passage for my two men and two mifcs, my collection
and myself in a Chinese trader's boat bound for Kuching. Mr.
Eng Quee gave me at parting a number of valuable ethnological
specimens which he had surreptitiously gotten together for my
benefit.
I left the little kampong with keen regret, and have ever since
looked back upon it longingly. The days I spent on the Sa-
dong, the Simujan, at Padang Lake and the Sibuyau seem like a
strange, delightful dream of a sojourn in another world, where every
face and form and every object, animate and inanimate, was strange
and strangely interesting, and with the sweet there mingles no bit
ter. It was a lotus-eater's life that I led for four delightful months,
free from the aggravations which beset all but jungle life.
The deep, mellow boom of the big gong in the veranda of
the government house, on which the policemen struck the hours
with measured stroke, and its echo, rolling through the surround
ing forest like a wave, will always sound in my ears. I love to
think that the hours are struck there now just the same.
CHAP-TEE XXXVH.
THE ABORIGINES OF BORNEO.
Civilization an Exterminator of Savage Eaces. Stability of the Dyaks. The
Survival of the Fittest. The Typical Dyak. Four Great Tribes. Ths
JZyans. Their Strength and Distribution. Tribe Misnamed Milanatu
General Characteristics, Mechanical Skill. Modes of Warfare. Aggres
siveness. Cannibalism of certain Sub-tribes. Tattooing. Ideas of a
Future State. Human Sacrifices. Houses. The HiU Dyaks. Distri
bution. Takers of Head Trophies. Fighting Qualities. Physique.
Dress and Ornaments. A Curious Corset. "Weapons. Houses. The
Pangah. Social Life. Strict Morality without Religion. Prohibition of
Consanguineous Marriages. Marriage Ceremony. Honesty. Disposal of
the Dead. A Belie of Hindooism. Ideas of a Supreme Being and Future
State. The Mongol Dyaks. Remains of Former Chinese Influence. An
Advanced Tribe. Position. Physique. Dress. Houses. Skill in AgrjU
culture. Implements of Husbandry. Independent but Peaceful. The
Muruts. Dress and Ornaments* Houses. The Kadyans. Comparative
Estimate of the Four Great Dyak Tribes.
SAVAGE tribes deteriorate morally, physically, and numerically,
according to the degree in which, they are influenced by civiliza
tion. Those which yield most readily to the mild blandishments
of the. missionary, the school-teacher, and the merchant are the
first to disappear from the face of the earth. Behind the philan-
thropical pioneer of Christian civilization, even though he bears in
his hands only the Bible and spelling-book, there lurks a host of
modern vices and diseases more deadly than the spears and poi
soned arrows of the savage. To improve a savage race is to weaken
it ; to wholly civilize and convert it is to exterminate it altogether.
Like the wild beasts of the forest, the children of nature disappear
before the grinding progress of civilization.*
* This has proven true in perhaps more than ninety per cent, of all casei
in point Ojcasionally, however, a savage tribe is found possessed of suffi
cient moral strength and 'tenacity of purpose to withstand th first great
shock of contact with the powerful forces of civilization, and to survive in
definitely thereafter. Such tribes as are thus fitted by nature to absorb the
444 TWO TEAKS IK THE JUNGLE-
To the ethnologist, aboriginal races lose interest in proportion
to the extent in which they have adopted modern customs and
ideas. If we except the changes in customs necessarily brought
about by the suppression of the head-hunting and piracy, it is safe
to say that the Dyaks of Borneo are to-day precisely what they
were when Europeans first landed on the island. They have mildly
but effectually resisted the best efforts of the missionaries Protes
tant,. Catholic, and Mohammedan alike and, being unalterably de
voted to jungle life, there exists between them and the white race
a gulf which the latter cannot bridge and the former will not
Wise Dyaks ! Neither commerce, education, nor religion can in the
least add to their happiness, and so long as they hold their pres
ent attitude all those influences combined cannot exterminate them.
By reason of their adherence to all their former traditions, cus
toms, and surroundings, except those mentioned above, and on
other accounts as well, the Dyak (by the natives pronounced Dyah)
tribes of Borneo are especially interesting. In some respects they
are the most remarkable people living, and their condition is well
worth study.
As may be inferred from the geographical position of Borneo,
the Dyaks are descendants of the Malay race, which has peopled
nearly all the islands of the Malay Archipelago with the exception
of New Guinea. At present it is impossible for any one to offer
more than vague speculations respecting the advent of the aborigi
nal tribes in Borneo, and than such speculation nothing could be
more unprofitable. No one can say whence this vast island was
originally peopled, although there are some facts which seem to in
dicate that the progress of the great Kyan tribe has been from
Kotei northwestward. There are well-defined traces of Hindoo
influence among the Hill Dyaks in the west, and of Chinese influ
ence in the extreme north; but not a single representative of
either race exists in Borneo at the present day, except a few late
arrivals. Both the Hindoos and Chinese of past centuries have
either been completely exterminated by various influences, or swal
lowed up by affiliation with the aborigines. The traces of Hindoo-
ism are particularly insignificant, consisting mainly of the idea
amongst the Hill Dyaks of a Supreme Being of some kind named
virtues of civilization without "being weakened "by its vices are not extenni-
liasfced, bat are substantially benefited, and go from strength to strength. It is
not charged that the evils of civilization go mtU the missionary and the teacher
^ar from itbut it is & sad fact that they follow closely after.
THE ABOEiaiNES OF BOENEO. 445
Jowata ; the prejudice against killing cattle and deer, and also of
eating their flesh ; and a few rude stone images and utensils. It is
curious and worthy of note that both these great Oriental races in
vaded Borneo in the spirit of conquest, but both succumbed to
savages of mould superior to their own a clear case of the sur
vival of the fittest.
Although the aboriginal inhabitants of Borneo are divided into
several tribes and scores of sub-tribes or clans, they may, with
reasonable exceptions, be described as one body, or sub-race, viz.,
Dyaks. In general terms, a Dyak may be described as a Bornean
semi-savage of Malay extraction, of a yellowish brown complexion,
straight, glossy-black hair, smooth face, medium stature, and active,
warlike disposition. He is usually clad in a bark-loin cloth ; but
sometimes in a war-jacket of skin or padded cloth. He is armed
with sword and spear, and possibly the sampitan also ; and
lives in the jungle in a long-house set high up on posts. He has
no definite religious convictions, but respects his wife, and treats
both her and his children well. His sustenance is rice, fowls,
pigs and fruit grown by himself, and wild animals slain in the for
est, supplemented sometimes by the sale of wax, gum, rattans, and
gutta collected in the jungle ; though these articles are generally
exchanged for brass wire, beads, cloth, and other ornaments. He
has no written language, makes no pottery, builds no monuments,
carves but little and only in wood, works but little in iron, yet
builds fine war-boats* Hi a bearing is independent, dignified, re
spectful and frank, and he is honest at all times, save in war.
While it is perfectly proper to call every aboriginal inhabitant
of Borneo a Dyak (for otherwise it would be necessary to coin a
name applicable to all), there are, as has been already intimated,
several well-marked tribal divisions, and many sub-tribes or clans,
between whom there exist marked ethnological differences, and
diversity in language and custom. Before proceeding to a more
detailed description of the tribe with which I am best acquainted,
it is necessary to a proper understanding of the subject that we
take a brief survey of the entire Dyak race, or, to be exact, sub-
race.
In my opinion the aboriginal inhabitants of Borneo may best
be divided into four great tribes, which should be designated
as follows : the Sea Dyaks, Kyans, Hill Dyaks, and Mongol
Dyaks.
The Sea Dyaks are distinguished "by their brave and warlike
446 .TWO YEABS IN THE JUNGLE.
disposition and .love of conquest, their skill in building war-boats
and conducting naval operations, which has given to them their
name of Orang Laut, or men of the sea ; and also the fact that they
never tattoo their bodies or limba Inasmuch as the people of
this tribe may properly be regarded as the true type of the Dyak
race they will be described at some length in the next chapter.
Something will first be said, however, respecting the other great
tribes,
THE KYAN TETBE.
The Kyan tribe is numerically the greatest of the four, and it
also covers a much greater extent of territory than any other, em
bracing fully one-half of the whole island. Its position is central,
extending from the mouth of the Segah River and the lower
corner of Kotei across the island to the very sea-coast of Sarawak.
The accompanying map shows the extent and outline of the terri
tory occupied by this great tribe, and the positions of its various
sub-tribes, or. dans, so far as known. We have information of at
least eighteen sub-tribes quite definite information respecting
some, though extremely meagre concerning the majority at present,
but no one can say how many more sub-tribes that have never even
been heard of inhabit the unknown interior. The numerical strength
of the Kyan tribe is consequently not known ; and, while it is quite
fatile to blindly conjecture the number of its people, we may
safely believe from the facts we already have that it exceeds two
hundred and fifty thousand*
On the north coast of Borneo the name Kyan is applied only to
the people who inhabit the head-waters of the Eejang and the
Baraan rivers (about fifty villages in all) ; while the tribe as a
whole is named after the Milanaus, an insignificant sub-tribe inhab
iting a few miles of sea-coast, a half-civilized offshoot of the
tete Kyans, who do not practice head-hunting, but according to
Eajah Brooke are "exceedingly treacheroua" The Milanaus
proper are in no sense typical representatives of the sub-tribes
raaafly classed under that name (and even by Bajah Brooke in
Ms "Ten Tears in Sarawak," vol. i., p. 72) ; therefore, I have
3opled the term Kyan as the name of the whole tribe, for the
reason that the sub-tribe commonly known by that name is the
laageet, the most warlike and enterprising, and in every way moat
flf I* I j?egareted as the type of the whole people.
^eakmg* therefore, the Kyan tribe is distinguished
A Kl'AX WARRIOR.
(From a sketch by 11. It. Everett.)
THE ABOKIGINES OP BORNEO. 447
by. being the farthest removed from civilization and by the practice
of sundry barbarous and sometimes cruel customs ; by tattooing ;
by the use of the sampitan, or blow-pipe, and poisoned arrows ; by
wearing sleeveless jackets made of padded cloth or skins of bear s
leopard, monkey, or orang-utan ; by the burial of their dead, es
pecially of their chiefs, in coffins or vaults raised high on posts ;
and lastly (and most strangely of all), by their ability to smelt iron
ore, and to use both forge and bellows in the manufacture of their
weapons, which are of good quality and strangely ornamented. In
addition to the above distinguishing characteristics, mention may
be made of their war-shields, of hard wood, ornamented on the
front with tufts of hair, sometimes dyed in various colors, taken
.from the heads of slain enemies.
For making forays in great force and suddenly attacking de
fenceless villages of real or fancied enemies for the purpose of ob
taining heads, slaves, and plunder, the Kyans proper and various
other sub-tribes have always been famous. They have thus ac
quired a great reputation for bravery and enterprise in war, but
very few facts have been recorded which really justify it. In their
head-hunting forays, the Eyans always went in numbers sufficient
either to completely overwhelm the attacked or else to insure a re
treat, in good , order, from the enemy's stockade. Eajah Brooke
declares with the disgust natural to the leader of an expedition
against an enemy who would not stop to fight, "The Kyan war
riors never fought when they could flee."
With the exception of the check which the Kyans proper ex
perienced when they encountered the finest warriors in Borneo,
the Sea Dyaks of Sakarran and Seribas, they have steadily driven
all other tribes before them in their progress northward from the
interior. The Sibuyau Dyaks were forced to migrate bodily from
the head-waters of the Batang Lupar and settle nearer the coast,
while the poor Bisayas and Muruts have been driven from one set
tlement to another on the Limbang Eiver, in Borneo proper, until
they are greatly weakened and impoverished. The Kyans often
destroyed a whole settlement of Muruts at a single blow.
One of the Kyan sub-tribes of Kotei, the Trings, some members
of which were interviewed by Mr. Carl Bock, has the reputation of
being not only head-hunters, but cannibals, nor did either their
chief or priestess deny the charge.* The Bugis kapitan who vUh
* Head-Hunters of Borneo, p. 136.
448 TWO YEARS IN THE JTOTG-LE.
ited the Trings at home stated to Mr. Bock that they live " in large
houses several hundred feet long, but extremely dirty inside, of a
wretched appearance outside," and literally full of skulls taken in
head-hunting expeditions.
The Kyans proper have on two occasions been publicly accused
of cannibalism, once by some Sibaru Dyaks, of the Kapooas, who
declared that the Kyans (their allies) on one occasion ate a Malay
who was slain in battle ; and once by a Malay noble, named Usup,
who declared that in 1855 a few Kyan warriors took portions of
the bodies of some executed criminals, which they had helped to
capture when alive, roasted, and ate them. Both these instances
are given by Mr. St John.* One or two other tribes in the Dutch
Territory have also been accused of exhibiting the same bad taste.
The people of the Kyan tribe are the only ones in Borneo with
whom the practice of tattooing seems to be universal. Of those
who live in the north, the Kyans proper, the Kenowits and Paka-
tans are known to practise this custom ; while of those in the
south, Mr. Bock states that all the Dyak sub-tribes in Kotei tattoo,
except those in the Long Bleh district. The Tring women and
those of the Baram Kyans tattoo their thighs very elaborately, and
the women of Long Wai do the same with their feet and hands.
The Kyans come the nearest to having a religious belief, or,
rather, system of formulated superstitions, of all the Dyaks. The
Baram Kyans believe in a future existence, and their heaven and
hell are divided into various compartments for the proper accom
modation of all according to the circumstances under which they
die. They pay much attention to the carving of wooden images and
charms, to all of which more or less meaning is attached ; still their
ideas of a Supreme Being and a future state are very vague, and
they have no religious rites or outward observances, f
The Trings have a well-defined belief in a tribal heaven, and a
purgatory of toiling and enduring which must be passed through
before the heaven can be reached. Yet the Trings practise canni
balism in war, and offer human sacrifices at the tiwahs (death feasts)
which are made upon the return of an expedition. Mr. Perelaer
describes such an event, held on the Upper Kahajan Eiver by a
Kyan clan (of which the Trings are a branch), at which forty
slave debtors were put to death by torture, or by flesh wounds in
flicted by the men and boys of the tribe.
* Life in the Forests of the Far East.
fSt. John, vol. i, p. 110.
THE ABORIGINES OF BOBJOJO. 449
The houses of the Kyans are, in general, very similar to the long-
houses of the Sea Dyaks, each of which accommodates a number
of families, but very often a number of these long-houses are
grouped together in regular village style.
Those of the Baram Kyans are roofed with shingles, and floored
with rough boards instead of poles or slats of the nibong palm,
such as are usually employed for this purpose.
The Kenowits and Milanaus in the Eejang District formerly
built their long-houses on posts, from twenty to twenty-five feet
high, or even more, in order that they might better resist the at
tacks of the hostile Sea Dyaks of the Sakarran and Seribas. Being
unable to climb into the houses, their assailants directed their at
tack against the hard-wood posts, and worked under their shields
while trying to chop them in two. Although the inhabitants above
rained down stones, beams, spears, and hot water upon the besieg
ers, Low states that the latter were generally successful*
The Pakatans and Poonans, wandering tribes who inhabit the
unknown interior, build no houses whatever, and are, to that ex
tent, the least advanced of aU the East Indian tribes we are ac
quainted with. Even the open pole platforms of the Jacoons of
the Malay Peninsula show a far greater advancement than the sim
ple mat spread upon the damp earth, but one step removed from
the wild beasts' lair.
THE HTT.T. DYAKS.
The Hill Dyaks inhabit the extreme western side of Borneo,
their eastern boundary being the Sadong Kiver. As their name
implies, they live away from the sea, usually upon the hills and
mountains, and are essentially hill-people. Being indisposed to
making piratical forays by water in great force, as did the Sea
Dyaks in former times, they were usually the victims of their more
powerful and rapacious neighbors. Although possessing, perhaps,
fully as much courage, man for man, as the Sea Dyaks, they were
never so warlike as to make fighting and plundering the chief
business of their li ves. The Sarawak officers say that they are far
more tractable and easily managed than the Sea Dyaks.
Although they formerly took the heads of enemies slain in battle
and preserved the cleaned skulls in their head-houses, they deny
that they ever had that mania for head-collecting which at one time
* Sarawak, p. 340,
450 TWO YEARS 1ST THE JUGGLE.
affected the Sea Dyaks. While it is true that the customs of some
of the clans required that, in order to be eligible for marriage, a
young warrior should be the possessor of a head taken by himself,
in most of the clans of this tribe the taking of a head was not a
preliminary necessary to marriage. The Hill Dyaks also claim
that it has always been contrary to their customs to take the heads
of white men or Malays unless slain in battle, or even of strangers
from other tribes who were visiting their country.
But notwithstanding their natural ability and present peaceful
habits, the Hill Dyaks have been, in their day, warriors of no
mean kind. In 1840 Sir James Brooke states * that the Sentah
clan embraced about one thousand warriors, and their head-house
contained about one thousand heads. In the pangah, or head-house,
of the village of Peninjau, on Serambo mountain, I counted forty-
two skulls, or very nearly one for every two fighting men in the vil
lage, and Mr. 0. H. St. John informed me that there were quite as
many in the other two villages of that mountain., Serambo and
B6mbok.
I did not see many Hill Dyaks, and altogether, representatives
of but three clans the Serambo, Sentah, and Sow. They were so
similar in both physique and physiognomy as to render it quite im
possible for a stranger to detect any other than purely individual
differences between them. They were, I should say, more strongly
built than the Sea Dyaks, and a little shorter in stature also, all
being decidedly below medium height five feet, sis inches. As a
rule both the men and women were well made and muscular, their
forms denoting activity and strength in an equal degree. All have
that independent and dignified bearing so characteristic of both
the Hill and Sea Dyaks, which, resting on a clear conscience and
a foundation of good principles, goes far to make the Dyak the
equal of the European.
Most of the men wore cloth jackets in addition to the bark-cloth
chawat, and a head-dress of either one or the other of the materials
just mentioned. The women wore only the be dang, or half -petti
coat, reaching from hip to knee, but their waists were encirdled by
hoops of No. 6 brass wire, which lay, one upon another, from the
hips upward, in an unbroken coil haJi way up their plump breasts,
which were conspicuous above the upper coil. In the village of
Peninjau, on Serambo mountain, I saw a really good-looking girl,
*Mund/s Narrative.
TEE ABORIGINES OF BORNEO. 451
who wore a remarkable waist ornament, totally unlike anything I
had before seen or heard of. It was neither more nor less than a
tightly-fitting cylinder, or corset, composed entirely of brass wire of
large size. One wire hoop was fitted around her waist at the hips,
and another half way up her breast, between which were fastened,
perpendicularly, brass wires of the same size and equal length, set
as closely together as possible without overlaying. This curious
girdle of brass was ten inches in width, and, unlike the corset of
modern civilization, had no provision for the breasts, which strayed
out in a most lawless manner over the top. The girdle fitted so
tightly and with such rigidity that I was impelled to ask my com
panion, Mr. 0. H. St. John, how it was removed at the approach
of that interesting period in womanhood to which every Dyak
woman looks forward with eager interest. He stated that when
pregnancy rendered the removal of the corset imperative the old
women of the village would tie the girl's hands together, pull them
above her head to the utmost stretch of her arms, make them fast
to a beam, and then work the girdle off over her head.
In addition to this brass- wire corset, this same young woman
wore on each arm about fifteen nicely polished brass rings, or
bracelets, which, altogether, reached from her wrist nearly to her
elbow, like a long, close-fittting cuff of brass wire. Her entire out
fit of wire was quite clean and highly polished, and in sharp con
trast with her dark skin, the general effect was quite pleasing.
The Hill Dyak women sometimes wear a loosely-fitting jacket
of bright cloth, but are usually seen without it. The ornaments of
the men are armlets of plaited rattan, necklaces of beads, and some
times, as I was told, of leopard's teeth, although I saw none of the
latter. Neither men nor women ever tattoo in the least, and their
skin is of a yellowish-brown color.
The weapons of the men consist solely of the spear and parong
latok, the latter being a heavy sword of the toughest steel, very
thick at the back, and with an edge like a razor, gotten up for the
express purpose of splitting a head open, or cutting it off altogether,
at a single blow. For a European, it is an awkward weapon to use,
the hilt being very small and set on the blade at an obtuse angle,
in order to give greater force to the swing of the weapon. The
parong latok in my possession measures as follows : length of
blade, 21 inches ; breadth at widest part, 2 inches ; thickness at
back, % inch at the point to at the hilt ; length of hilt, 8 inches ;
weight, 2i Ibs. The sheath is of WQpd, stained dark red, and is
452 TWO YEAES Itf THE JUKOLE.
fastened to the body by a cord made of blue cotton cloth. Thia
weapon and its sheath are figured in the group of weapons and
utensils given elsewhere, Nos. 5 and 4 respectively.
The villages of the Hill Dyaks are composed of a number of
houses of good size, elevated on posts of course, and each inhabited
by several families, instead of the one continuous structure, or long-
house, peculiar to the Sea Dyaks. The departure from the typical
long-house is rendered necessary by the fact that their villages are
usually on mountains or hills where the surface is too rugged and
broken to accommodate one continuous structure several hundred
feet long by forty or fifty wide. Each Hill Dyak village contains
a pangah, or head-house, a circular structure with a steep and
high conical roof. That at Peninjau was about fifty feet in diam
eter, with a fireplace in the centre, and a broad bench running all
the way around the room next to the wall, directly above which
the skulls which had been taken by the community had been sus
pended in a row. Here and there a square section was cut in the
roof and fixed so as to be pushed out at the bottom and propped
open to admit light and air. The pangah is the purgatory to which
the boys of the village are sent to lodge from the time they arrive
at puberty until they marry. All strangers are lodged in it, and
councils are held there also.
I do not know much of the social life of the Kill Dyaks ex
cept what was told me by Mr. St. John and the late A. K. Haugh-
ton, Esq. ; but I consider their testimony of higher value than even
the personal observations of a stranger and brief sojourner, and
therefore I give it unhesitatingly.
The people of this tribe are morally the most highly developed
of any in the island of Borneo, if not in the whole archipelago,
which, in view of the extent of the influence Hindooism formerly
exerted over them, is all the more surprising. Although they are,
as a tribe, wholly without religion or any of its restraining influ
ences, their moral principles would put to the blush the children of
Israel in their best days. It is claimed that adultery is an uncom
mon crime (except in the case of the people of Peninjau and
Serambo) among them, and there are several large villages in
which the oldest men do not remember a single offence of the kind.
Under no circumstances does a Dyak woman attempt to produce
an abortion, the common and unpreventable crime of civilization
in its highest state. But one wife is allowed, except in rare in
stances, where a chief is permitted two.
THE ABORIGINES OF BOBBED. 463
The customs of the Dyaks absolutely prohibit consanguineous
marriages, even the marriage of cousins constituting a rank of
fence, for which the offenders are heavily fined, and socially dis
graced as well. Marriages could be contracted in this country or
in Europe with honor and 'eclat which would not be permitted for
a moment among the aborigines of Borneo in their native jungle.
I have already alluded to the custom of banishing the unmarried
men and boys of the village to the pangah for the protection of the
families.
And yet the marriage ceremony is devoid of any solemn vows
and protestations, certainly destitute of even a spark of religious
sentiment, and so simple and absurd as to seem little more than
child's play. Indeed, it is so little thought of that it might almost
be said a couple may go through with almost any ceremony they
please so long as their intention is made public. In some villages
a fowl is shaken a certain number of times over the heads of the
pair to be wed ; in others the bride and groom each take a fowl,
pass it in front of them seven times, then cut the throats of both,
cook them and eat them. Sometimes a marriage is celebrated by
an exchange of bracelets in public ; and again by the contracting
parties eating a meal of rice, honey and salt together. Like honest
people, it is the intention of the other that each participant in a
marriage relies upon ; and the ceremony merely serves to mark
publicly the beginning of their marital relation.
Marriage usually takes place when a girl reaches the age of six
teen, and she is always allowed to engineer her own matrimonial
schemes, and choose her partner without let or hindrance. Di
vorce is not uncommon, but scandal, lying, and wholesale vituper
ation are not resorted to to accomplish it. If a pair does not
live happily together, by reason of laziness on the part of one,
or bad temper on the part of the other, the dissatisfied party
leaves the other, and, after a fine is paid over by the dissatis
fied party to the original offender, both are free and at liberty to
marry again. Separations to which both are opposed sometimes
take place soon after the marriage, in obedience to certain recog
nized signs, such as the barking of a deer, which f oretells the death
of one of the parties if they do not separate. In all his social re
lations the Dyak is a philosopher, free from gnawing jealousy and
yearning for seclusive and perpetual possession. If one wife leaves
him he girds up his loins literally and coolly seeks another and a
better one. Although he greatly enjoys his wife's society and co-
454 TWO TEARS I1ST THE JIHSTGLE.
operation in his pursuits on the farm, if she leaves him he does not
allow her absence to disturb his serenity. The loss of his children
affects him much more, for they are his hope and trust.
To the other virtues of the Dyak must be added that of strict
honesty and profound respect for the rights of property. Whether
they steal from each other I cannot say ; I suppose they do some
times, although it must be very seldom. It is positively asserted,
however, that they never pilfer from Europeans, nor even Malays
and Chinese, from whom they would have a right to take something
in remembrance of past oppression and extortion in the one case,
and sharp practice with false weights and measures in the other.
Strangely enough, some of the Hill Dyaks burn their dead,
a custom which they have clearly adopted from the Hindoos who
flourished in Western Borneo several centuries ago. I believe all
the people of this tribe in Sarawak Territory practise cremation ex
cepting those who live on the Sadong. The Sadong Eiver Dyaks
bury their dead, and bury with them various articles belonging to
the deceased, especially his betel box with fresh sirih leaves (black
pepper), some old clothes of no value, and perhaps his spear. His
land is then divided equally among his children, without discrim
ination for or against either sex.
The Hill Dyaks have no written language, and no social laws
save the customs and traditions which have been handed down
from their ancestors ; and it must be admitted that these are sur
prisingly well adapted to their condition and necessities. Chief
tainships are hereditary, but their chiefs rule only by the consent
of the governed and without the power to oppress.
The Hill Dyaks have dim ideas regarding a future state and
a Supreme Spirit named Tupa or Jowata, both Hindoo names.
They believe the good Dyaks go to a place under the earth,
called Sabyan, where they are happy, and that the bad go to an
other place, also called Sabyan, where they are not happy. A few
believe that sometimes their ancestors take the form of deer after
death, for which reason, like the Hindoos from whom the idea was
probably derived, they will neither kill deer nor eat of their flesh.
Some believe that certain of their warriors become " wood-
spirits/* or wood-devils (antus), after death, and remain on earth to
plague such of their survivors as have offended or injured them.
They have no religious ceremonies or observances whatever, nor
any conception of a God who controls the destinies of men for
good or ill In these people we see morality divorced from any
THE ABORIGINES OF BOBNEO. 465
form of religion, a state of things which we are often told is impos
sible. In this condition they are happy and prosperous, which,
after all, is the great end of human existence.
THE MONGOL DYAKS.
The Mongol Dyaks, whom I regard as the fourth division of the
Dyak tribes, are composed of the Ida'ans, or Dusuns, who inhabit
the northeastern portion of the island ; the Kadyans, who inhabit
the hills in the "vicinity of Brunei, the capital of Borneo proper ;
and the Muruts and Bisayas, who are the sole inhabitants of a long
strip of territory lying between the country of the Baram Kyana
on the south and the Ida'ans on the north, and stretching from
near the coast of Borneo proper perhaps three-fourths of the dis
tance across the island. While it is certain that future explora
tions of the interior of Sabah will add to the above several clans
now wholly unknown to us, it will be noticed that the Bajus and
Lanuns of the north coast are excluded from the Mongol Dyak
tribe. The former are Sea Gipsies, of mixed breed, and no partic
ular nationality, while the Lanuns, formerly the most famous pi
rates in the East Indies, came to the north coast of Borneo from
Mindanau, one of the most southern islands of the Philippine group.
For the most definite and reliable information attainable con
cerning these sub-tribes we are indebted to Mr, Spencer St. John's
admirable work, " Life in the Forests of the Far East," from which
the following facts are drawn.
The Ida'ans are the farthest advanced toward civilization of all
the aboriginal sub-tribes in Borneo, and from the fact that the
language of the other three sub-tribes is nearly identical with theirs,
and that they have all been greatly influenced by contact with the
Chinese in former years, which influence still affects them, I con
sider it both convenient and desirable to group them together
under the title of Mongol Dyaks. The Ida'ans, who number about
forty thousand souls, and constitute perhaps more than four-fifths
of the proposed tribal group, certainly differ very strikingly in
many respects from the other Dyak tribes ; while the three sub-
tribes which we associate with the Ida'ans, certainly resemble them
more than they do any others.
The Muruts and Bisayas are ; in many respects, similar to the
Sea Dyaks, and it is highly probable that they ,once belonged to
that tribe ; but, by the onward march of the warlike and aggres-
456 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
sive Kyans, they became separated from the main body, ever since
which time, even down to the present day, their implacable enemies
have steadily driven them northward step by step, until finally,
perhaps even as early as the end of the present century, their north
ern boundary will reach the country of the Ida'ans, and the three
sub-tribes will become more closely related than now.
The Ida'ans (or Dusuns), according to St. John,* are essentially
the same in appearance as the Dyak of Sarawak, the Kyan, the
Murut and Bisaya. Some of the men tattoo slightly, but in an en
tirely different fashion from the Kyans. They are clear-skinned
and have good-tempered countenances. The women, although not
good-looking, are not ugly. All the girls and young women wear
a piece of cloth to conceal their bosoms : their petticoats also are
longer than usual, and the young girls (of Ginambur) had the front
of the head shaved like Chinese girls. Near the sea-coast, the men
wear jackets and trousers, but as the traveller advances into the in
terior, the amount of clothing gradually lessens ; cloth garments
being seen on a few only at the foot of Kina Balu, beyond which the
people are said to wear nothing but bark-cloth.
The houses of the Ida'ans on the Tampasuk Biver, Mr. St. John
declares to be the best he ever saw among the Bornean aborigines.
Some were " boarded with finely-worked planks ; " the doors were
strong and excellently made ; and the flooring of bamboos beaten
out, which in one house at least was very neat and free from all
dirt. While some have adopted the Chinese custom of a separate
house for each family, others occupy the usual long-house so com
mon among the Sea Dyaks, with the open hall and a separate room
for each family.
The Ida'ans are essentially agriculturists, in which pursuit they
are so far advanced as to use the plough, which is very simple and
made entirely of wood, and also an equally rude harrow. They
raise rice, sweet potatoes, yams, maize, sugar-cane, tobacco, and
cotton. " Simple as this agriculture is," says St. John, " it is su
perior to anything that exists to the southward of Brunei, and it
would be curious if we could investigate the causes that have ren
dered this small portion of Borneo, between the capital and Malludu
Bay, so superior in agriculture to the rest. I think it is obviously
a remnant of Chinese civilization." ..." The Ida'ans also use
a species of sledge made of bamboos and drawn by buffaloes to
"Vol. i., p.
THE ABORIGINES OF BOBNEO. 457
take their heavy goods to market. The gardens on the Tarawan
are well kept and neatly fenced in."
" None of the Ida'ans pay any tribute to any one, and no one
dares to oppress them. Each village is a separate government, and
almost each house independent. They have no established chiefs,
but follow the counsels of the old men to whom they are related.
They have no regular wars . . . and their feuds are but petty
quarrels. Although every man goes armed, perfect security exists,
as was proven by the troops of girls working in the fields without
protection."
The only case of pilfering from a white man by a Dyak oc
curred to Mr. St. John., when among the Ida'ans, which may also
be set down as due to the results of Chinese influence and example
IB former times.
The Muruts and Bisayas are numerically weakened and greatly
impoverished by reason of the oft-repeated and usually successful
attacks made upon them by the Kyans of Baram. They are
steadily driven from one locality to another, and live in constant
fear of further raids, for, be it remembered, they are far beyond
the beneficent influence of Kajah Brooke's government.
"Orang Murut" means literally "mountain man/' and those
visited by St. John, who live in the mountain above the source of
the Limbang Kiver, he thus describes :
The men wear bear-skin jackets, and head-dresses of bark or
namented with cowries. Heavy necklaces of beads are worn by
the men as well as the women, with many rings of lead worn in the
rim of the ear. Some young girls have petticoats composed en
tirely of beads on a ground work of cloth or bark. The girls of
this tribe also twist a couple of fathoms of brass wire in circles
around their necks, which rise from the shoulders to the chin like
a small hoop-skirt.
The Limbang Muruts live in long houses, one of which con
tained fifty doors, and the long hall was closed in and filled with
fireplaces.
The Kadyans, who are few in number and live only about
Brunei, are the only clan of the aborigines who have taken kindly
to the haunts of civilization and choose to dwell near the city, and
many even within it. Although like the Ida'ans, they learned their
agriculture from the Chinese during the present century, the influ
ence of the Malays has been sufficient to convert them nearly all to
Mohammedanism*
458 TWO YEABS IN THE JUGGLE.
Before turning our attention to the Sea Dyaks, the varioua
tribes may be placed before the reader in a summarized form in
the following manner, to show their comparative rank as viewed
from different standpoints :
Morally. Mentally. Physically.
1st. Hill Dyaks Sea Dyaks Sea Dyaks
2d. Sea Dyaks Hill Dyaks Zyans
3d. Mdngol Dyaks Kyans Hill Dyaks
4th. Kyans Mongol Dyaks Mongol Dyaks
fi
&4
O
CHAPTER
THE SEA DYAKS.
Habitat. Number. Sub-tribes. Their Physique. Sea Dyak Women. Theil
Dress and Ornaments. The Men. Their Weapons. War Boats. Fight
ing Qualities. Head-taking and Head-hunting. A Mania for Murdsr.
Houses and House-life of the Sea Dyaks. Communal Harmony.
Daily Occupations. Amusements. Music-making. Feasts. Gentle
manly Drunkenness. High Social Position of Women. The Doctrine of
Fair Play. Strict Observance of the Bights of Property. A Race of Debt-
Payers. Morality without Religion. Infrequency of Crime. Dyak Dis
eases. Mode of Burial. The Future of the Race. Can Christianity
Benefit the Dyaks ?
THE tribe of Sea Dyaks has always been celebrated for the bravery
and enterprise of its warriors, their independence and resistance of
oppression in all forms, and their success in maintaining both of
fensive and defensive sub-tribal alliances. In Sarawak they occupy
all the territory between the Sadong and Bejang Elvers and all the
tributaries of the latter up to the Kanowit River which is the boun
dary of the Kyan country. The largest and most powerful clans
reside on the Batang Lupar and its tributaries, and the Seribas.
The main body of one large clan, the Sibuyau, inhabits the Lundu
Eiver and its tributaries in the western extremity of Sarawak, where
they emigrated from the Sibuyau Eiver to escape the aggressions
of the people of Sakarran and Seribas. Southward, the clans of
this tribe extend to the Kapooas Eiver in the Dutch Territory and
beyond it to limits not yet clearly defined.
In Sarawak there are seven sub-tribes of Sea Dyaks, viz, : the
Seribas, Sakarran, Ballow, Sibuyau, Undup, Batang Ayer, and La-
manak. The Sarawak Government estimates the total population
at ninety thousand (1879).
The Sakarran and Seribas clans are the largest, and also the
richest in gold and silver ornaments, jars, gongs> brass guns, and
such other goods as help to constitute Dyak wealth.
In physique, the Sea Dyaks, like the Kill Dyaks, are below
460 TWO YEAKS IN THE JUNG-LE.
medium stature, the tallest Sibuyau man that I saw being barely
five feet four and a half inches while the majority were under five
feet three. The men are well proportioned but sparely built, and
not, as a rule, what would be called muscular. Their form denotes
activity, speed, and endurance, rather than great strength ; precisely
the qualities most required by a denizen of the jungle. While this
is true of the men in general, it is by no means uncommon to meet
thick-set and muscular individuals ; almost the first Dyak I saw,
Dundang, was a fleshy native Hercules. Their movements are
easy and graceful, their carriage always erect ; and in manner
they are independent and dignified, though naturally polite and
respectful. They have neither the insolence of the African, the
fawning obsequiousness of the Hindoo nor the hypocritical for
mality of the Anglo-Saxon. The Dyak, in spite of his occasional
dirt, is my beau ideal of a man in more respects than one, but
nothing commends him to me more strongly than his simple hon
esty and manly independence.
The color of a typical Sea Dyak is dark-brown with a strong
tinge of yellow ; his hair is jet-black and falls in graceful, flowing
locks upon his shoulders instead of being perfectly straight and
characterless like that of the Malays. His costume consists of the
chawat, a piece of cotton or bark-cloth- about five feet long wound
tightly around the waist and drawn between the legs with one end
hanging down apron-wise in front and the other behind. He also
wears a sort of turban of red cotton cloth, or perhaps a bandanna
or bark-cloth, or he may wear nothing at all on his head. As has
already been mentioned, some of the Sibuyaus wear a small coffin-
shaped mat depending behind from the chawat, and reaching from
the small of the back half way down the thigh, evidently to be
used as a seat. I have been told that many of the Sea Dyak men
wear sleeveless jackets of red cotton cloth padded with cotton, when
going to war, but the few I saw worn in the piping times of peace
were very common-looking garments of dingy white, or coarse
brown cloth, the latter of native manufacture.
The Sea Dyak women, or at least those of the Sibuyau tribe, are
much lighter in color than the men, the yellow tint predominating.
As a rule they are not handsome, but I saw among them a few who
were decidedly good-looking, if not even pretty. I particularly
remember two girls that I saw in Dundang's village, near Simujan,
one of whom was his sister. Both were exceedingly comely girls,
whose good features, and plump, well-moulded figures would do
A SEA DYAK BELLE.
(From a photograph.)
THE SEA DTAKS. 461
no discredit to a Venus de Medici. As a rule I fear I do not
appreciate the beauties of dark-skinned women, and I never yet saw
one who would justify even a mild form of emotional description,
to say jaothing of the stereotyped raving in which the English lan
guage is often pumped dry of adjectives with which to convey a
faint idea of a beautiful creature. For once, however, I was glad
that the Dyak women are partial to " full dress/' and I looked at
those two forest belles with undisguised but respectful admiration.
I remember another young woman, in a foul-smelling village near
Padang Lake, whose face was precisely like that of Raphael's Sis-
tine Madonna, except that it was brownish yellow. Her extremely
pensive and half sad expression fastened my attention instantly.
She had a pretty oval face of a very different outline from the typi
cal Dyak woman, and her whole expression was strangely peculiar
for a native. I imagine it was caused by love-sickness.
But the Sea Dyak women in general are by no means bad-lookr
ing. Their faces are bright, intelligent, and interesting, and I dare
say others would call many of them pretty. As a rule they are
handsomer than the men. Some that I saw were so clear-skinned
and light as to be really a dark yellow, but sufficiently warmed
with brown to make it healthy-looking, and far from disagreeable.
Their eyes are always jet-black and sparkling, and their hair, which
is abundant, well-kept, and drawn straight back without parting,
is likewise glossy and black as a raven's wing. Their teeth, alas !
are also black from chewing betel, which likewise reddens their
lips for the time being. Their busts, which are always exposed, are
generally plump and well-formed until old age mars all such beauty
and leaves the skin hanging from the shrunken sides in hundreds
of wrinkles and folds. The girls marry at sixteen and are old
women at thirty.
Ordinarily a Dyak woman's sole article of wearing apparel is the
bedang, or petticoat fastened at the waist by being tucked over and
under a belt of rattans dyed black, and falls within about three
inches of the knee. This garment is usually of native cotton cloth,
and sometimes very prettily figured. The women living around
Padang Lake, and a few on the Simujan, have jackets of red or
brown cotton cloth with sleeves, which they always wear when at
work in the fields ; also wide conical hats, of Malay pattern, made
very pretty with fine rattan splints dyed in various colors. Both
hat and jacket are always worn when they go visiting, or trading
down the river to Simujan. The picture which I remember most
462 TWO YEAES Itf THE JUNGLE.
vividly in connection with my last trip down the Simujan, was
Noonsong sitting in the stern of Eakka's prau, paddling and steer
ing for him, clad in a jacket of turkey red, and a gorgeous Malay
hat, similar to the one she made for me, her long black hair stream
ing down her back, the water flying from her paddle and the rain
pouring down upon us all
The ornaments of the Sea Dyak women consist of many coils of
thick brass wire, sometimes loose and sometimes fitting tightly,
occasionally brass spiral, worn round the waist when they are rich
enough to afford it, and coils of split rattan, dyed dark red or black
when the brass is beyond their purchase. Loose rings and coils of
the same material are sometimes hung around the neck also, and
half cover the breast. Beads I never saw worn on the neck. They
also wear coils of brass wire, or else large hollow bracelets of silver,
on their arms from the wrist upward, when they can afford it. Mr.
Halighton informed me that ornaments of gold and silver were
quite common among the people of Sakarran and Seribas, the
result of their piratical habits in former times. The only orna
ments I saw worn on the lower limbs, were leglets of rattan and
sometimes brass wire, worn immediately below the knee, varying in
number from one to five. Some of the women wore a large orna
ment .like a silver rosette on the lobe of each ear, beaten hollow on
the inside and held by being riveted through the flesh. I was told
that these are made of gold when the wearer's husband is rich
enough to afford it.
The men of Sibuyau wore very neatly-made armlets and leglets
of braided rattan, some extremely narrow and others half an inch
wide. The men of Sakarran and Seribas wear a number of brass
or copper rings of different sizes in the rim of each ear one above
another, the largest below, the smallest at the top, and often three
or four together, two or three inches in diameter, in the lobe of the
ear. With the men of these two clans, this custom is so universal
that they are everywhere recognized by it. In former times the Hill
Dyaks used to say, "Beware of the men with many rings in their
ears ; they are always bad men." I have never seen a specimen of
the head-dress worn by the Sea Dyaks when on the war-path, but
Mr. Haughton described it to me as a three-inch-wide band of cloth
or bark-cloth with cowries sewn upon it, worn tightly around the
head from which there stand up from six to a dozen of the wide,
black-banded tail feathers of the rhinoceros hornbill.
The weapons of the Sea Dyaka are really insignificant in com*
THE SEA DYAKS. 463
parison with the warlike, and once piratical propensities of the
people. Their arms are neither numerous in kind nor elaborate in
design, and it is surprising that such redoubtable warriors have not
developed weapons of better fashion, more elaborate ornamentation,
and greater variety. In the matter of both weapons and shields of
all kinds, the Kyans far surpass both the Fill and the Sea Dyaks.
The arms of the latter consist ordinarily of a common parong or
chopper, in shape, size, and weight closely resembling a farmer's
corn-knife. It is not so heavy as the parong latok, nor so long ; but
in good hands it is enough. Like the latter weapon it is carried in
a wooden sheath on the left side. Those to be seen now among
the Sea Dyaks are very rough, common-looking instruments, not
worth keeping as curiosities, and their sole use now is in the never-
ending, but wholly bloodless, conflict which the Dyak wages with
the jungle.
As before stated, the Sea Dyaks never use the sampitan and
poisoned arrows. Their spears are as cheap-looking and destitute
of all ornament as their parongs, being simply a piece of steel ham
mered into a rough-looking blade, 8J- inches long by 1 wide ; set
into a stout handle of rattan five feet long.
I did not see any genuine war boats, and for a full description
of them I must refer the reader to Low's "Sarawak," p. 216. It is
there stated that "their war-boats, which are called 'bankongs/
are generally of great length, frequently as much as seventy feet.
They are built very high abaft, and high forward, . . . from a flat
keel, without timbers of any sort, the planks being merely sewn one
to the other, or rather tied by rattans, through holes about eighteen
inches apart, calked with the soft bark of a tree of the tribe Myrta-
cew, and payed with a preparation of dammar and oils
They are sometimes steered with a rudder, but more frequently by
paddles, and from the assistance the men paddling them are able
to give, they turn as on a pivot." The planks from which these
boats are made are all hewn out, Crusoe fashion, with "biliongs,"
two only being obtained from a large tree and that only with infi
nite labor, it being very necessary that all the planks should be of
the same length as the "bankong." "These boats, according to
their size, carry crews of from thirty to ninety men, . . and I
should think it probable that no boats in the world could equal
them in speed."*
* Written in 1847.
464 TWO YEAKS IN THE JUNGLE.
Every Sea Dyak prau or large boat above the size of a small
sampan, or dug-out canoe, is provided with a tight roof of kadjangs
supported upon and lashed to a skeleton frame-work of poles. The
hull is decked over from stem to stern with an open frame- work of
slats of the nibong palm, or of poles, except that an opening is left
amidships, whereby to bale out the craft when it leaks. All the
praus, or nearly all, are made on the same plan as the bankongs,
of planks sewn together with rattans.
Thanks to the benign influence of Kajah Brooke's government,
my knowledge of the Dyaks as warriors was obtained wholly
at second hand, chiefly from the writings of Sir James and his suc
cessor. From the first, it has been the leading principle of both
to maintain peace in Sarawak, peaceably, if possible, but if not, to
fight for it. The Sibuyau clan has always been the staunch ally of
the government in its efforts to subdue, first the hostile and pirati
cal sea tribes, and lastly the Kyans. The powerful and war
like clans of Sakarran and Seribas maintained a close offensive and
defensive alliance, and were openly hostile toward all their neigh-
* bors. For many years their power remained unbroken and they
successfully made one piratical foray after another against the Si-
buyaus, Ballows, Undups, and the Hill Dyaks in general. The
latter people, being badly scattered and apparently incapable of
forming strong defensive alliances, suffered terribly and thousands
of them were killed and beheaded, while thousands more (women
and children) were made the life-long slaves of their fierce captors.
But the advent of Sir James Brooke and the forces he was able
to enlist in the cause he had espoused, ushered in the dawn of a
new era. The pirates of Sakarran and Seribas were attacked again
and again by Captain Keppel and the forces of the Dido and
Phlegethon, aided by Sir James and his fleet of Dyak warriors, and,
after repeated and well-merited thrashings, finally submitted.
This left but one hostile tribe in the territory, the Kyans, which
submitted in 1863, since which time Sarawak has been quiet, save
now and then when some act of insolence or crime rendered it nec
essary to discipline some particular chief by means of a small ex
pedition. At present, life and property are as secure in Sarawak
as in any country in the world.
The Dyak modes of warfare most preferred are precisely the
same as those of the best trained warriors of Europe and America,
viz., either to attack in overwhelming force and crush with num
bers, or to take the enemy by surprise and therefore at a great
THE SEA DYAKS. 465
disadvantage. Dyak fighting was usually done at close quarters ;
and the courage and dash of the combatants has often excited the
admiration of trailed European fighting men. In former times
the villages were mostly fortified by stockades of thick planks or
posts set up high all around them, while some were built on bilian
posts from twenty to thirty feet high, to be more safe from attack.
From time immemorial, it has been the custom of Sea Dyaks,
Hill Dyaks, and Kyans to cut off the heads of slain enemies and
keep the cleaned skulls as trophies. Formerly each warrior kept
his own trophies, and, in many clans, a Dyak girl would scorn a
suitor who had not taken a head. A warrior's grief at the death of
Ms wife or child could only be assuaged with a fresh head, taken
by himself, of course, and the death of a chief often involved a
regular head-hunting expedition. When a renowned warrior died
it was supposed that he could not rest quietly in his grave until a
head had been taken in his name.
After a time, however, the custom of head-hunting incidental
to war degenerated into a murderous craze for making collections
of human skulls, regardless of the circumstances attending their
acquisition. It is charged that the Malays are mainly responsible
for this result, on the ground that they encouraged the powerful
tribes to attack the weaker ones, for the sake of getting as many
heads as possible, while the Malays, who aided and abetted the
pirates, took the plunder and slaves as their share of the spoil
The heads were no longer regarded as trophies of individual valor
in the field, but all became the property of the clan as a whole, and
the end sought by each was to have its collection of heads surpass
those of its neighbors in point of number. Often all the adults of
a village, both women and men were swept into the vortex, the
children only being spared to keep as slaves.
I think Sir James Brooke showed a greater depth of wisdom in
his treatment of the Sarawak natives than any one else who has ever
occupied a similar position. For example, instead of preaching
and making laws from the very first against all head-taking, and
thereby incurring the hostility of the Dyaks, he taught them that
a head trophy was an emblem of cowardice unless taken in fair
fight ; that to cut off the head of a defenceless and inoffensive per
son was a wicked murder, such as no true warrior could be guilty
of without disgrace. This principle once admitted, it was an easy
task to teach them the folly and crime of warring for heads alone,
and to put a stop to the petty wars altogether. With due consist*
466 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE.
ency however, wlien the wild warriors of the jungle gathered by
thousands to support the Eajah during the Chinese insurrection in
1857, he gave them permission to cut off the head of every man found
wearing a queue. Since that time the heads taken in Sarawak
have been few and far between, and the takers have, in nearly every
case, been treated as ordinary murderers.
The dwellings of the Sea Dyaks are all constructed on precisely
the same plan as the one described in a previous chapter (page
355), except that, where a village is very large, a number of smaller
long houses are built instead of a single continuous structure of
enormous length. I have never seen a house longer than that al
ready described, which was one hundred and ninety feet, but one
of the Sibuyau long-houses on the Lundu Kiver is six hundred feet
in length and contains rooms for as many as fifty families.
Another house of the same tribe situated on a little creek below
Simujan was described by Sir James Brooke as being 257 yards, or
771 feet in length !
Most of the Sibuyau village-houses are raised about eight feet
above the ground ; but some are twelve ; and others again only
four or five. Externally, they are all weather-beaten, gray, and
wholly unpicturesque-looking structures, but sometimes are very
prettily surrounded by banana and cocoanut trees.
Within, they are clean enough, because all the dirt and litter
falls of itself through the slatted floor ; but the ground underneath
is usually covered with litter, perpetually wet and mouldy from the
water thrown down through the floor above and, being the favorite
resort of the pigs of the village, often smells horribly. Sometimes
the pigs are kept in a sty underneath the long-house. As a mat
ter of course, the old villages are the most foul smelling, and the
European traveller should quarter in a new house whenever pos
sible.
The house in which I spent a fortnight at Padang Lake con
tained four rooms, and was built in about four weeks by Hakka
and another Dyak. All the materials came from the adjoining
jungle, except the three hundred and fifty attaps composing the
roof, which were made on the Sebangan Kiver, below Simujan, and
cost 72 cts. per hundred. The entire house was valued at $40.
I believe the Sea Dyaks are the only people in the world whose
villages consist of a single structure under one immense roof, the
greater portion of which is owned in common. No greater prooi
of their peaceful domestic and social habits could be desired thao
THE SEA DYAKS. 467
the fact that from five to fifty families, according to the size of the
long-house, can live under one roof without coming to blows.
Fancy twenty Anglo-Saxon women living with their husbands
and children in twenty rooms, along one side of a vast open hall
which serves as work-room and play-room for all. The amount of
quarrelling, slandering, back-biting, child-slapping, and child-fight
ing which would take place would be fearful to contemplate. And
yet among the Dyaks I never saw or heard anything like high
words, much less a regular quarrel, between either children or
adults. The people with whom I lived at Padang Lake and on the
Sibuyau were always light-hearted, and generally even merry. It
was truly refreshing to see people so universally happy and con
tented.
They always rise early in the morning, or at about six o'clock ;
each family kindles a fire in its own private room, and boils the
morning meal of rice or vegetables in an earthen pot or joint of
bamboo. If they are lucky enough to have on hand the flesh of
any animal, that also is boiled or roasted and forms a portion of the
meal. When eating, they squat upon a mat in the centre of the
room around the vessels containing the food, and all eat with
their fingers. The drinking-water is contained in a five-foot sec
tion of bamboo which stands in a corner of the room. After eat
ing, the Dyak takes a drink, rinses his mouth, takes down his pa-
rong, juah, and tambuk and prepares to set out. If he intends
to go into the jungle to search for gutta, honey, dammar gum, or
rattans, or to hunt or snare game, he takes with him also his spear,
biliong (axe), and his dogs, if he has any. If his day's work lies in
his field he takes with him his wife and older children to help plant
or reap the paddi, or clear the ground, as the case may be.
Late in the afternoon he returns, his basket laden either with
rice, bananas or other fruit, or such jungle products as he has been
able to secure. By the time supper is eaten it is night, and time
to light the smoky dammar torches, by the flickering light of which
both men and women make mats and baskets, boil gutta, make new
paddles or biliong handles, and work busily until bedtime. If there
are visitors, work is partly suspended in order that the evening
may be spent in giving and receiving the news.
About nine o'clock, the young and unmarried men and strangers
climb up the ladder into the loft over the long hall, and, after stretch
ing their limbs upon their mate, lie there singing and chattering
until they fall asleep.
468 TWO TEAKS IN THE JTOTGLE.
The married couples and their small children and girls retire
to their rooms, and spread their mats upon the floor, being usually
provided with dingy cotton-cloth curtains as a protection against
the mosquitoes. The walls are thin and slight, but I never heard
issuing from within them any sounds of curtain-lecturing, bicker
ing, or worse still, wife-beating, such as came to my ears in the
hotels at Calcutta, Colombo, and Demerara. I have often won
dered what would happen if a Dyak should go to beating his wife
and she to screaming. I am sure his neighbors would interfere
vigorously.
It is not surprising that the Dyaks generally are fond of amuse
ments, although they have no games of chance or mental skilL
The people of Muka have great sport swinging with a long rattan
attached to a high derrick and guyed to keep it from swaying to
and fro. A ladder is planted a short distance off from which to
start, and ten or a dozen men often swing together, the outsiders
clinging to the arms and legs of the others.* The children of the
Hill Dyaks at S'Impio play with peg-tops precisely as do those of
England, spinning them, and throwing one spinning top at another
to knock it out of place.f The Ballow Dyaks play prisoner's base
and international " tug-of-war " in the most approved style, and
the Sakarrans are much given to such athletic sports as wrestling,
sham-fighting, jumping, running, and swinging.^ The Kennowits
are good at dancing in time to music, and entertain the visitor
with a "mias dance," "deer dance," regular war dance, all in cos
tume, and, most interesting of all, a well-acted pantomimic repre
sentation of the various events in a head-hunting expedition, the
start, the journey,' the surprise, the fight, head-taking, defeat, re
treat, etc.
Mr. A. R Wallace describes his attempt to initiate some Dyak
children into the mysteries of cat's cradle, but he succeeded so
poorly that, out of compassion, the children took the string and
showed "Him the proper way to do it.
The only amusements I saw among the Sibuyaus were of a
musical character. The people of Gumbong's village, with whom
I lived at the head of the Sibuyau, were decidedly musical, and
scarcely an evening passed without a performance of some kind.
* Rajah Brooke, " Ten Years in Sarawak." f Hugh Low, " Sarawak."
f Spenser St. John, "Life in the Forests of the Far East."
Frederick Boyle, *' Adventures Among the Dyaks."
THE SEA DYAKS. 469
Le Tiac was the fiddler of the crowd, but, while his instrument
was by long odds the most elaborate and pretentious, the sounds
it produced were by no means so pleasing as the clarionet-like
notes of the numerous reeds, made like a shepherd's pipe, which
the men, women, and children were so fond of playing upon in
concert. The women had still another instrument, made of a piece
of bamboo like a large organ-reed, the tongue of which was made
to vibrate sharply by jerking a string attached to one end. The
instrument was held all the while firmly against the teeth and the
operator breathed forcibly upon the vibrating tongue of the in
strument, thereby producing a few harp-like notes. It was a dim-
cult instrument to play upon, but one evening, during the course
of a very merry concert given by several of the women in my apart
ment, I wrestled with ye Dyak harp until I threw it, and succeeded
in playing upon it as well as the others, to their great satisfaction
and amusement. After that the greatest difficulty was to keep
from laughing while we all played together.
Dyak Harp.
Upon great occasions, such as the gathering of the harvest, the
marriage of a person of note in the tribe, or the visit of some
European of distinction, the Rajah for instance, the Dyaks gather
for a grand feast. Pigs are killed and cooked, rice, fruits, and
vegetables are provided and also a liberal supply of tuak, or palm
toddy, upon which all the men are expected to get drunk. The
company feeds to the fullest possible extent and then the dancing
and drinking begin. It is upon these occasions only that the
Dyaks drink liquor and get drunk, and after the women take from
the men all their weapons to prevent accidents they go to work de
liberately to make their husbands, lovers, and friends of the male
sex roaring drunk. A Dyak girl considers it the grandest fun in
the world to coax a redoubtable warrior into drinking until he is
unable to stand.
I never saw a Dyak feast, nor an intoxicated Dyak, nor even a
drop of the tuak which lays the warriors low at their feasts.
In this connection, I feel in duty bound to quote Mr. Frederick
Boyle's observations and reflections upon a feast in which he par
ticipated among the Seribas Dyaks.
470 TWO TEARS IN THE JUGGLE.
" Li England such a scene of drunkenness and uncouth mem*
ment would necessarily be coarse and disgusting to the last degree,
but among these savages it is not so. We did not see a single act
of impropriety even among the most reckless of the revellers, and
the brutality inseparable from a 'heavy wine' at Oxford or Cam
bridge was utterly absent. We were assured that during the
whole festivity decorum would be maintained as strictly as it was
in our presence, nor would any Dyak dream of violating the laws
of decency and good temper. Whether this be owing to the na
tional character, or the quality of the liquor I cannot judge, inas
much as it was impossible for us to swallow enough of the latter
to decide ; but I am inclined to think that barbarous manhood and
savage modesty were the principal causes of public decency. Thus
it happened that a scene which, according to all precedent, should
have been disgusting, turned out to be pleasantly amusing." *
So it seems the Dyak is a gentleman, even when drunk.
This reminds me to speak of woman's social position among
the Sea Dyaks. From the cradle to the grave, she is considered
man's equal, except in fighting and hunting. Her opinion is en
titled to serious consideration, and her advice is always asked in all
matters of importance. In speaking of the women of the Lingga
Dyaks, the present Eajah Brooke remarks : " I soon learned that
great power and influence is attached to their opinions on matters
in general, and that to stand well with them was more than half of
any Dyak battle, "f
One great secret of the pleasant domestic and social life of the
Dyaks lies in the fact that parents think too much of their children
to make them marry against their will, or from mercenary motives.
The Sibuyaus believe in strict chastity, both before and after
marriage, and lapses from virtue are considered highly shameful.
Strangely enough, these simple-minded savages, without written
law and wholly without religion, hold that in cases of unchastity, or
infidelity to the marriage relation, the man in the case is equally
guilty with the woman. Both stand on precisely the same footing
toward the remainder of the community, and the disgrace and pun
ishment are shared equally by both participants in the crime.
How very different is this from the improved customs of Chris
tian lands. We say that what is folly in a man becomes crime in
* Adventures among the Dyaks, p. 348.
f Ten Years in Sarawak, I., 129.
THE SEA DYAKS. 471
a woman. A man may be as " fast " as he pleases, or, as his means
will let him, so long as he preserves the veneering on his charac
ter. He may be guilty of open harlotry, or ruin an innocent girl
every year or two, and he will still be smilingly welcomed in polite
society. He goes his way securely, proudly, is highly spoken of by
both men and women, and if he is only rich, is fawned upon as
much as ever. How is it with the woman in the case ? One single
step aside from the path of virtue, one little stumble, and no matter
what the temptation or the palliating circumstances, no matter how
atrocious the betrayal, she goes down. Into the mire she goes,
howled at and spat upon by her sisters, forsaken instantly by the
whole world, *and literally sent to hell. What is there on earth
to-day more deplorably and hopelessly faulty than the social laws
of the " highest civilization the world has ever seen?" Even the
unlettered savages of the jungle have a better state of society
than we.
I have already mentioned the sacredness of the rights of prop
erty amongst the Dyaks, but the actual and universal observance
of these rights by any class of people in this thievish world is so
phenomenal I feel that I have a right to allude to the subject
again. In civilized countries, and almost all others except Borneo,
every man is not treated precisely as a thief, yet at the same time he
who has stealable property is careful not to put temptation in the
way of a stranger. Generally speaking, I believe that out of every
twenty persons there will always be found one who would steal if
he had a chance to get something he very much wanted and could
take without detection.
Making debts beyond one's power to pay, is a very popular
form of stealing by wholesale, for the encouragement of which we
have several thousand laws which furnish ample protection to the
perpetrators. Half our bankrupt merchants are ruined by " bad
debts," made by people who prefer that method of getting a man's
goods to simple burglary.
Once more I assert, with the certainty of being disbelieved,
that the Dyaks actually do not steal. I have an account of one
who did once steal some gutta from a companion, but he is dead
now hanged, "in the usual manner."
Where else but among the Dyaks will a traveller dare to trust
a cart-load of boxes and packages, none of them securely fastened,
all filled with scores of trifles, any one of which would be dear to a
native's heart, in the centre of a village of fifty strange natives with
472 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUK&LE.
no one to watch for thieves ? You can do this among the Dyaks,
and lose not one cent's worth. Even the empty tin cans and
boxes I threw out of the house were brought to me and shown be
fore they were appropriated. And yet, had the Dyaks been West
Indian negroes, or even like some white men I have known, they
would have stolen half my goods in perfect safety to themselves.
I have never heard of a single instance of theft from any
European, Malay, or Chinaman, committed by a Sea or Hill Dyak.
Their most wonderful trait, however, is their faithfulness in
paying their debts. If the people of the village want goods, a
trader will give them his whole cargo, if he can get them to accept
it, in exchange for jungle produce to be collected. The day for
full settlement is named by the head man, and by that day the
debts are all paid. What a glorious country for an honest mer
chant to start business in !
Like their neighbors of the hills, the Sea Dyaks are without
priests and creeds or even the faintest notion of religious observ
ances. Their moral laws are the product of their own evolution,
for we see in them no reflection of the religious customs of any of
the people who have thus far come in contact with them, either
Hindoos, Javanese, Chinese, Malays or Europeans.* Savage nations
usually acquire all the vices, and but very few of the virtues, of
the civilization which touches them, but so far the Dyaks of North
ern Borneo have gone through the fire unscathed. They are yet
free from the grovelling idolatry and abominable religious fanati
cism of the Hindoos, the sordid avarice of the Chinese, the deceit,
treachery, and licentiousness of the Malays, and the brandy-and-
sodaism of the Europeans.
The Sea Dyaks believe there is a Supreme Spirit whom they
call Battara, and sometimes Jawata (both of which are Hindoo
names), and that the dead go to Sabyan, which is below the earth.
They revere the memory of a party named Biadum, who was
formerly a great chief among them, and at harvest time they
make offerings in his memory, quite after our custom of firing off
* In asserting that the Dyaks have no religion I attach to that word the
meaning which is most generally recognized, viz., a system of faith and wor
ship, and obedience to the laws of a Supreme Being, Although modern an
thropologists have agreed to consider that "belief in a Supreme Being of any
kind is sufficient to constitute a " religion/' it seems tome highly improper to
dignify with that name a vague, inconsequent notion which bears no fruit
whatever, either in worship, obedience, or even love.
THE SEA DYAKS. 473
gunpowder on Washington's birthday. Like most ignorant people,
they believe in evil spirits who haunt and annoy certain ones among
the living, and are superstitious in regard to various omens of good
and bad fortune.
Their crimes can be counted on the fingers of one hand ; and
instances of their commission are few and far between. It must be
remembered that the frenzy for head collecting, which led to such
wholesale murder before the advent of Rajah Brooke, was mainly
due to the instigation and encouragement of the reprobate Malays
who so nearly ruined the country.
As might be expected, the Dyaks are subject to but few dis
eases, and those of a simple nature. The most common ailment is
called "corrip" (ichthyosis), in which the epidermis of the subject
cracks all over the body and the edges roll up into little whitish
rolls. The body of a Dyak so affected has a gray appearance, and>
although the disease is painless, it is disagreeable to look at and
very difficult to cure. Fever and dysentery are both common dis
eases, and also ophthalmia, which is most prevalent during the time
of weeding the paddy fields in September and October, at which
season whole tribes are sometimes attacked. If taken in time, it
yields to very simple remedies ; but many lose their sight from
neglecting treatment.
Insanity is very rare, and also natural deformity of person. So
far as I could learn, the Dyaks are entirely free from the long list
of unmentionable male and female diseases which appear to have
been developed by the human race only at its highest stage of
civilization and refinement. It is a singular, though melancholy,
fact that savages know nothing of venereal diseases, abortion, in
fanticide, and drunkenness, until they are introduced by the civilized
nations of the earth.
Dyak women in confinement are attended only by the old women
of the tribe, and, as might be expected from the absence of the
health-destroying clothes, food, drink, medicines, and social cus
toms, which make American women weak, they are usually seen
going about their regular occupations on the third or fourth day
after child-birth.
A favorite Dyak remedy for a cut, bruise, or sprain, is to ex
pectorate a quantity of betel juice upon the part afflicted, which
quickly imparts to it a disgusting yellow-jaundice appearance.
Unlike the Hill Dyaks, the people of the Sea tribe always
bury their dead. I did not have an opportunity to witness an in-
474 TWO YEARS TN THE JUNGLE.
terment or even to see a burial ground, but Mr. Eng Quee told me
that the Sibuyaus bury their dead in coffins when they can make
them, otherwise without. They put vessels of food beside the
grave, and also such of the ornaments of the deceased as are not
valuable enough to be carried off by strangers. They formerly
buried with their dead many valuable ornaments of gold and silver,
but these tempted the low-class Malays to rob the graves, and of
late years the custom has been discontinued altogether. The
Dyaks select retired spots for burial grounds, never visit them
except when really necessary, are averse to taking strangers to see
them, and also to talking about their burial customs. They erect
no monuments whatever to mark the resting place of their dead,
and make their interments very quietly.
Thus ends our brief survey of the Hill and Sea Dyaks, and
what does it teach us? In these strange children of nature we see
all the cardinal virtues without a ray of religion, morality without
ministers, the Christian graces without Christ or gospel. They
keep no sabbaths, pray no prayers, build no temples, worship
nothing and nobody, and acknowledge no higher tribunal than the
bar of public opinion on one hand, and the Sarawak government
court on the other.
The Dyak is perhaps the most happy and contented human
being under the sun. His wants are few, and his native jungle
supplies nearly all of them. Thanks to his state of savagery, he
has not developed one-tenth of the diseases which so often make
the lives of civilized people a burden. His children do not have
scarlet fever, diphtheria, croup, or whooping-cough, nor does he or
his wife have consumption, pneumonia, dyspepsia, rheumatism, or
gout. But for the rascally Chinaman, who years ago taught him to
make toddy from the palm tree, and who even now supplies him
with arrack, he might to-day be without the means of getting
drunk. As is the case with nearly all savages who drink intoxicat
ing liquors, this vice is the gift ol civilization.
In hospitality, human sympathy, and charity, the Dyaks are not
outranked by any people living, so far as I know, and their morals
are as much superior to ours as our intelligence is beyond theirs.
If happiness is the goal of human existence, they are much nearer
it than we. In this instance, at least, the highest civilization has
not evolved the most perfect state of society, and to this extent the
fundamental theories of theology, of sociology, and human evolu
tion are utterly at fault Borneo is no field for the missionary, foi
THE SEA DYAKS. 475
no religion can give the Dyak aught that will benefit frfm, or in
crease the balance of his happiness in the least.
We have seen that there can be, and there is, morality of a high
order without any creed, religion, or education whatever. Is it
possible that man reaches his highest moral development in a state
of savagery ? Is it, then, really true that as we increase in civilized
intelligence, refinement, and capacity for enjoyment, our capacities
and propensities for wickedness and harmful pleasures increase like
wise ? If this is the case now with mankind, will it always be so ?
These are serious questions, and I leave them with the reader.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
A PLEASUBE TRIP UP THE SARAWAK
The Ftrtfly* Mr. A. H. Everett. The Chinese Gold-washings at Ban. Cayei
aad Crevices near Paku. Walk to Tegora. The Cinnabar Mines of the
Borneo Company. Romantic Boat Ride down the Staat. Trip to Serambo
Mountain. Dyak Bridges. Village of Peninjau. The Rajah's Cottage.
Magnificent View. Return to Kuching. Fare well to Borneo. Singapore
once more. End of the Expedition. Retrospect. Conclusion.
I EETUENED to Sarawak {Knelling) on the sixth of December, and
during the fortnight I spent in packing up my collection and wait
ing for the steamer, my good friend, Mr. Oliver St. John, Inspector
of Public Works, treated me to a glorious trip up the Sarawak
River. I say " treated me," for without him as a guide, philosopher,
and friend, I should not have gone, and, when I reflect now upon
the trouble he took and the miles he walked solely on my account,
I feel quite as if I had wronged him..
I had collected until I was tired and sick of specimens, and that
trip was made solely for pleasure. Mr. Crocker placed the gov
ernment steam launch Firefly at our disposal for the trip, and one
bright afternoon at two o'clock we started up the river with the
burning of the tide. A bend of the stream soon hid the town from
our view, and after getting clear of the straggling Malay kampong,
we were ready to drink in the successive scenes of the new pano
rama which began to unroll before us.
Scene first, five miles long banks low, uncultivated, covered
with monotonous mangroves.
Scene second the banks have risen and asserted themselves ;
they are clear of old jungle and covered with green paddy fields for
a quarter of a mile back from the river, where they meet the forest
primeval. Here and there are neat-looking houses, nestling in
clumps of banana and cocoanut trees, surrounded by neatly-kept
vegetable gardens. From the general look of care and thrift, we
are led to hazard the opinion that fields, houses, and gardens belong
A PLEASUBE TRIP TIP THE SARAWAK. 477
to the Chinese, which proves to be the case. Two or three Chinese
shops are passed ; Gunong Matang, the mountain so conspicuous
from Kuching, also went by us on the right, with a few other peaks
of humbler elevation.
Eight miles above Kuching, the mountains of the interior rise
prominently into view in long ridges with fleecy white clouds cling
ing to their densely wooded sides. Though not so very distant,
they were of a deep blue color, and. taken altogether, were to the
eye a grateful relief from the everlasting green of the level jungle.
We took in the scenery until dark and then reluctantly turned
from it to the dinner table. The Firefly is a very comfortable little
craft, but her passengers must provide their own bill of fare and
table furniture. We had plenty of soup, but there was not a spoon
on board, so we drank it out of our plates and proceeded to dispose
of the remainder of the menu with equal facility.
The night was exceedingly dark, and how the steersman man
aged to keep clear of the banks was more than I could see. About
twelve miles up, we came to the confluence of the two branches of
the Sarawak River, and took the smaller or western stream, which
soon became very narrow, but still remained deep, swift, and murky.
About 8 P.M. we reached Busau, twenty-six miles from Kuching, and
landed. Here we were at the terminus of the Borneo Company's
tram-way system, from which the antimony mined in the vicinity
and the quicksilver from Tegora is shipped down the river. Leav
ing our luggage to be pushed after us on a tram-car, we set out in
the black darkness and walked on the tram-way four miles to Paku.
At the police station we turned off and climbed a steep conical hill
until we were out of breath, which brought us to the top, upon
which was perched a house, to the comforts of which we were hos
pitably welcomed by Mr. A. Hart Everett, the naturalist.
It was a great treat to meet an accomplished Malasian naturalist
on his native heath, a man who knew Borneo by heart, and was, like
myself, almost wholly given over to collecting. I plied the poor
man with questions until we were both fairly exhausted and obliged
to open some bottles of ale. Mr. Everett was on a mission of much
more importance to science than the mere collecting of specimens.
Under the patronage and support of the British Museum and
the Marquis of Tweeddale, then President of the Zoological Society,
he had entered upon a thorough and systematic examination of the
caves of Borneo, in the hope of finding in the deposits upon their
floors fossil remains of the forerunner of the anthropoid apes. It
478 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE.
was faintly hoped that, even if the cavern deposits did not reveal
the missing link, their fossils would at least throw some light upon
the point at which the human race diverged from the catarrhine
stock. Here was an evolutionist with his war-paint all on, and his
weapons in his hand pick, shovel, and sieve. Imagine the sensa
tions of a Darwinian actually searching for and finding the link
between man and the great apes ! Another Kohinoor would be a
mere glass marble in comparison.
Mr. Everett's methods of search were so thorough and truly
searching that not even a bat's tootfr escaped the sieves through
which the floor deposits of the caves were put. He found the bones
of bats in great abundance, all of living species, however, and one
skull of Simia WurmUi in a fossil state, but, I grieve to say, no
traces of extinct animals nor even a prehistoric race of men. I
should have stated above that another and equally important object
with Mr. Everett was to obtain evidence, if any existed, of the occu
pation of Borneo by any primitive race anterior to its being peopled
by the descendants of the Malays.
Unfortunately for science, Mr. Everett's investigations were soon
after brought to an untimely end by the death of the Marquis of
Tweedale. In order to reach a new field, Mr. Everett accepted a
position with the North Borneo Company and went to the Kina
Balu district. It is to be hoped that he may soon find the time
and means for a thorough scientific exploration of the terra incog
nita lying to the south of Kina Balu a work which no one is better
fitted to accomplish than he.
When we started from Kuching I solemnly promised myself not
to think " specimen " even once, much less try to collect one, but
when Mr. Everett showed me his beautiful specimens of Tupaia, Gym-
nura, Galeopithecus, Atherura, and ten superb specimens of the most
wonderful bat I ever saw ( Cheiromelas torquatus), I weakened. When
he brought out a huge and quite perfect skull of the Bornean gavial,
a species which I had not before encountered ( Tomistoma schlegellii),
I surrendered unconditionally, and my last dollar was swallowed up
in the fearful vortex of " specimens." Crocodiles always were great
pets with me.
The dawn of the following day disclosed in every direction a
fine view of mountain, hill, and dale so charming a prospect, that I
heartily envied Everett his quarters. The little house was perched
exactly upon the summit of the steep cone, open on all sides to the
breeze, with not a tree to break the view.
A PLEASUEE TRIP UP THE SAEAWAK. 479
After coffee/ with. Mr. Everett accompanying us, we set out and
walked four miles northwest to see the Chinese gold-washings at
Bau. There was a good path all the way., through the second
growth of jungle, and the scenery was highly interesting.
Bau takes its name from a peak close to the washings, from the
northern base of which a remarkable pinnacle rises like a gigantic
pillar with the top broken off and its precipitous face smooth and
bare.
There are two Chinese companies working gold at Bau, and we
visited the works of both. Both pursue the same wasteful plan.
The gold occurs in very fine particles in a low hill of decomposed
porphyry, mixed with a small proportion of blue limestone, man
ganese, etc. In appearance it resembles yellow clay. A large reser
voir affords a good head of water, and, as fast as the hill is dug down,
the earth is thrown into the sluices, some of which are nearly a mile
long, and washed away. Three or four times a year they turn off
the water and wash up the residuum by hand. It is a very waste
ful process, and the Chinawomen do a very fair business in washing
out the dirt at the lower end of the sluices.
The two gold companies have separate villages and two sets of
shops, both well built and neatly kept. It was here that the Chi
nese insurrection was hatched in 1857, which taught the celestials
a fearful lesson, one which it will never be necessary to teach them
again. I do not suppose any combination of circumstances could
now induce the Chinese to get up another row with the govern
ment of Sarawak. Like the people of our Southern States, they
now declare that cc rebellion must be put down."
As we passed through the village of the Sap Long Moon Kunsi,
on our way back, we found a table of refreshments had been pre
pared for us in a cool veranda. First, last, and all the time, we
were helped to tea of the very best quality (so St. John said),
strong, bitter, and wholly innocent of either Trrilk or sugar. To me
it was about as palatable as soapsuds, but it was nevertheless re
freshing to the inner man, and, without consulting my palate in the '
least, I emptied my tiny cup several times. Besides the tea, we
had sugared peanuts, candied pumpkin, a preserved fig-like fruit
from China, and big Chinese gooseberries to eat at the finish in
lieu of pickles. Strangely enough, none of our hosts could speak
Malay, but a very respectful crowd gathered to see the animals
feed. At the next village, the above performance was repeated,
except that we sat down to tea and fruit instead of tea and sweet-
480 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNGLE.
meats. We ate heartily, both by choice and as a matter of cour
tesy due the company. When hot and thirsty, I can eat a good
many mandarin oranges out of politeness to my host.
We reached Everett's quarters about noon, and in the afternoon
St. John and I went to see some caves not far away. Half a mile
east of Paku is a rocky gorge between two hills, in one of which
Ensunah cave is situated. The cavern extends, like a great irregu
lar tunnel, quite through the hill, and is at least four hundred feet
from end to end. In some places it is wide and high, like the in
terior of a cathedral, and in others contracted to a mere passage,
so narrow that a man weighing two hundred pounds would not be
able to get through. The sides of the cave revealed the fact that
the whole hill is full of cracks and fissures. I was surprised at see
ing long, slender, rope-like roots of a dark red color coming down
from the trees far above, and winding about through the crevices
in a most persistent way.. In some parts of the cave, water was
dripping down in a copious shower, and the soft limestone floor
underneath was quite honeycombed with small round holes which
the " little drops of water " had drilled. The earth on the bottom
of the cave had all been dug up and examined by the indefatigable
Chinese in their never-ending search for new deposits of gold.
After leaving the cave, we went on higher up the gorge to some
of the remarkable well-like crevices which exist in the hills. They
are simply holes running down through the limestone, with ragged,
uneven sides, very often of no greater diameter than a common
well, three or four feet, and sometimes sixty to seventy feet deep.
Sometimes gold is found in the loose dirt at the bottom, and when
this is the case they are worked by the Malays. In order to get down
one of these holes and up again, the prospector puts sticks across
the opening, jamming the ends firmly into the cracks in the sides,
thus forming a ladder reaching to the bottom. There is usually
a cavern at the bottom of each crevice, and it would seem that the
whole hill is a mass of huge rocks, cracked and seamed throughout
The antimony mine at Bidi was full of water and we did not
visit it With the exception of that one mine, all the rest of the
antimony produced is found in surface pockets, many of which
have been found, and quickly emptied, along the line of the tram
way. The Honorable Borneo Company has a monopoly of all the
useful minerals of Sarawak except gold, coal, silver, and diamonds ;
and all the antimony found by the natives is purchased by the com
pany at forty to sixty cents per picu! 3 according to its quality.
A PLEASURE IMP TIP THE SABAWAK. 481
On the following morning we rose early and after a good sub
stantial "coffee," Mr. St. John and I set out to walk to Tegora,
eleven miles from Paku. There is a good bridle-road and good
bridges aU the way, and with good company it is a delightful walk.
The road is merely a narrow lane through beautiful virgin forest
of stately trees and trailing lianas, mossy rocks and acres of pretty
ferns.
Presently we came to the Staat Eiver, a small, shady stream,
along the south bank of which the road winds for several miles.
Far below us, over its bed of clean white pebbles, flowed the river,
clear and cool ; at last, when we came to where the road crosses
the stream on a high bridge, a deep shady pool in the bend below
looked so inviting to our perspiring bodies that I begged St. John
to take a swim with me. Boy-like, we "raced" in undressing to
see who should take the water first, and in less than five minutes
we plunged into the cool, sweet water, where not a ray of the hot
sun could reach us, where the water was deep, and, thank heaven !
free from crocodiles. How delicious it was, and how loth we were
to leave that bath " fit for the gods." It was the first really secure
and comfortable swim I had enjoyed since Jackson and I went
swimming in the Orinoco, when I stepped upon a small sting-ray
with the usual result, and he got nipped by a cariba fish. Veri y
there is little comfort in swimming in tropical .nvers, especially
within tidal influence, for they are nearly always dirty, and infested
by sharks, sting-rays, crocodiles, and other aquatic vermin.
The last four miles of the road led over a succession of low hills,
and the forest scenery grew even more picturesque and charming.
At last we reached the village of Pankalan about a mile from le-
gora at which there is a police station and court-room, and also a
Oop kept by a wealthy Chinaman. We halted at ihe shop and
emptied a quart bottle of champagne a drrnk by no means to -be
despised in the jungle. After we had disposed of a scratch
breakfast evolved for us by the Chinese shopkeeper s domestacs, bt.
rea
John tarried to hold court, over which he presided as
Had I but understood the Malay language I would gladly have
stayed to watch the proceedings, but having no special interpreter
my presence would have been only a hindrance to the court, so I
left, and walked on to Tegora.
On the way to Tegora, where we had been invited to dine and
put up for the night, I met Mr. Harvey, a handsome manly-looking
young Englishman, one of the officers in charge of the mines, who
482 TWO YEAKS IN THE JUNGLE.
introduced himself directly and greeted me very cordially. We met
again in the evening at the dinner-table, and he proved to be a very
jolly and hospitable host.
On reaching the mines, I found Mr. H. H. Everett, brother of
our Paku naturalist, at the furnaces, weighing out bags of cinnabar
dust, and close beside him on the ground stood about sixty flasks
of mercury ready for shipment to London. A ' c flask " is a mallea
ble iron bottle with a screw top, which holds seventy-five pounds of
mercury.
The cinnabar ore comes out of a very steep, double-peaked hill
composed of semi-metamorphic rock, rising to an elevation of
about one thousand feet above the sea, and six hundred and fifty
feet above the level of the adjacent swamp. Mr. Everett, with the
most cheerful resignation and truly guide-like patience, took me
into each of the four " levels " that have been mined into the hill,
one above another, and gave me all the facts in the case as we pro
ceeded. The lowest level was a new one, and the tunnel had not
yet reached the ore. The other three had penetrated quite to the
heart of the hill, and on reaching the paying ore it had been mined
in every direction, forming a great cavern at the end of each tunnel.
The miners are all Chinamen who work out the ore and sell it to
the Company according to the assay. The ore was then very poor,
and although the rock containad only four per cent, of mercury it
was worked as a matter of necessity and at a loss, while all concerned
hoped constantly for something better. In one of the levels Mr.
Everett showed me a very rich pocket, which had yielded ore al
most as heavy as mercury, being ninety per cent, pure metaL
The Tegora mines were opened in 1868. The first ore taken
out was stamped, by which process about, one-fourth of the metal
was lost in the washing. Now it is smelted, and the vapor contain
ing the metal is passed through a flue or shaft about one thousand
feet long, which leads off up the steep side of the hill. The mer
cury is gradually condensed upon the sides of the flue, which after
a time is cleaned out by men sent into it. The cleaners often
get badly salivated, so much so that they are sometimes utterly
helpless from the sores which break out upon different parts of
their bodies. We saw two poor fellows who were helpless from
salivation ; and Mr. Everett himself was also badly off from an
overdose of mercury.
The officers of the Borneo Company are very comfortably
housed dose to the mines, and in the evening at dinner we were
A PLEASURE TRIP UP THE SARAWAK. 483
most hospitably entertained by four of them, Messrs. Everett, Har
vey, Gray and, Beecher. Every one was in good spirits, and we
had a very merry time until a late hour. An Englishman may be
rather rigid and formal on his native isle, but take him in the East
Indies, especially in the jungles, and he is certainly the j oiliest and
best of companions.
On the following day, St. John and I returned to Paku. At
Pankalan we took a boat and had a very romantic ride down the
Staat, which saved us several miles walking. The river was low and
we had to shoot a number of rapids in consequence. The boat was
a small one, and at each end stood a Malay with a bamboo pole to
guide the frail craft. It was certainly a charming ride. The bed
of the stream was sand, pebbles and bowlders, and the banks were
shales and limestone. The branches of the trees met far above our
heads, giving us a continuous cool shade instead of the glare and
heat of the sun, and in a quiet ecstacy of delight we glided smoothly
along with the swift current, feasting our eyes upon the beauties of
rock and tree, flower, fern, orchid, and mossy bank.
Often when shooting down the rapids at. a great rate, with
great bowlders lining our narrow way thickly on either hand, or
with a wall of rock rising directly before us at the foot of the incline,
it seemed as if the nest instant our boat would certainly strike and
be smashed into kindling wood. But no ; just at the right mo
ment, the man in the bow would quickly jam the end of his pole
into a crevice or against the rocky wall, give a quick, strong-
shove, and send us swinging off at a sharp angle down the middle
of the channel The Malays handled the boat as only skilful and
practised hands could ; and it did not touch a rock efren once.
After several miles of this delightful voyaging we came to the
getting-out place, and, with a sigh to think the ride was over, re
luctantly took to the road and walked the remainder of the way
to Paku, which we reached shortly before noon. In the afternoon,
while St. John held court, Everett and I strolled out to get some
specimens of calc spar, antimony, and limestone, and to talk over
all Borneo.
Our last day was to be devoted to an excursion to Serambo
Mountain, whither my good friend St. John had invited me, for I
should never have dreamed of asking him to do so much hard
climbing on my account. We said good-by to Mr, Everett and
set out early for the mountain, which rises about two miles east of
Paku. There is a good Dyak road, or path, all the way, leading
484 TWO TEARS IN THE JOTGLE.
over hills, through hollows and across several very interesting Dyai
bridges, built across mountain streams, above high water mark, to
insure the traveller a crossing in times of flood. Evidently the Hill
Dyaks are more averse to floundering through mud and water than
their brethren of the Sea tribe.
The low foot-bridges are almost precisely like the hay-racks at
which the cattle feed in an Illinois farm-yard. They are very in
genious contrivances, and the idea of their construction might often
be copied to good advantage by the settlers of our Western States.
They are built by planting two rows of long stakes in the ground
slanting in opposite directions, so that a small sapling laid in the
fork thus formed will be horizontal, and of the proper height for
the footway. Each pair of stakes is lashed together at their point
of intersection, and the bridge is further strengthened by perpen
dicular posts set under the footway. A pole is lashed along the top
of each row of stakes to serve as a hand-rail. One of the bridges
between Paku and Serambo was about a hundred feet long and nine
feet high at the middle.
Sometimes the Dyaks construct very high suspension bridges
across streams with high and precipitous banks, by hanging a
couple of long bamboo stems with rattans or creepers from the
branches of the trees which overhang the chasm. A hand-rail is
also constructed, either on one side or both, but even with that, it
takes a very steady-headed European to cross without breaking out
all over in a cold perspiration. The Dyaks, however, trot across
them, carrying heavy loads with the most perfect nonchalance, and
the only accidents that occur are by the bamboos becoming rotten
and suddenly giving way with a grand crash.
About an hour from Paku we reached the foot of the mountain
and began to climb up the path which leads to the Rajah's cottage
and the three villages of Serambo, Bombok, and Peninjau. It was
a hard climb. The whole side of the mountain was strewn, or
covered, rather, with boulders and angular masses of rock from
the size of a Saratoga trunk to a street car, smooth, mossy, and
slippery as ice. I think they must have been covered with soft
soap that morning for our especial benefit. We were obliged to
proceed with the greatest care and circumspection to avoid com
ing down with a wreck of muscle and crush of bones. In some
places the rocks are so large and piled together in such rugged
confusion that the Dyaks have regular ladders and foot-bridges
over tliem, of notched saplings placed end to end with a hand-rail
A PLEASURE TEIP UP THE SABA WAX.
along one side. My journal for that day pantingly declares, "It
was hot work to climb such a steep mountain over such a terrible
jumble of slippery stones."
Near the top we came to Peninjau, a typical village of the Hill
Dyaks. Besides the pangah, or head-house, there were fifteen
other houses, each of which contained from three to six rooms and
accommodated a total population of about five hundred persons,
when the returns were all in. The houses stand just wherever
they can find standing-room, with no order or regularity whatever,
not a sign of anything like a street nor even a good path anywhere.
They were of course built along the side of the mountain, usually
with the open side up hill, and all were elevated on posts which
were from six to eight feet high on the upper side, where they
were the shortest. The rank grass growing all through the
village and the uncommon stillness which prevailed, gave the vil
lage quite a deserted air, and, sure enough, we found only a few
girls and old women in the place, all the rest being away at work
on their farms.
As we passed through the village, two young women came out
to look at us, who were in their turn inspected with equal curiosity.
Their brass waist ornaments were of an entirely different style
from any I had before seen, the thick wire being worn up and
down from hips to armpits instead of in rings around the waist.
These curious corsets were models of rigidity, and closeness of
fit, and being brightly polished, gave the young ladies quite a sub
stantial air. What a magnificent protection they must be against
the embraces of a too-powerful lover!
We entered the head-house, which I have already described in
a previous chapter.
The heads, or rather skulls, hung in a semi-circle around one
side of the room, and there were forty-two of them in all, not
counting the skull of a young orang-utan, which probably some
enterprising young Dyak, in haste to marry, had, in times past,
palmed off upon his unsuspecting lady-love and his brethren, as the
head of a fierce young Seribas Dyak.
The collection as a whole was in very good condition, the speci
mens being moderately clean and not at all smoked. Some had
been very carelessly taken, I regret to say, as was shown by the
way they had been split open or slashed across with parongs ; and
from some, large pieces had been hacked out. One I noticed had a
deep slash diagonally across the bridge of the nose, which evi-
486 TWO YEAES IK THE JUNGLE.
dently ended the earthly troubles of the owner in short ordeE
None of the skulls were labelled with locality, date, sex, and species,
as crania always should be, to be valuable.
After leaving the pangah we climbed two hundred feet higher,
and at last reached the Kajah's cottage, which has been visited by
nearly every European who has thus far set foot in Sarawak. The
cottage itself is a sort of summer-house, a veritable f ' lodge in a
vast wilderness," a little house on posts, with three rooms, a veran^
da extending around three sides,, and at that time no furniture
except a table and two or three chairs.
But if the cottage is nothing of itself, the location is everything.
Back of it is the forest-clad top of Serambo, all about it are flower
ing shrubs, cocoanut trees, and the tops of the trees which have
their roots far below in the steep side of the mountain. Through
the cocoanut-grove in front we catch a glimpse of sea and sky, and
hasten forward to get beyond the trees. Come with me, quickly,
if you would feast your eyes on a most charming view. Fifty
yards below the cottage we stand upon a bare rock, the very
northernmost point of the summit, nine hundred and fifty feet
above the sea, with a clear view to the north, east, and west. It is
enchanting. The sun shines brightly, the air is clear, and every
object in the vast landscape is denned with unusual clearness of
detail
Almost beneath our feet is a wide semi-circle of ferns, then the
feathery tops of the bamboos that grow lower down the steep
slope, and beyond that a sloping bank of green tree-tops which
finally mingle with the foliage of the plain far below. To the left
hand (west), and seemingly very near, rises the Semadjoe mountain
range, which forms the boundary between Sarawak and the Dutch
Territory, with Bau and Matang still nearer at hand toward the
northwest. Everett's house at Paku, far below, looks like a little
white martin-box on a tiny mound. Toward the north, seemingly
at the foot of Serambo, we can trace the winding course of the
western branch of the Sarawak Eiver, brown and murky with the
mud of recent rains. Beyond the river stretches a wide level plain
covered with green jungle, broken only by a few light patches here
and there, either farms or second growth jungle, and a few hills
that rise high enough to be recognized as such. Far away in front,
at the edge of the sea, rises the fine peak of Santubong, with its
head thrust up into a fleecy white cloud. The coast line is clearly
defined from the mouth of the Lundu to the Batang Lupar, and
A PLEASURE TEIP UP THE SARAWAK. 487
beyond it the sea stretches out toward the horizon like a sheet ol
frosted silver.
We can very easily make out the position of Kuching, and trace
the windings of the Sarawak for a long distance, but the stream
itself is visible in but one or two places. Truly, an enchanting
picture in contrast with the monotonous closeness of jungle and
river scenery.
Eeluctantly enough, we quitted Peninjau, the "look-out," and
started straight down the mountain, in the direction of Siniwan, at
which point the Firefly was to meet us. The descent over those
abominably slippery stones was, if anything, more tiresome and
difficult than going up. Half way down we met a party of Dyaks
coming up. As soon as they heard our voices they quickly dropped
their juahs beside the path and bolted into the bushes ; but after
we had passed out of sight they returned, chattering and laughing,
resumed their loads and went on.
Shortly before noon, after a very hot walk to the river, we
reached the Firefly, and went down to Kuching in about three
hours. For my part, I felt thoroughly tired and foot-sore, and Mr.
St. John was also quite willing to rest. Our feet were badly blis
tered, and a large, angry boil on my left arm, which had kept me
company all the way, was a companion with whom I would willingly
have parted.
Thus ended my jungle life in the East Indies. On Decem
ber 18th I embarked in the Rajah Brooke for Singapore, serenely
happy with the results of my visit to Sarawak. Never has a coun
try used me better or sent me away fuller handed. I have been
treated excellently well by both natives and Europeans, have had
very few annoyances, I ought to say none at all, and more joys
crowded into four months than are counted in many a lifetime.
My only regret is that I have not had a score of friends to enjoy it
with me. The coast line sinks into the sea behind us, and the hazy
blue mountains fade out against the clouds like a dissolving view.
Farewell to Borneo !
" Welcome the gleaming sea."
I remained six weeks in Singapore, making up a large collection
of corals and shells, for the variety and abundance of which the
place is famous. Previous to that time the season had been unfa
vorable for the successful gathering of marine invertebrates, but
now the Malays brought me beautiful shells by the hundred and
488 TWO TEAKS IN THE JOTTGLE.
corals by the boat-load. Major Studer, our worthy consul, gave me
a large room in the lower part of his house, and the use of a cool,
shady court, where I bought, assorted, and packed several hundred
specimens of coral of twenty-six species, and*more shells than I
could spare time to catalogue.
My friend Syers sent me a very nice collection of Selangore
mammals, skins and skeletons, and snakes in alcohol, all of which
he had gathered since my visit there. It is a pity that such an
ardent hunter and dead shot with a rifle could not have his lines of
duty cast in such a country as Southern India, which, in places,
actually teems with noble game. Mr. Syers and I planned an ex
pedition to the Animallais for some future year, with Theobald for
a companion in the chase, and when we do actually start on the
war-path in that direction some of the big game animals had better
get their lives insured against accidents.
My jolly friend Hood, of the Rainbow, put in an appearance
during my last days in Singapore, but I felt so down-in-the-mouth
at not having sufficient funds left to get me to and through Aus
tralia, that I was but sorry company, I know. It was fated that I
should not see Australia ; for a hunting and collecting trip cannot,
like the brook, "go on forever."
Foreseeing that I should have to cross the Pacific in winter, I
determined to spare my two baby orangs the miseries of such a
voyage, and, after having the Old Man sit for his photograph, I
sent them both, under the guardianship of Mr. Vandevorst, to
Madras, as a present to my kind friend Theobald. I could not
have given him anything that pleased him better. He made a jour
ney of three hundred and fifty miles to meet them ; and they re
ceived him with open arms. Both were presented at court before
they left Madras, and I hear were very much complimented on
their deportment and good looks.
Early in February I turned my face homeward, by way of China
and Japan, and reached Rochester safe and well, just two years and
nine months from the time of my departure. From first to last I
had been remarkably prospered, quite as if the prayers and good
wishes of my friends had enlisted the services of a special guardian
angel to accompany me at every step, in addition to the one I left
behind me, whose charming missives of news, hopeful encourage
ment and unfaltering affection followed me everywhere one by
every mail, without a single break without which I would have
been lonesome indeed. No journey could have been more free
A PLEASURE TKIP UP THE SARAWAK. 489
from accidents, for from first to last I did not meet with so much
bodily harm as a cut finger, and returned liome with health wholly
unimpaired.
Enriched by experiences in foreign lands, wealth which cannot
be estimated in dollars and cents, nothing but a desire to have others
share with me, through the medium of these pages, the delights of
forest and field, river and sea, could have impelled me to the labori
ous task of writing this narrative in hours which should have been
devoted to rest and recreation. But if a single reader (always ex
cepting the proof-reader) has followed me thus far, and experienced
in sympathy a hundredth part of the delight which quickens my
blood as I think of the scenes which I have feebly attempted to
describe for him, I can say that my labor has not been in vain.
The rifle and knife hang peacefully upon the wall, tfaeir labors
done. Let me rest my weary pen also. Farewell,
APPENDIX.
OUTFIT FOE A. COLLECTOR.
FOR the benefit of inexperienced collectors, I give "below an itemized list of
the various articles which constituted my outfit for field-work in collecting
and preserving animal specimens of all kinds. I have only to add that my
outfit was complete and compact, contained no useless articles, and I found it
perfectly adapted to all my wants. Its total cost was about $270.
1 Agassiz tank (copper), in wooden "box, for alcoholics.
1 chest of black walnut, iron bound, which contained all the articles enumer
ated below :
1 double B. L. smooth-bore gun,
No. 10, in case.
1 Maynard rifle, cal. 40.
1 shot-gun, No. 16.
1 Smith & Wesson revolver, cal.
32.
1 belt and cartridge bag.
40 pounds shot, assorted sizes.
10 founds Maynard bullets.
1,000 Berdan primers.
12 pounds Orange Ducking powder.
30 pounds arsenical soap.
15 pounds dry arsenic.
1 dozen large skinning knUves.
1 dozen small skinning knives.
6 scalpels.
2 claw hatchets.
1 saw.
large skin scraper.
geological "hfl.TYvmp.r-
bull's-eye lantern.
1
1
1
1 A No. 1 field-glass.
1 compass.
2 brushes, for arsenical soap.
1 blow-pipe and set of egg-drills.
1 hydrometer and test-glass,
1 thermometer.
2 pairs hunting-shoes.
2 rubber blankets.
1 double woollen blanket.
1 Ashanti hammock.
3,000 labels, three sizes.
1 tool-box, size 13 by 7 inches,
which contained the following :
4 skinning knives.
2 pairs scissors.
1 brain hook.
1 pair long forceps.
1 pair short forceps.
1 pair cutting pliers.
1 pair flat pliers.
2 sets skeleton scrapers.
1 small skin scraper.
1 flat file.
2 three-cornered files.
1 cold chisel.
2 awls.
1 4-inch saw (for turtles).
1 tape measure.
1 2-foot rule.
1 ivory thimble.
1 oil-stone.
1 spool thread.
2 dozen labels
3 papers glover's needier
492 TWO YEARS IN THE JUKGLE.
KECIPE FOR MAKING ARSENICAL SOAP.
WMte soap 2 pounds.
Powdered arsenic 2 "
Camphor , , 5 ounces.
Subcarbonate of potash. 6 "
Alcohol 8 '
Directions. Slice the soap and melt it in a small quantity of water ovei
a slow fire, stirring sufficiently to prevent its "burning. When melted, add the
potash, and stir in the powdered arsenic, after which add the camphor, pre
viously dissolved in the alcohol. When the mass has been boiled down to the
consistency of thick molasses, pour it into an earthen jar to cool and harden.
Stir it frequently while cooling to prevent the arsenic settling to the bottom.
When cold it should be like lard or butter. For use, mix a small quantity with
water until it resembles buttermilk, and apply with a common paint brush.
How TO SKIN A QUADRUPED, AND PREPARE THE SKIN FOR MOUNTING.
(Subject cTiosen, a Tiger.)
First measure the animal carefully and record the dimensions on the spot.
Then, as with all land mammals, make a straight clean cut from the throat
along the under side of the animal quite to the end of the tail. Slit each leg
from the centre of the foot, or the "pad," along the back of the leg to the
first joint, or the heel, and stop there. Begin at the incision along the middle
of the body, skin down the sides of the animal as far as possible, then detach
the legs at hip and shoulder. Skin each leg down to the very ends of the
toes, cut all the flesh and tendons from around the leg-bones as cleanly as pos
sible, but leave the leg-bones attached to the skin at the toes, and to each other
by their ligaments. Make a slit along the bottom of each toe so that every
morsel of flesh may be removed, and every inch of the skin be laid bare on its
inner surface to receive the preservatives. Skin down to the lose of each daw.
Detach the head from the body at the first cervical vertebra, and, as you
proceed with the head, turn the skin over wrong side out and work gradually
down to the end of the nose. When you reach the eye, insert a finger in it
from the outside to guide the movements of your knife and prevent your cut
ting the edges of the eyelid or corners of the eye. The skin on the inner sur
face of the lips must be cut close along the gums in all cases. After the skin
is detached from the skull, the lips must be slit open from the inside until the
fold or edge of the lip is reached, and the flesh inside the lip cut away. The
lip is now unfolded as it were all the way round, and in mounting the animal
the place of the flesh will be supplied with clay or putty and the lip folded
again as in life ; hence the importance of preserving the inner skin of the
lips. The roots of the whiskers form a large, thick lump on each side of the
nostrils, and these must be slit vertically, so as not to cut off the roots of t] xose
long, stiff hairs. In most of the Felidce the whiskers are set in rows, so th*t it
ii easy to slit the flesh between the rows of root-glands until coming down to
the skin itself. Bub the alum well into these gashes when preparing the skin.
The cartilage of the ear must be skinned out from the inside by simply turn
ing the ear inside out
APPENDIX. 493
Carefully scrape all the fat from the inside of tlie skin and all bits of flesh,
and wash off all the blood from both sides, so that the skin shall be thoroughly
clean. Now rub the inside of the skin with strong arsenical soap, after which
apply powdered alum plentifully to every inch of inner surface. Put on as
much alum as the skin will absorb, and on the leg-bones as well as the skin, to
make them dry quickly ; then hang the skin over a large pole in a shady place
where the wind will strike it. Be careful not to stretch the skin unduly. Keep
it well spread out, so that the air will reach every part of it freely. Turn the skin
about every other day and expose the hair side. In a few days, if the skin has a
fair chance, it will begin to get stiff and hard, and then it should be taken down
and folded up neatly, hair inside. Leave it in an open place a little longer,
and it will become almost as hard as a board, the best condition possible for it.
A skin cured in this way can at any time afterward be softened, and either
stuffed with gratifying success, or made into a rug of the most desirable kind.
The skull must be cleaned by simply cutting and scraping the flesh cleanly
from it with a knife, removing the brain with a bent wire or a piece of hoop
iron, rubbing the skull with the arsenical soap, and allowing it to dry. Put a
large bunch of tow, cotton, or rags between the teeth and around them, and
tie the jaws tightly together to prevent the teeth from getting broken or lost.
The skull should in all cases accompany a skin which is to be mounted as a
museum specimen, or even as a rug with the head stuffed.
The above directions apply to all carnivorous animals, and, with slight
modifications, to all terrestrial mammals except the elephant, rhinoceros, hip
popotamus, and a few others. Arsenical soap is the great protective against
the attacks of insects, rats, cats, dogs, and other vermin ; and powdered, alum
is the best dry preservative for the skins of land quadrupeds, assisted, in cer
tain cases, by salt. Professional collectors should preserve all mammal skina
in a bath made of salt and alum dissolved in hot water, without drying them
at att. I have found that skins so prepared mount so much quicker, easier,
and better than if dried, that of late I advise and practise this method exclu
sively. Casual collectors, such as sportsmen and travellers, will on many ac
counts find it less trouble to preserve their specimens in a dry state, after the
method described above.
Loss OF LIFE IN BRITISH INDIA BY WILD BEASTS AND SEBPENTS.
Few persons have an adequate conception of the abundance of dangerous
animals in India, and the appalling loss of life they occasion. In spite of
zealous sportsmen, liberal rewards, poisons, pitfalls, and all other engines of
destruction with which the people make war against teeth, claws, and poisonous
fangs, the dangerous beasts still hold their own. In the United States, if a man
loses his life by a wild animal, forty million people are informed of it in less
than a fortnight. The subjoined tables, compiled from official reports and un
deniably correct, will show either how little is known generally of what ia
transpiring in India, or else how little the world cares. With a reasonable
allowance of variations, sometimes in one direction and sometimes in another,
it may be said that the figures here recorded remain practically the same, year
after year. The various governments pay out annually over one hundred
i&ousand rupees in re wards, but instead of bringing about the extermination of
494
TWO TEAES
THE JUKGKLE.
the species destructive to human life it only serves to prevent their increase
Tbeyond a certain point.
Here is a field for the missionaries with a vengeance. I wonder if it has
never occurred to them that it would be a good thing to save bodies as well as
souls, especially where twenty thousand of the former are destroyed every year
by wild beasts and snakes. To my mind, the body of the Hindoo seems
more deserving of attention just now than his soul.
Loss OF LIFE AND PROPERTY BY WILD BEASTS IN BKITISH INDIA DUB-
iNa THE YEAR 1878.
POLITICAL
DIVISIONS.
NUMBER OF CATTLE KILLED BY
Madras
Bombay
. Provinces and
dh
il Provinces.*!
a Burma
B and Coorg. .
derabad v
Ljmere and Mhair-
wara
Total
Totalfor 1ST?....
DANGEROUS ANIMALS DESTKOYED IN BRITISH INDIA DURING THE YEAR
1878.
POLITICAL DIVISIONS.
Madras.,
N.-W, Provinces and'Oudn! * \
Central pVovinces" 1 1 !!!!!!! ! !
Mysore and Ooorg ." .".'*.'!* .* " ,' ."
Hyderabad
Aj mere and Mnalrwara .
Total...
Total for 1877
1,498
1,579
613
3,237
3,559
1,283
1,874
27
156
919
2,589
1,120
5,067
4,924
1,417
5,920
445
1,613
491
461
1,066
185
1,202 10,204
9,996
86,796
-24,276
1,697
1,783
117,958
127,295
7,016
941
4,650
4,495
1,320
1,197
657
1,200
815
173
22,487
BS. A.P.
17,854 11 8
7,791 5 6
23,583 70
10,938 5
4,172
14,277 8
5,100
3,541 11
10,210 12
1,676
44
99,189 12 3
103,017 56
APPENDIX.
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INDEX.
ACACIA concinna, 128
thorny, 81
Actinia, 253
Aden, 19
Adjutant, entire dog in crop of, 68
" Adventures among the Dyaks," 468
j3Etobatis narinari, 255
Affection of gibbons for their young, 418
African elephant, 219
tusks of, 225
Ailantus Malabaricus, 128
Aix sponsa, 300
Alabaster, mosque built of, 10, 14
Alcock, Sir Rutherford, 334
Alexandria, 8
Alir, or crocodile hook, 305, 348
Allahabad, 32
Alligator, accident to an, 55
Alike, S. S., 340
Alum, use of, on skins, 44, 193, 213, 367,
493
** American Four-in-Hand in Britain,"
297
Amusements of the Dyaks, 468
Anabantids 387
Animallai Hills, character of forest on,
125
close of work on, 214
cover for game, 155, 214
hunter's paradise, 119
jungle products of, 128
list of mammals collected on, 216
name, derivation of, 119
physical aspect of, 120, 123
seasons on, 125
atormy descent from, 215
tribes on the, 128
Animallai village, 122, 175
relief camp at, 178
Anser Indicus, 34
Antelope bezoartica, 76-80
Antimony in Sarawak, 46K)
Ardivarum ghaut, 122
Argus grayii, 422
Argus pheasant, 380
flesh of, 420
plumage of, 482
Arnica, tincture, use of, 311
Arsenical poap, use of, 43, 165, 209,
493
recipe for making, 492
Astana, the, at Sarawak, 339
Asteria, 253
Astreopora, 254
Atherura fasciculata, 423, 478
Attap roofs, 315
Axis deer, 139, 16&-168
Azadirachta Indica, 81
BAB-EL-MANDBB, Strait of, 19
Baby elephant, and result of fooling
around it, 140-141
Baby orang-utan, my, 376
as a bed-fellow, 383
food in captivity, 382
human-like passions, 429
inability to swim, 419
mode of walking, 381
personal appearance, 381
playfulness, 383, 417
presentation of, to Mr. Theobald, 488
social habits, 382
training, 382
Badagas, 99
Bailly, Mr. J. F. D., 217
Baker, Sir Samuel, 281
Ballow Dyaks, games of, 468
Bamboo forest in the Wainaad, 106
forest on the Animallais, 125
huts, 130
huts pulled down by elephants, 198
suspension bridges, Dyak, 484
utensils and furniture, 131
Bambusa arundinacea, 106, 125
Bananas, 315
Banyan tree, 82
Bankongs, 463-464
Baram, Kyans of, 446, 448, 457
Kyans good houses of, 449
Baram River, 334, 446
Barito River, 334
Barking deer, 171, 268
Barriers of Pandanug items, 411
Bassia latifolia, 146
498
INDEX.
Baas' pale ale, 185
Batagur thurgii. 63
Batang Lupar Biver, 335, 348, 410, 459
Batangs, 439
Bathing at Allahabad, 33
in the Staat Biver, 481
Bats, 266, 326, 478
Battery, a typical sportsman's, 192
Ban, 317
gold washing at, 479
Beecher, Mr., 483
Bean, Dr. Tarleton BL 386
Beans, 315
Bears, Bornean, 431, 439
Bears, Indian black, adventure with,
144-146
cattle killed by, 494
destroyed, 494
habits and distribution of, 146
persons killed by, 494
Beasts, wild, destruction of, 494
loss of cattle by, 494
loss of human life by, 493-494
Beauty, lack of, in native women, 461
Bellows, use of, by Kyans, 447
Benares, 83
Benevolence, native, 31
Bennett, Mr. O. M., 350, 259
Bentotte rest house, 286
Betmund, 97
Biadum, 472
Bibos, see Bos
Bidie, Dr. G-., 91
Biiit monkey, 391
Biliong, 379
Birds, author's policy in collecting, 2, 430
Bornean, 379, 417, 422, 429
" brain-fever," 170
Dyak mode of snaring, 421
near Mullaitivu, 267
of Selangore, 307, 328
omen, 426, 432
on the Hoogly, 88
on the Jumna, 34, 44, 59-62, 68
0ird-nesting, 60-61
Pjaayas, 447, 455, 457
Bison, Indian, appearance of the, 188
death of first, 114
dimensions of, 188
easily killed, 189
first hunt for, 109-110
herds of, 189
hunting on the Animallais, 187
Mr. Morgan's adventure with, 189-191
preparing skin of, 192-193
Bison, American, 188
Blachang, 304
Black buck, 76-80
Blackwpod, 125
Blow-pipe, see Sumpitan,
Boat, model of Dyak, 427
Boats, at Etawah, 37
Dyak, 463-464
itfalay, 359
masulah, 80
Boatmen on the Jumna, 46
Boatmen on the Jumna^ prayers of, 58
Boating on the Jumna, 33, 50, 58
on the Staat, 483
Bock, Mr. Carl, 334, 447
Bombay, market at, 23
natives, 24
street scenes in, 24-25
Bonneted macaque, 268
Booby, 307
Borassus flabelliformis, 129, 280
Bore in the Sadong, 372, 383
Borneo, area, 333
British North Borneo Company, 334
character of, 333
explorations, 334
forest growth, 352
impenetrability of interior, 335
mammals of, 398
mysteries of the interior, 335
no field for missionaries, 474
political divisions, 334
position of, 333
Proper, or Brunei, 334
Borneo Company, of Sarawak, 339. 477.
480,482 '
British North, 334
Bos Americanus, 188
bubalus, 25
gaurus, 104, 188
Indicus, 25
sondaicus, 310
Box, remarkable training of, 300
Box-turtle, 310
Boycotting of author by an Irish mob, 8
Boyle, Mr. Frederick, 468-469
Brahmin bull, 84
Bridge Jumna, at Allahabad, 32
Bridges, suspension, of the Hill Dyaks.
484
Brass wire ornaments, 450-451, 457,
British Museum, 4
accessibility of collections of, 5
catalogues of the, 5
rank of, 5
British North Borneo Company, 334
British rule in India, 91
Broque monkey, 314
Brooke, Bajah Charles, 320, 446, 464
Brooke, Sir James, 341, 350
diplomatic wisdom of, 345, 465
Buceros bicornis, 139
rhinoceros, 417
Buffalo, Indian, 25
Toda, 103
Bullock bandy, 120
driving, 121
hackery, 25
Bungalow, Animallai Forest Dep't, 122
dak (or dawk), 35
Mr. Theobald's forest, 124
travellers', at Kulhutty, 106
travellers', at Segor, 1(>6
Burial, Hill Dyak mode of, 454
Kyan, 447
Sibuyau, 474
ISTDEX.
499
Burning of the dead, by the Hill Dyaks,
454
Hindoos, 67
Busau, 477
Butea frondosa, 81
Butter-fish, 256
Butterflies, 430
Buttresses of the tapang-tree, 438
Buxus, 300
CABBAGE, Chinese, 315
Cabook, 280
Cairo, old and new, 9-10
Calamus rotang, 128
Calcutta, 86
Calotes nigrilabris, 348
versicolor, 248
Camel, the author rides a, 11
Camp, among wild beasts, 204
at Moochpardi, 183
at Tellicul, 130-131
of Major Ross, 70
Campbell, Captain E. A., 116
Campbell, Mr. Robert, kindness of, to au
thor, 332
Camphor-trees, 315
Canarium strictum, 128
Canis aureus, 63
pallipes, 76
Cannibalism among certain Kyan clans,
447-448
Caranx gallus, 256
Carey,. 258
Carnegie, Mr. Andrew, 297
Captain Cheena, the, 316, 329
Carcharias acutus, 257
melanopterus, 257
Casarca rutila, 34
Casuarinas, 352
Cathedral Cave, 327
Cat's cradle, game of, known to Dyaks,
468
Caves, discovery of, in Selangpre, 325-828
examination of Bornean, 477-478
visit to, near Paku, 480
Centipedes, bite of, 811, 313
Cervulus aureus, 171-172, 268, 431
Cervus axis, 166-168
Ceylon, between Colombo and Kandy,
237-239
collection made in, 283
finest portion of, 281
richness of Ceylon fauna, 249
travels in Northern Province of, 251-
280
elephants in, 219-220
export duty on elephants in, 228
Observer, article in the, 242
Challenger Expedition, collections of, 3
Champagne, cheap, 316
Charge of a dangeroug animal, 139
of a female elephant, 141
Cheiromeles torquatus, 478
Chelonia mydas, 258
virgata, 258
Chetties of Colombo, 420
Chimpanzee. 399
Chinese gold companies, 479
hospitality, 316, 329, 479
houses, 275
industry, 329
influence on the Dyaks, 444, 472. 474
insurrection in Sarawak, 466, 47v
merchants of Singapore, 295
settlers on the Sarawak, 476
shops, 293, 294
toddy-making taught the Dyaks by the,
474
traders, tricks of, 433
Chittagong, elephant-catching in, 221
Chondrop^terygii, 255
Christianity without Christ, 474
Church episode in Ceylon, 285
Ciconia alba, 60
Cinchona, government plantations of, 96
Cinnibar mines, at Tegora, 482
Civet cat, 429
Civilization, effect of, on savage races, 448
surpassed by semi-savagery, 474
unjust discrimination of, against wom
en, 470-471
Climate, see Weather
Climbing, Dyak mode of, 434
Cloud scene on the Neilgherries, 104
Chypeaster Ghizaensis, 14
Coal mine in Sarawak, 351
Cobra, snake-eating, 330
Cocoanut, groves of, 272, 280, 285, 386
water of the, 273
Cochin, chasing elephants in, 146
death of a tusker in, 162, 166
Coimbatore, 120, 122
Collection, Animallai, 216
Ceylon, 283
of one day at Colombo, 248
of one day at Simujan, 371
Collecting at Colombo, 246-248
birds at MuUaitivu, 267
birds, Bornean, 422, 429
birds in Selangore, 307, 328
birds on the Jumna, 34, 59-62
ethnological specimens, 426
good ground for, 267, 414
I hells and coral, 253-254, 256, 487
Collector, outfit for a, 491
Colombo, description of, 237-239
fish-market, 249
harbor, 239
Colonial Secretary of Ceylon, 242
Communal harmony of the Dyake, 467*
468
Confinement, Dyak women in, 47JL
Conjugal felicity of the Dyaks, 468
Coonoor Pass, 95
Consul, United States, at Bombay 82
at Singapore, 296-297
Conocarpns latifoliua. 125
Contentment of the Dy&ks. 474
Coolies, high-priced, 315, 816
500
INDEX.
Coral, barrier reef of, at Jeddah, 16
barrier reef of, at Point Pedro, 260
barrier reef of, Point de Galle, 278
buildings of fossil coral at Jeddah, 16
collecting at Jaffna, 253-254, 256
collecting at Singapore, 487
Corrip, 473
Cormorant, lesser, 267
Corse, Mr., on height of elephants, 224-
225
Costume, we Dress, and Ornaments
Country, see Scenery, and Landscape
Court-house in Sarawak, 340
Cremation customs in India, 67
practised by Hill Dyaks, 454
Crevices in limestone hills, 480
Crimes of the Dyaks, 473
Criminal justice in Sarawak, 345
Crocker, Mr. W- M., 340, 349, 476
Crocodile, cannibalistic habits of, 265
catching in Sarawak, 348
catching in Selangore, 305-307
cutaneous disease of, 265
difference between alligator and, 54
eggs of the, 422
hunting at Mullaitivu, 264, 266
hunting in Selangore, 305
hunting on the Jumna, 32, 51-56
hook and line, 305
nest of a Bornean, 421
Crocodiles at sea, 307
man-eating, 348
number of c. killed in Sarawak, 348
sacred, 51
Crocodilians, heads of, 55
Crocodilui
bombifrons, 51
bombifrons, walking of, 55
intermedius, 57
palustris, 265
palustris, attitude in walking, 266
palustris, cannibalistic habits of, 265
palustris, leprosy of, 265
porosus, 304-307, 348
Cucumbers, 315
Cul uluva, 257
Cuora Amboinensis, 310
" Curios," Ceylon , &8
Curran shola, 198, 199
Cuttle fish, 252
Cymbirhynchus, 422
Cynogale Bennettii, 480, 428
DAK (or dawk) bungalow, 35
Dalbergia latif olia, 125
Dameneara, 314
Dances of the Dyaks, 468
Darkness in the forest, 359, 388
Darter, 267
Dtu Cape, 336
Datu Pudeh, 311, 312
Dawion, Mr. and Mrs. G. A. R, 117, 169
Debt-making as a safe method of stealing
471
Debt-paying, faithfulness of Dyaki in,
472
Deer, axis, 166-168, 278
rib-faced, or barking, 171-172, 268, 431
spotted, 139, 166-168
Dicerobatis eregoodoo, 420
Directions, see Skinning and Skeletoniz
ing
for making arsenical soap, 492
Diseases, 120
of the Dyaks, 373, 473
introduced by civilization, 473
of civilization not found among the
Dyaks, 474
Divorce among the Dyaks, 453
Doctor, a Neilgherry, 117
the right kind of a, 237
Doctoring a Dyak, 373
a fisherman, 311
poor natives, 91, 175
Dohrn, Dr. Anton, 7
Domestic life of the Dyaks, 466, 468 4TO
Doraysawmy, the " Gentleman's God, n
184
Douglas, Captain B., 303, 314, 329-330
Draco volans, 420
Drunkenness in the East Indies, 295
of the Dyaks at feasts, 470
Dress of the Chinese merchants, 295
Dyaks, 450, 451, 456, 457, 460, 462
Hindoo women, 24
Karders, 128
Malays, 239
Moormen, 287
Parsees, 24
Singhalese, 239
Todas, 100
Drifts of Pandanus, 411
Duck, mandarin, 300
summer, 300
Dundang, the Dyak hunter, 351, 379, 395
Durian, the, 318
gatherers disturbed by elephants, 321
Durio, zibethinus, 318
Dusuns, see Ida'ans, 455-457
Dutch Possessions in Borneo, 334
Duty on collector's outfits, 243, 244
methylated spirits, 241
outfit at Bombay, 21
Dwasala elephants, 227
Dwellings, see Houses
Dyak, absence of religicm in the, 445
accident to a, 373, 392
at his worst, 373, 422
a typical, 454
belles, 460
cheerful disposition of the, 467-46*
daily life of a, 466
dances, 468
deportment, 355 358, 393, 413
diseases, 373, 473
farms, 355, 387
head-trophies, see Head-hunting
hospitality, 364, 439
601
Dyak, hut at a farm, S87
indolence, 423, 440
omen birds, 426, 432
omens in general, 432
pantomime, 393, 468
snake eaten by a, 388
stature, 459-460
tooth-plates, 393
villages, 355, 373, 410, 434, 448, 449
Dyaks, Hill, see Hill Dyaks
Mongol, see Mongol Dyaks
Dyaks of Borneo, ancestry of, 444
classification, 445
general description of, 445
of Sarawak, character of, 435
decrease of, 343
demonstrative character of, 431, 439
former oppression of, 342-343
present condition of. 344
Dyaks, Sea, vide Sea Dyaks
Dysentery, 120, 174
E
EAR, mutilation of, by Karder women,
129
ornaments of the Dyaks, 457, 462
Echini, collecting, at Colombo, 426
how to clean and preserve, 247
Eggs of the gavial, 45
of the salt-water crocodile, 442
of the scavenger vulture, 61
Egret, 60, 267, 307
Ekka, a ride in an, 69
Eleotris marmorata, 397
Elephant, the Indian, compared with
African, 219
age of, 223
body, character of, 134
brain, position of, 133
brain, difficulty of hitting, 134
breeding in captivity, 222
castes of, recognized, 226
cost of keeping, 232
death of a tusker, 163, 201, 323
destruction of, 220, 221
dimensions of a tusker, 202
doings of a mad, 233
dwasala class of, 227
export duty in Ceylon on, 238
food of a captive, 231
geographical distribution of, 218
gestation, period of, 223
growth, 223-225
height of male and female, 224
hunters hunted by, 147
in Borneo, 220
in Ceylon, 219
in processions, 227
in Selangore, 310, 324
in Sumatra, 220
intelligence of, wonderful, 229
koomeriah class, 227
meerga class, 227
mental capacity of, 229
mischiovousneaa of, 161-162, 321
Elephant, the Indian, moral character f
229
" must " in, 232
prices of, in India and America, 238
rogue, character of a, 234
rogue, killed by Mr. Theobald, 124
sagacity in manoeuvring, 148
sight, dulness of, 137
skinning and preserving skin of. 303-
203, 205, 209 213, 214, 217
skull, form and structure of, 133
stealthiness in retreating, 148
swimming power of, 234
table of growth, 225
trumpeting, notes sounded in, 136
tusks of African and Indian, 235
uses of, in India, 226, 228
vulnerable points of, 135
work of, in a timber forest, 230
young, 140-141, 223
Elephant, the African, 219
mode of hunting, 133
Elephant catching, 220
keddah operations in, 221
various methods of, 222
Elephant hunting, African method of, 131
character of, 131
failures in, 112, 138, 149, 199
gun for, 137
Indian method of, 133
in Selangore, 320-325
ludicrous adventure in, 334
success in, 163, 201, 322,
tables turned in, 149
under difficulties, 199-201
Elephant Pass, 280
Elephants, attacking, 138
first herd of wild, 111
law protecting, 126
permit to kill, 127, 197
stampede of, 138
tracking up a herd of, 136
Elephas Indicus, see Elephant, the In*
dian
primogenius, 218
Elettaria cardamomum, 128
Elevation of the Animallais, 125
of the Neilgherries, 94
of the Wainaad, 106
Emerson, Joseph, 275
Emyda Ceylonensis, 248
Emys trijuga, 248, 310
English institutions, 339
Eng Quee, Mr., 350, 354, 369, 384
Eonycteris spilla, 326
Esacus recurvirostris. 307
Establishment, Ward's Natural Science,
2, 193, 197, 217
Etawah, 35
population of, 70
Ethnological specimens, 426, 439
Everett, Mr. A. Hart, 477, 478
Everett, Mr. H. EL, 482
Evolution, theories of social, at fault, 474
Exaggeration, sinful tendency to. 33
Exterior of Dyak long-house, 35
502
FAKIR, 25
Famine, the Madras, 90, 91. 177
deaths during the, 180
end of the, 181
relief measures during the, 178, 180
Farman, Mr., 10, 11
Farnham, Mr. , 22
" Fast " men of civilized society, 471
Feasts, Dyak, 469-470
Jb-eajD, a foolish, 317
Felis Bengalensis, 328
chaus, 62, 216
marmorata, 328
Felis tigris, see Tiger
distribution of, 253
migration of, into Ceylon hindered,
252
Ferguson, Mr., of the Ceylon Observer,
Fever, first attack of, 115
on the Animallais, 120, 139, 150, 151
174, 194, 236 '
permanent cure of, 237
treatment of, 150
Ficus Indica, 82
religiosa, 82
Fiddle, Dyak, 429, 469
" Fight in the tree-tops," 375
Fighting qualities of the Indian bison,
qualities of the orang-utan, 371
qualities of the saras crane, 60
Fire-arms of Dyaks and Malays, 379
Fire-flies, 359 '
Fire-fly, the steam launch, 476, 477, 487
Fish, collecting at Jaffna, 255-258
jumping, 308
~ g River, ;
5. 387
~-dong l Ui r CJL , ,
Selangore, 308
the thread, 386
Fishing with the tuba plant, 384, 386
for crocodiles, 304-307, 348
Fish-market at Bombay, 23
Flowers in Bombay market 23
Flying dragon, 420
fox, 267
lemur, 380, 412, 428, 478
squirrel, 114
Food, necessity of appetizing 372
scarcity of, 150, 271
Forced trade, 342
Fort, the, in Colombo, 337
at Sarawak, 339
native shops in, 240
FossjjU, Egyptian, from Mokattem Hills,
Egyptian, from the Pyramids, 14
^47W78 r ' ** Bomea11 oave d e Psits,
Fraser, Mr., 36
Fruits of Sarawak, 403
Selangore, 315, 317
Frogs, self-buried, 277
Funeral, a Hindoo, 66
GALEOPITHBCUS variegatus. 412, 429 47a
volans, 380 * 9
Galle, Point de, 286
Galle Face Esplanade, 237
Gallus Stanleyii, 279
Gambling, 315
Games pi the Dyaks, 468
Gardening, curiosities of, 300
Gaur, see Indian bison, 188
Gavseus gaurus, see Bos gaurus
Gavial, abundance of, 51, 52
Bornean species of, 348, 478
colors of, 55
habits of, 46, 47
head of, 54
difficulties of g. shooting, 48
geographical distribution of the, 55
native reverence for, 51
not destructive of human life, 56
shooting, 39, 41, 42, 43, 46, 47, 49
struggle with a wounded, 47
teeth of, 57
ticklishness of, 56
voice of, 41, 56
wariness of, 40
Gavialis Gangeticus, see Gavial
Gaya Bay, 334
Gazella Bennettii, 72
Geese, 75
Geographical distribution of, black bear,
elephant,' 218
gavial, 55
gazelle, 72
orang-utan, 348, 399
sasin antelope, 76
tiger, 154, 252
wild goat, 76
Gertrude, Sarawak achooner, 340
Gharry, 25
Ghee, 37
Gibbon, cry of, 418
difficult to shoot, 395, 415, 418
hunting described, 415-416
incidents in hunting, 418
measurements of, 419
mode of progression, 383, 415, 430
money value of, 419
paternal affection of, 418
pet, 383
place in nature, 399
Gill, Dr.Theo. N.,397
Goat, Neilgherry wild, 97, 173
Goby, 397
Gold washing in Sarawak, 479
442* Simu:)an Goverr "aent House, 350,
Dyak alarm, 437
Goolur tree, 82
Gordon Ouinining, largest tusk taken
by, 225
>de of elephant-hunting, practised
7, 133
by, 1
Gorilla, j
INDEX.
503
Gourami, the, 386 t
Government aid during famine, 91, 177,
180
house at Simujan, 349, 369
scientific publications, U . b. , b
Governmental eccentricities in Ceylon,
284
Grace without Gospel, 474
Graculus Javanicus, 267
Grainboats on the Jumna, 58
Grasp us strigosus, 247
Gray, Mr., 483
Grus antigone, 59
cinerea, 60
Guardian angel, the author's, 488
Gua Belah, 326
Lada, 326
Lambong, 326
Poondah, 397
Gunong Popook, author lost on, 390
Dyak village at, 864, 366, 390
Gunther, Dr., 5
Gutta percha, mode of gathering, 4dU
Gymnura, 478
Gyps Bengalensis, 34
HALIJBTTJS, albicilla, 34
Haly, Dr. A., 250
Harbor, Colombo, 239
Madras destitute of, 89
New, at Singapore, 292
Harp, Dyak, 469
K^iifi 4 !, 335^36, 395, 453
462
Haughton, Mr. Samuel, 260, 264
Hawk cuckoo, cry of the, 170
Head-dress of the Sea Dyaks 462
Head-house of the Hill Dyaks, 450,
452
Head-hunting among the Hill Dyaks, 358
450, 465, 485
among the Kyans, 447
among the Sea Dyaks, 357, 425, 465
among the Trings, 448
suppression of, in Sarawak, 4bo
trophies, value of, 425
Hemitragus hylocrius, 97, 172
Helarctos Malayanuss, 431, 493
Herodias alba, 60, 267
egrettoides, 88
garzetta, 267, 307
Herpestes griseus, 268
Heron, night, 267
Hierococcyx varius, 170
Hill Dyaks, comparison of, with othe
tribes, 458 .
consanguineous marriages pronibite
by, 453
disposition of the dead, 450
divorce and separation, 453
do not steal, 471-472
diets and ornaments of, 450-451, 485
111 Dyaks, games of, 468
habitat of, 449, 468
head-house of, 452, 485
head-hunting customs of, 450
ideas of a Supreme Being, 444, 454
marriage customs of, 452-453
moral principles and practices of, 45^
471, 472
no written language of, 454
physique of, 450
raids upon, by Sea Dyaks, 464
status of, as warriors, 450
villages of , 485
Hindoo influence on the Dyaks, 444, 45^
472
religion, 86
lindoo, native, character of, 183
condition of, 181
Hog, Bornean wild, 395
Indian, 173, 278
lolothurians, 253
loney, wild, 428
Dyak mode of procuring, 434
Hood, Mr. J. M., 301, 488
Hoogly River, 87-89
Hornbill, rhinoceros, 379, 417
Horsburgh Light, 336
Hospital for animals, 27
Hospitality, Dyak, 364, 439
Hotel, advantages of a small, 9
Doughty 's, 21
Grand New, 9
Bajah's Arms, 340
Sea View, 245, 296
Hotels, drunkenness in, 295-296
House, Jacoon, 319
Malay, at Batu, 317
Malay, at Jerom, 304
model of a Dyak, 426
Houses, of the Baram Kyans, 449
of the Hill Dyaks, 485
of the Ida'ans, 456
of the Malays, 292, 304, 317, 338
of the Milanaus, 448
of the Muruts, 457
of the Pakatans, 449
of the Poonans, 449
of the Sea Dyaks, 355-357, 410, 406
of the Todas, 102
of the Trings, 448
Howdah-shooting, 154
Huddleston, Mr. J. E. L., 216
Human sacrifices, 447
Hunger, tropical, 272 388
Hunting, axis deer, loo-loo
bear 144
bisoi, Indian, 109-110, 113, 187, 189
black buck, 80
crocodile, 264r-265
elephant, 111, 131, 133, 138, 146, 161, 1#
gaur, see Bison
gaviai, 46-48
gazelle, 73-74
gibbon, 395, 415-418
ibex, see Wild Goat
monkey, 107, 115, 143, 274, 347, 894
504
INDEX.
Hunting, peacock, 63
sasin antelope, 80
tiger, 154-156
wild goat, 97, 172
wild hog, 396
Hunuman 84
Hut, Dyak, 387
Moochpardi, my, 183
Tellicul, 130
Toda, 102
Hut-building -with bamboos, 130, 183
Hutchison, Rev. Mr., 180
Hyamas, cattle killed by, 494
destroyed, 494,
persons killed by, 494
Hydrosaurus salvator, 307
Hystrix longicauda, 427
IBIS, black, 60
Ichthyosis, 373, 413, 473
Ida'ans, the, dress of, 456
farthest advanced, 455
house* of the, 456
peaceful habits of, 459
skill of in agriculture, 456
Infanticide among the Todaa, 99, 101
Infant orang-utan, see Baby Orang-utan.
Information, difficulty in obtaining, 32
Inia, the, 64
Insanity among the Dyaks, 473
Insects, scarcity of, at Etawah, 81
Insurrection, Chinese, in Sarawak, 466
47y
Interior of Dyak Long-house, 356-357
of Toda hut, 102
Intoxicants among the Dyaks, 469-470,
Introduction, letters of, 29
Inuus rhesus, 84
Ivory-hunting in Africa, 219
JABIRU on the Jumna, 60
Jackal, 63
cry of, 63, 275, 278
Jackets worn by Hill Dyak women, 451
"RVaYiH 447 ~
Huruts, 457
Jacoons, 319
houses of, 319, 449
resemblance of, to Poonans, 319
skill in use of sumpitan 320
Jaffna, 251 '
shallow waters around, 253
Jeddah, disturbances in, 17
gates of, 18
Jerom, 303
people, 312
quarters at, 304
shore at, 310
Joonoos, Mr. M. (X, 288-290
Journey from Colombo to Galle, 284-886
Coimbatore to the Animallais 122
Jaffna to Point Pedro, 260
Mullaitivu to Jaffna, 278-280
Ootacamund to Mudumallay, 106-107
Jowata, 445
Jungle, character of, in Borneo, 351
character of Malay Peninsula, 314 $17
character of Northern Ceylon 274*
definition of, 154
produce, 424
Jungle cat, 62
cock, 279, fcSO
Jumna River, abundance of gavials ia
annual rise and fall of, 52
bird life along the, 59, 62
boating on, 50
character of, 39, 58
coldness of water of, 52
filthiness of, 68
navigation of, 58
porpoises in, 64
ravines along the, 71
turtles, 63
Jury system in Sarawak, 345
Justice in Sarawak, 345
K
KABRA goya, 307
Kadjang boat roofs, 354
Kadyans, the, 457
Kaltura, 285
Kandy, 282
Kapooas River, 334
Karders, 128
Katz Brothers, 301
Keddah, defence of a, 222
location and construction of, 221
tying wild elephants in the, 222
Kenowits, high houses of the, 449
tattooing practised by, 448
Kejang (see Muntjac), 431, 432
Keppel, Sir Henry, 343, 345
Kimanis River, 334
Kina Balu, Mt.,334, 335
Klang, River, 302, 315
town of, 302
Koomeriah elephant, 227
Kotei, Territory of, 334, 444
Krah monkey, 307, 338, 347, 358
-Krumbang Mountains, 336
Kuching (Sarawak), 339
bazaar, 341
public buildings, 340
shipping, 340
Kulhutty bungalow, 106
Kulungud Forest, 127, 185
Rajah of, 127, 197
Kurumbers, 109
Kwala Lumpor, 302, 314, 315
Kyan Dyaks, aggressiveness of, 447
Baxam, 446, 448, 449, 457
burial customs of, 447
INDEX.
605
K.yan Dyaks: cannibalism among som
clans of the, 447-448
comparison of, "with other tribes, 458
distinguishing characters of, 446-447
houses of, 449
ideas of a future state held by, 449
progress of, 444
territory of the, 446
warlike habits of the, 447
weapons of the, 447, 463
. Island, 834
Lagenoplastefi fluvicola, 61
Landscape, Bornean, from Serambo
Mountai^ 486
Central Indian, 30
Egyptian, 12
from edge of N eilgherry plateau, 103
in the Ganges delta, 86, 88
near Etawah, 35
Neilgherry, 97
on the AnimaUai Hills, 123
Langur monkey, black, 117, 139
gray, 107
protective instinct in the, 115
Lanuns, the, 455
Laterite, 280
Lee, Hedges <fe Co. , Messrs, 241
kindness of, to author, 250, 259, 288
Leeches, 426
Lee Tiac, 417, 429, 434
Lemur, flying, 380, 412, 428, 478
slow-paced, 380, 398
Leopards, cattle killed by, 494
destroyed in one year, 494
persons killed by, annually, 494
Leptoptilus argala, 68
Lepus nigriooffiB, 117, 268
ruficaudatus, 76
Leys, Mr., 259
death of, 268
''Life in the Forest of the far East,'
Life, 'loss of, in India by wild beasts, 493,
494
Limbang Biver, 334, 447, 457
Limestone hills of Sarawak, caves in, 480
Livistona sinensis, 396
Lizard, green, 248
LobocarcinuaPaulo-Wurtemburgensis, 13
London, 4
Longden, Sir James, 244
Long-house of Sibuyau Dyaks, 355-357
Long Wai Dyaks tattooing of, 448
Loris gracilis, 268
Loss of cattle by wild beasts, 494
human life, 493, 494
Lost in the jungle, Ah Kee, 436-438
the author, 112-113, 390
Low, Mr. Hugh, 334, 447, 457
Luciocephalus pulcher, 386
Lundu Kiver, 459
Lupea sanguinolenta, 252
Lutra leptonyz, 310
MACACUS cynomolgus, 307, 328, 347
nemestrinus, 314, 352, 380
pileatus, 268, 274, 279
radiatus, 216
Machan shooting, 154
Macaque, pig-tailed, 352, 397
Madras famine, 90-91
Madras Government, generosity of, te
author, 197
famine record of the, 91, 180
Madras Bob, u the original," 293
Madrepora, 254, 287
at Point Pedro, 260
cytherea, 254, 256
Mahakkam River, 334
Makota, Pangeran, 342
Malacca, strait of, 291
town of, 301
Malay character, 312, 329
hospitality, 312
influence on the Dyaks, 343, 372
oppression of the Dyaks, 342, 343,
Peninsula, 291
Mammals, collected on the Anfma.ilfl.TM,
list or, 216
collected near Etawah, 34, 35, 63, 64,
70, 72, 73, 74, 76, 77
measurements of some Indian, 495
of Borneo, 347, 352, 358, 360, 380, 391,
398, 418, 420, 423, 428, 429, 431, 478
of Ceylon, 266, 268, 274-276, 277, 278, 279
of Selangore, 310, 314, 320, 326, 828
Mandarin duck, 300
Man-eating crocodiles, 398
Mangif era Indica, 81
Mangosteen, 315
Mango tree, 81
Mangroves, 307
Manis Javanica, 347
Manis pentad&ctyla, 268
flesh of, 271
form and habits of, 268-269
muscular power of tail of, 270
Manta birostris, 255
Market, Bombay grand, 23
Kwala Lumpor, 316
Martin, Dyce & Co., Messrs., kindnea oi
to author, 332
destitute of religious sentiment, 453
of cousins prohibited, 453
Masulah boats, 89
Matang Peak, 338, 477
Matuta victor, 248 ,,,-**
Maynard rifle, accuracy of, 48, 49, 58, 156
tiger killed with a, 158
water-proof quality of, 361
Measurements of Indian mammals, 495
orang-utans, 375, 406
Meandrina, 254 m m
Mecca, visit of two Christians to, 18
Meerga elephant, 227
Melons, 315
Menispermum, 384
506
INDEX.
Mental capacity of the elephant, 229
scale of the Dyak tribes, 458
Methylated spirits, exorbitant duty on,
241
Mias (see Orang-utan), 350
chappin, 374, 375
kassar, 393
rombi, 393, 417
Mica, 106
Milanaus, the, 446
high houses of, 449
Mines, antimony, at Bidi, 480
cinnabar, at Tegora, 483
coal, at Simujan, 351
gold, at Bau, 479
tin, at Kwala Lumpor, 329
Missing link, search for traces of, 478
Mob of Irish yahoos beset the author, 3
Model government, a, 345
Models, 426
Mohwa tree, fruit of, eaten by bears, 146
Money doles, 180
Mongol Dyaks, 455-458
Monkey temple at Benares, 83-84
Monkeys, black langur, 117, 139
cry of, 142
flesh of, eaten by Mulcers, 144
mode of hunting, 143
size of, 144
Monkeys, gray langur, 107. 115
krah, 358, 380
near Sarawak, 347
proboscis, see Proboscis Monkey
Selangore, 307, 328
Moochpardi, 166, 167
bison around, 187
return to, 183
Moormen of Point de Galle, 287
Morality of the Dyaks, 452, 454, 470, 471,
472
Moral equality of men and women, 470
cale of the Dyak tribes, 458
Morgan, General, account of must ele
phant by, 233
Morgan, Mr. Rhodes, adventure of, with
a bison, 189-191
"battery "of, 192
trophies collected by, 192
Moritabas entrance, 337
Mosquitoes, 359, 365
Mud, an adventure in, 310
fish burrows in, 309
jMuddimund, 98
Muda Hassim, Rajah, 342-343
Mudumallay. cholera at, 107
disobliging natives at, 107
karkhana, 107, 115, 116
reserved forest, 105
Mugger Peer, 51
Mulcers, camp of, 206
character of the, 127
courage of the, 159
hunting gang of, 127
go on strike, 207-208, 210
Mummies, various, 13, 14
Mund of the Todas, 98, 108
Mungoos, 268
Muntjac, 171, 268, 431
Murder of Europeans, 329
Muruts, 447, 455
dress and ornaments of, 457
persecution of, by Kyans, 45?
\us rufescens, 171
Museum, Allahabad, 53
American, of Natural History, 371
British, 4'
Calcutta, 86
Ceylon Government, 249
Comparative Zoology, of, 193, 217, 256
Derby, at Liverpool, 4
Egyptian Antiquities, at Boulac, 10
Madras Government, 91
Singapore, 298
United States National, 4, 375, 386
University, at Rome, 6
Victoria and Albert, at Bombay, 26
Musical instruments of the Dyaks, 42ft
469, 440
Musnigoorie, 106
Must in elephants, 232-233
Mycteria Australis, 60
Mysore, elephants caught in, 221
NAPLES, collecting marine specimens ia, $
zoological station, 7
Nasalis larvatus, 347, 358, 394, 395
National Museum, U. S., 4, 375, 386
Native assistants, 259
hunters, 369, 376, 378, 379
hypocrisy, 108
reverence for crocodiles, 51
reverence for peacocks, 62
Natives of the Etawah district, 64, 6ft
gifts from, 65
Nedunkenni, 275
Neem, 81
Negapatam, 235
Neilgherry Hills, climate of, 94
physical aspect of, 96
wild animals on, 94, 105
Neophron percnopterus, 44, 66
egg and nest of, 60-61
Nest of cliff swallow, 61
crocodile, 441
orang-utan, 360, 362, 879, 403
rose-winged paroquet, 62
white scavenger vulture, 60-61
New Harbor, Singapore, 292
Nile, delta of, 9
valley of, 13
Nil-gai, 74-75
"Nilgiri Sporting Reminiscences," 117,
233
Nipa fruticaus, 337
Nipa palm, syrup of, 440
various products of, 440
Nycticebus tardigradus, 380, 387
Nycticorax griseus, 267
INDEX.
OA.TH of secrecy, the Mulcers', 163
Objects of the trip, 2
Obscene image at a shrine, 65
Ocypode ceratophthalmus, 248
Old Man, the (see Baby Orang-utan), 381,
417
Omen birds, 426, 432
Omens in general, 432
Ootacamund, 94, 96
Ophiocephalus, 386
Ophiophagus elaps, 330, 331
Ophthalmia among the Dyaks, 473
Orang-utan, attitude of, when sleeping,
when drinking, 367
eyes of. 401
fierceness of a captive, 300, 368, 372,
377
fighting qualities, 371, 402
food, 402
food in captivity, 300, 382
freedom of lower limbs, 401
fruitless hunting for, 3'51-353
general appearance of, 363, 399, 401
geographical distribution, 348, 399
inability to stand erect, 407
inability to swim, 419
incidents in hunting, 360-363, 375,
393
individual peculiarities, 407
infant (see Baby orang-utan) 367-368,
376, 381, 383, 403, 419, 428
largest, the, 375-376
Malay name for the, 350
man compared with an, 375
maximum size attained by, 404-406
measurements, 375, 406
mode of progression, 404
nests, 360, 362, 403, 414
" number forty-three," 440
place in nature, 399, 407
price of a living, 298
scarcity of, 350
seven specimens in two days, 369
size at birth, 403
skin, 400
skinning and skeletonizing, 366-369,
374
solitary habits, 402
viciousness of newly captured, 368, 373,
377
Whampoa's, Mr., 299
Orchids, 397
Ornaments, personal, of Hill Dyaks, 450-
451, 485
of Muruts, 457
of Sea Dyaks, 462
Osphromenus gourami, 386
Ossen, Mahommed, 287
Ostrich eggs at Aden, 20
tr&ogyps caivus, 84, 44-45
Ottlr, 310
Outfit for a collector, 491
Padang Lake, 363-364, 393-394
Pakatans, 448. 449
Paku, 478
Paleeornis torquatus, 62
Palms, cocoa, 272, 280, 285, 286
nipa, 337, 440
palmyra, 129, 280
Pandanus candelabrum, 360, 363, 364, 40!\
411
Papayah, 315
Paradoxurus musanga, 70
Parong, common, 4(53
latok, 451
Parsee, author swindled by a, 20
dress and appearance, 24
Passerita, 387
Panadura, 284
Pankalan, 481, 493
Paulaul of the Todas, 100
Paumben Passage, 236, 251-252
Pangah, the, 405, 452, 485
Peacocks, 62
Peepul tree, 82
Peg tops among the Hill Dyaks, 471, 473
Pelecanus rufescens, 307
Pengolin, 268-269
Peninjau, village of, 485
Peons, usefulness of, 66
Pera Vera, 156, 186
Perelaer, Mr., 448
Perim Island, 19
Periophthalmus Schlosserii, 308-309, 386
Permit to kill elephants, application for,
196
grant of a, 127, 197
Peti, 421
Dyak killed by a, 422
Petrified forest, excursion to, 10
character of, 12
Pettah, or native quarter of Colombo, 240
Peneus, 248
Penrissen mountains, 337
" Physical Geography of the Sea," 430
Physical scale of the Dyak tribes, 458
Pigs, Dyak traps to kill, 421
wild, in Sarawak, 173, 395
Pike-head, the, 386
Pilfering by a Dyak, solitary case of, 457
Pilot service at Calcutta, 89
Pineapples, 315
Piracy, suppression of, 343, 344
Plandok, 328 380
Plantain, 315
Platanista Gangetica, 64
Platalea leucorodia, 75
Plotus melanoghaster, 267
Plovers, 307
Point de Galle, 286
native dealers at, 287-288
Poisoned arrows, 447
Polyandry among the Todas, Id
Polynemus, 386
^olypterus, 13
Pompeii, 7
508
INDEX.
Pondicherry, 236
Pontianak, 335
Point Pedro, 260
Po Point, 337
Population of Sarawak Territory, 844
of Selangore, 330
of Singapore, 295
Porcupines, Bornean, 423, 427
Portax, pictus, 74-75
Potatoes, sweet, 315
Porpoise of the Jumna, 64
of the Orinoco, 64
Porpoise-shooting, difficulty of, 64
Praus, Dyak, 464
Prawns, 304
Precious stones of Ceylon > 287
imitations of, 287
Prejudice against taking life, 27
against Europeans, 37
Prescription which cured author's jungle
fever, 237
Proboscis monkey, habitat, 394
nose of the, 394
peculiar cry, 394
peculiar to Borneo, 398
price of, alive, 298
shyness, 394, 411
wild near Kuching, 347
very large troops of, 411
Protective color of sambur, 170
instinct in monkeys, 115
Provisions for Animallai trip, 120
for boat trip on Jumna, 37
Pterocarpus marsupium, 125
Pteromys petaurista, 114
Pteropus Edwardsii, 216, 266
Punkahs 87
Python, 87
QUADRUPEDS, directions for skinning,
492
Quee, Mr. Bng M 350, 354, 369, 384
Quicksilver, 482
Quinine, action of, as an emetic, 185
manufacture of, by Madras Gov't, 96
use of, in fever, 150
RAILWAY JOURNEY, from Alexandria to
Cairo, 9
Bombay to Allahabad, 30-32
Colombo to Kandy, 281-282
Bhamphobatis anoylostomus, 257-258
Rajah Brooke, see Brooke, Rajah Charles
Rajah Brooke, steamer, 336
Rajah Padang, death of the, 374
size of the, 375
Rajah's Arms Hotel, 340
Ramiaserama, 251
Rats, tree, 171
Ravine deer, 172
incidents in hunting, 73-75
Ravines, the Etawaiu 71-72
Rays, 255
spiny, 356, 310
Reiang River, 446
Relief camp at Animallai, 178
Religion, absence of, in Hill Dyakfl, 454
absence of, in Sea Dyaks, 472
& definition of, not accepted, 473
Remedy, Dyak, 473
Best Blouse, at Bentotte, 286
at Elephant Pass, 280
at Jaffna, 252
at Mullaitivu, 263
at Pallai, 282
Retrospect, 488-489
Benipes, 248
Rhinobatus djeddensis, 23, 28, 257
thouini, 255
Bhinoceros, price of a live, 298
Bhinolophus trifoliatus, 279
Bhynchops albicollis, 37
Bifle-pits, shooting gavials from, 46
Bilawa monkey, 268, 279
Boad, typical l{ metalled," 69
Bochester, 1ST. Y., return to, 488
start from, 1
Bogue elephants, 334
one killed by Mr. Sanderson, 234
one killed by Mr. Theobald, 134
Bomania Point, 386
Borne, art versus nature in. 6
Boss, Col. A. G., 19
Boss, Major J. C., 32, 33, 69
camp establishment of, 70-71
hunting with. 71-76, 77-80
Boss, Mrs. A. G., 19
Boss, Mrs. J. C., 70-71
" Round the World," 297
Royal Mail Coach, 260, 284-386
S
Sabah, 334, 455
Sabyan, 454,472
Sacred animals. 85
bull, 84
crocodiles, 51
monkeys, 83-84
peacocks, 62
Sadong Biver, 334, 349
bore in the, S72, 383
Sailing vessel, Tamil, 261
Sakarran Dyaks, 447, 449, 462, 464
amusements of the, 468
Salarius alticus, 247
Salvadora Indica, 125
Sambur, 97, 103, 110, 168-170, 216, 380
size and color of the, 169
Sambur hunting, 170, 216
on the Animallais, 168 ~
on the Neilgherries, 97, 103
ontheWynaad, 110
Sampan, the Malay, 359
Sanderson, Mr. G. P., 133
elephant-catching by, 221
largest tusk taken by, 225
INDEX.
609
Sanderson, Mt. G. P., on height of ele
phants, 324
on taming elephants. 222
rogue elephant shot by, 234
Sandpiper, 307
Santubong, entrance, 337
Peak, 337
Saras crane, 24
antics of, 59
cry of, 59
fighting qualities of, 60
Sarawak, town of, 339-341
" Sarawak," Hugh Low's book on, 463,
468
Sarawak Government, 345, 422, 464
Sarawak River, entrances of, 337
Malay houses on, 338
Bcenery of the, 337, 476-477
trip up the, 476-477
Sarawak Territory, 334
administration of justice in, 344-345
area of, 344
cession of, 344
commerce of, 336
flag, 337
former condition of, 341-343
forts, 346
military force, 346
present condition of, 344-345, 464
revenue, 345
Sarawak Valley, view of, 486
Sarkidiornis melanonotus, 34, 75
Sasin antelope, 76-80
Savage races, extermination of, 443
Scenery along the coast of Borneo, 336
of the Colombo & Kandy B. B., 281-282
of the Coonoor Pass, 95
of the Hoogly River, 88
of the Jumna Biver, 39, 71-72
of the Malacca Strait, 291
of the Sarawak Biver, 337, 476-477
of the Suez Canal, 15-16
Scenery, beautiful forest, 397, 412, 481,
483
between Allahabad and Calcutta, 86
between Bombay and Allahabad, 30-31
between Colombo and Galle, 284-286
from Serambo Mountain, 486
on the Animallais, 123
on the Neilgherries, 97
Sciurus, bicoJor, 328
ephippium, 328
macrourus, 268, 274
Malabaricus, 107, 216
Bafflesii, 328
tristriatus, 268
Screw pines, 360, 362, 363
Sea Dyaks, as warriors, 447, 459,
burial customs of, 473-474
color of the, 460
compared with other tribes, 458
daily life, 467
distinguishing characters of, 446
dress and ornaments, 460,. 462
games, 468
head-dress of, 463
Sea Dyaks, morality of, 470
physique, 459-460
politeness and good behavior, 460, 470
semi-religious notions of, 472
stealing unknown among the, 471-472
sub-tribes of, 459
territory occupied by, 459
war boats of, 463
weapons of, 462-463
women of the, 460-462
Sea Dyak villages, at Gunong Popook^
364,466
on the Sibuyau, 410, 412, 422, 424
on the Simujan, 355-357, 373
Sea Gypsies, 455
Sea View Hotel, 245, 296
Search party, 392, 436
Selangore, 301
area of, 330
elephant hunting in, 320-325
police force of, 303
political status of, 329-330
products of, 315, 330
Sultan of, 330
tin mines of, 329
Semnopithecus cucullatus, 117
abundance of, 142
cry of, 142
Semnopithecus f emoralis, 391, 395, 416
cucoprymnus, 107, 268
Sepia officinalis, 252
Serambo Mountain, 483
ascent of, 484
descent, 487
view from, 486
villages on, 450, 484r485
Serendib, colonial steamer, 251
Seribas Dyaks, bad reputation of, 462
dress and ornaments, 392, 462
subjugation of, 464
typical specimens of, 391-392
warlike habits of, 447, 449, 459
Serpents, cattle killed by, 494
destruction of, 494
persons killed by, 494
Servants^Chinese, 413
coolie, 263
Madrasee, 93, 183-184
native Christian, 22, 28
Singhalese, 251, 259
Shark-ray, 257-258
Shavoogan, 149
Shekoabad, 77
Shells, 283, 487
Shields, Kyan, 447, 463
Shipment of collections, from Calcutta, 87
from Colombo, 283
from Madras, 217
from Jaffna, 280
Shoes, hunting, 427
Shops, native in Sarawak, 341
Siamanga syndactyla, C99
Sibaru Dyaks, perverted taste of, 448
Sibuco Biver, 334
Sibuyau Dyaks, 447, 459, 464
high morali ty of, 470
610
INDEX.
Sibuyau Dyaks, musical instruments of,
468-469
Sibuyau River, 880, 410, 412, 414
Signs in sailors' quarter, 293
Simia satyrus, 370, 399
maximum size of, 405
specific characters of, 407
Simia Wurmbii, 369, 399
cheek callosities of, 400
maximum size of. 404
skin, 400-401
specific characters of, 407
Simujan River, 349, 359, 362
first journey up, 355-364
second journey, 373-376
third journey, 387-389
Simujan, village of, 349, 378
Singapore, approach to, 291-293
architecture, 294
arrangement of, 294
climate, 297-298
corals, 487
drunkenness in, 295
features of interest in, 298
hotels, 295
invertebrates, 298
island of, 297
market for live animals, 298
population, 295
position, 292, 297
sailors' quarter, 293
shells, 487
society, 295
Singhalese natives, 239
Sipang, Cape, 336
Skeletonizing crocodiles, 43
elephants, 164-165, 210-211
orang-utans, 366-367
seven orangs in one day, 370
Skinning a crocodile, directions for, 44
bison, 192-193
elephant, 203-205, 209
orang-utans, 366-367
quadrupeds, directions for, 492-493
seven orangs in one day, 370
Slave Lake, Colombo, 238
Slavery among the Malays, 343
Snakes, scarcity of, in the Jungles, 32$
423
Snares, Dyak, for small game, 421
Snipe, 307
Solar topee, 46
Source of the Sibuyau River, 414
Spears, Dyak, 463
Spearing fish in the Sadong, 385
Spiny-ray, 256, 310
Spoonbills, 75
Squall, caught in a, 441
Squirrel, 328
grizzly, 268, 274
Malabar, 107, 216
rtriped,268
Staat River, 481
romantic ride down the, 483
Stalking Urge game, 186
Stegostoma tigrinum, 256
Sterna caspia, 307
Sternula minuta, 307
Sting-ray, fisherman wounded by, 311
St. John, Mr. Oliver EL 450, 451, 452
476, 483
St. John, Mr. Spenser, 334, 434, 448, 45f
468
Stork, 60
Street-cars in Bombay, 22, 24
Studer, Major A. G., 296-297, 488
Studer, Miss, 296
Stuffed fishes, 91
Suez canal, 15-16
Sultan of Selangore, 330
of Sulu, 334
Sula p^iscator, 307
Sumpitan used by Jaooons, 320
Poonans and Pakatans, 447
Sunderbunds, 88
Sungam, camp at, 199
Sungei Bulu, 304
birds, 307
Chinese village on. 304
crocodiles in the, 304
Supreme Being, Dyak notions of; 444, 446L
472
Sus Indicus, 173
Suspension bridges of bamboo, 484
Swamps of Borneo, 352, 412, 438
Swimming power of the elephant, 234
Syers, Mr. H. C., 302, 310, 322-325, 328>
T
TAJ MTCHAL, 80
Talei sura, 256
Tamarind tree, 82
Tamil natives in Ceylon, 239
Tapang tree, buttresses of a, 428
Dyak mode of climbing a, 434
Tapir, price of a live, 298
Tarsier, the, 398, 420
Tarsius spectrum, 420
Tatties, 87
Tattooing among the Dyaks, 446, 468
Taxidermists, native, 91, 249
Teak forests, 125, 230
Teckadee ghaut, 183
Tectona grandis, 125
Tegora, 477
cinnabar mines at, 482
Telegraph, steamer, 301
Tellicul, camp at, 130, 131
huts at, destroyed by elephants, 160
Temperature, see Weather
u Ten Years in Sarawak," 446, 468
Terai, the, 154
Tern, 307
Theobald, Mr. A. G. R., 123
kindness of, to author, 123, 182
" Old Man," sent to, 488
permit to shoot elephants secure
127
Poonasy rogue elephant shot by, 124
INDEX.
511
Theobald, Mr. A. G. B., sickness of, 174,
182
trophies in bungalow of, 124
Thespesia populnea, 237
u Thirteen Years Among the Wild Beasts
of India," 133, 224, 226-337
Thorns, 396
Tiger, death of an immense, 158
difficulty in preserving skin of, 160
dimensions and weight of, 159
not found in. Ceylon, 252
prowling near camp, 205
tracking up a large, 157
Tiger hunting, from a machan, 154
on foot, 155
with elephants, 154
Tigers, cattle killed by, 494
cattle-killing, 152
destruction of, annually, 494
game killing, 152
loss of life by, 154,494
man-eating, 152
on the Animallais, 214
price of, alive, 298
reward for killing, 155
Tiger shark, 256
Tin mines at Kwala Lumpor, 329
Tippecadu. 106
Toda buffalo, 103
Todas, appearance of, 100
census of, 101
dress of. 100
habitations of the, 102
infanticide among the, 100
mund of the, 103
negative character of the, 98, 99
phenomenal laziness of, 101
polyandry among the, 101
supposed ancestry of, 102
Tomb of Eve, 17
Tomistoma Schlegellii, 55, 348, 478
Toonacadavoo, forest camp at, 123
Tortoise, 310
Trackers, skilfulnesa of, 109
Tracking elephants, 136, 198, 321
Traders, tricks of Chinese, 433
Tragulus kanchil, 328
napu, 328, 380
Tree cat, 70
Tree climbing perch, 397
snake, 381
tapang, 428, 434
Trees of Northwest Provinces, 81, 82
Tring Dyaks, cannibalistic habits of,
447
human sacrifices offered by, 448
semi-religious notions of, 448
Trinidad, astuteness of custom-house of
fers at, 244
Trionyx Gangeticus, 63
Tro^lodites gorilla, 399
niger, 399
Tropical hunger, 272, 388
Trygon sephen, 256
uarnak, 255
57
Tuba fishing, 384
" Tug-of-war " among the Dyaks, 468
Tulip trees, 237
Turney, Mr. C. H. A., 330
Tupaia, 478
Tupa, 454
Tushes of elephants, 219, 235
Turtles, 258
in the Jumna, 63
Tweedale, Marquis of, 477
ULCERS, 174, 194
Unchastity, penalties for, 470
Urogymnus asperrimus, 256, 310
Ursus labiatus, 146
VAMFIKES, 288
Vandevorst, Mr. J. W., 297, 488
Vateria Indica, 128
Vegetables of Sarawak, 341
Selangore, 315
Venereal diseases, 473
Venezuela, courtesy of, to naturalists, 244
Vera, Pera, 186, 205
Vesuvius, 7
Victoria regia, 300
View, (see Landscape, and Scenery) from
the Colombo clock tower, 238
from the Neilgherries, 104
from the Sea View Hotel, 245
from the top of Serambo, Mountain, 486
Villages, author's quarters in Dyak, 364,
410, 413
of the Hill Dyaks, 452, 485
oftheKenowits, 449
of the Kyans, 449
of Lanchang, 424
of the Milanaus, 444
of the Sea Dyaks, 355, 357, 410, 466
Viverra, 328
tangalunga, 429
Von Gaffron, Herr, 334
Voyage from Aden to Bombay, 20
Calcutta to Madras, 87-89
Colombo to Jaffna, 251-252
Madras to Colombo, 2S5-236
Point Pedro to Mullaitlvu, 261-262
Port Said to Aden, 15-19
Vulnerable points or crocodile, 40
of elephant, 135
Vulture, king, 34, 44, 45
white scavenger, 44, 60, 61
WAJDING after orang-utans, 861, S62, 366
Wah-wah, see Gibbon
Wainaad forest, 105
Wallace, Mr. A. B., 534, 404-405 t 468
512
INDEX.
Wallago leerii, 385
Walters, Mr. William, 351
Wanderoo monkey, of. Ceylon, 268, 274,
277, 280
War boats of the Sea Dyaks. 463-464
Ward, Professor Henry A., 2, IS, 32, 174,
192, 194, 197, 203, 241, 248, 272, 283
Ward's Natural Science Establishment,
2, 217
Warfare, Dyak modes of, 447, 449, 464
Weapons for a collector, 491
of a typical sportsman, 192
of the Hill Dyaks, 451
of the Sea Dyaks, 463
Weather in 3orneo, 417
in Calcutta, 87
in Ceylon, 267
in Madras, 90
in Singapore, 297
on. the Animallai Hills, 125, 139, 160,
186, 214
on the Jumna River, 50
on the ISTeilgherry plateau, 94
Wedderburn, Mr. A., 196, 197, 217, 221
Whampoa, Hon. H. A. ~~~ " rt ~
White, Dr., cure of fever by, 237
Wife-beating an amusement of civilian
tion, 468
Wild cattle, 310
Wolf, Indian, 76
Wolves, cattle killed by, 494
destroyed, 494
persons killed by, 494
Women, Sea Dyak, chastity of, 470
dress of, 461
form and features of, 460-461
ornaments of, 462
social position of, 470
Women, ugliness of native, 65
Wood-devils of the Dyaks, 454
YENGTSE, steamer, 290
ByW. T. HORNADAY
Fifth Printing
The
Minds and Manners
of Wild Animals
Illustrated
This, the most recent book by the prominent American naturalist,
is the result of fifteen years of observation in the wilds and twenty-five
years as the curator of the New York Zoological Park, the world's
greatest collection of wild animals in captivity. "The wild animal
must think or die," declares the author.
"His book is full of authentic and absorbing stories, stories of mother
hood, of defeated impulses, of astonishing adaptability, of wonderful
patience under difficulties, of crime and of self-sacrificestories of
which it may be said that, indeed, they almost seem to reveal to us the
main sources of all our art and literature/*
THOMAS L. MASSON in the New York Times.
"One of the most entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable books on
natural y history which has appeared in a long time."
New York Tribune.
"More interesting than most novels." New York Globe.
"Perhaps never before has a naturalist of such distinguished rank
compiled in a systematic and logical relation such a mass of informa
tion as this enthralling and rarely valuable book holds. "
Boston Transcript.
By W. T. HORNADAY
Tenth Printing
The American
Natural History
A Foundation of Useful Knowledge of the Higher
Animals of North America
In the large one-volume edition, profusely illustrated
Published also in the Fireside Edition, in four crown oc
tavo volumes, with 16 full-page illustrations in color, 67
full-page illustrations from original drawings and photo
graphs, and nearly 300 text illustrations, and with numer
ous charts and maps.
In the Fireside Edition (1914) Dr. Hornaday has em
bodied all the scientific facts that have been accumulated
by specialists since the book first appeared in 1904, and has
taken fully into account the recent changes in conditions
affecting the wild life of North America.
AUTHORITATIVE ENDORSEMENTS
"A great natural history. . . . An ideal animal book. . . . Com
mon sense is the author's marked characteristic. Nothing healthier
can be imagined for those who have been wading through the artistic,
sentimental slop that passes for Natural History." New York Sun.
"Mr. Hornaday is a practical man and he has written a practical
book. . . . The descriptions are clear and avoid overtechnicality,
while they are accompanied by readable accounts of animal traits and
incidents of wild life. It is refreshing to have a book that is thoroughly
dependable as regards fact and scientific in spirit, yet written with
liveliness and freshness of manner." The Outlook.
By W. T. HORNADAY
Tenth Printing
Two Years in the
Jungle
The Experiences of a Hunter-Naturalist in India,
Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula, and Borneo
With maps and illustrations. 8vo
"A book which will be thoroughly enjoyed from cover to cover/'
Boston Transcript.
11 It is an interesting narrative of travel, sport, and adventure over a
very wide area. There is indeed no dull writing in it and it is a record
of a really astonishing amount of very hard work, performed often un
der serious difficulties, with the most cheerful spirit in the world/ 1
New York Tribune.
Ninth Printing
Camp Fires in the
Canadian Rockies
Profusely illustrated from photographs by
JOHN M. PHILLIPS. 8w
"There were adventures with grizzlies, a great mountain sheep hunt,
wonderful trout fishing, and the grandest of scenery to fill the trip
with unalloyed delight and give zest to every page of the book. Mr.
Hornaday is in very close sympathy with nature, abounds in humor,
writes well, and, best of all, he abhors the ruthless destruction of ani
mal life// The New York Times.
By W. T. HORNADAY
Fourth Printing
Camp -Fires on
Desert and Lava
With many illustrations, eight of them in colors, from photographs taken
by DR. DANIEL TREMBLY MACDOUGAL, MR. JOHN M. PHILLIPS, and
the AUTHOR, and two new and original maps by MR. GODFREY SYKES,
Geographer of the Expedition. 8vo
No book on any desert region ever was more fascinating
than this beautiful volume. The wonders of the Sonoran
Desert and volcanic Pinacate are portrayed with great
literary skill and wealth of fine illustrations. It describes
the finest desert trip ever put into a book, and the humor
of it is delightful.
f "Whether it is read as a rattling story of adventure or for the scien
tific value of the exploring party's observation, it will richly repay the
reader." Pittsburgh Gazette.
"Alike to the botanist and the biologist, these researches will be
found of the very greatest value; but the book may be no less confidently
commended to the general reader. For it is a record of heroic enter
prises, of privations cheerfully undergone and of difficulties success
fully surmounted." London Academy.
Thirteenth Printing
Taxidermy and
Zoological Collecting
A Complete Handbook for the Amateur Taxidermist, Collector,
Osteologist, Museum Builder, Sportsman, and Traveller
With Chapters on Collecting and Preserving Insects
By W. J. HOLLAND, Ph.D., D.D.
With 24 full-page illustrations and 104 text illustrations
One volume. SVQ
