South Fonnusa and its Birds. 319 



and went up the valley, hoping to come across some birds. 

 We had not gone very far when I caught sight of some heads 

 peering at us over some boulders in the stream, and on my 

 pointing these out to Ignacio, he said '' Hwan-lang " (savages), 

 and immediately gave an unearthly yell, which was answered 

 at once by the savages. Then followed a shouted conver- 

 sation, and my guide, turning to me, declared these people 

 to be friendly and known to him, and that they were out 

 fishing ; so we made our way towards them through tangled 

 jungle, in which wild pigs had lately been feeding, and soon 

 emerged in an open space in the valley at a stone's-throw 

 from two men armed with spears. As we signalled to them 

 to approach four more appeared. They all joined us at 

 once, and while they were talking with Ignacio, eagerly in- 

 spected the contents of the bag he carried. Three of the 

 party were armed with long bamboo spears with iron heads ; 

 one of these was arrow-shaped, and had, besides, a hook 

 below the barb, a most murderous-looking weapon ; the 

 other two spears had three feathers dangling below the oblong 

 head. The fourth man was armed with the ordinary percus- 

 sion-gun in use among the Pepohwaus. These have a foreign- 

 shaped stock ; the barrel is long and tapering, bound to the 

 stock with strips of brass, the stock extending to the muzzle. 

 At my request the man drew the charge for me to look at. 

 The projectiles were three roughly rounded bullets of about 

 the size of an S.S.G. shot. They were destined for a pig or 

 deer, or may be a Chinaman, as the opportunity might occur. 

 All the men carry, besides their gun or spear, a large, broad- 

 bladed cutlass with wooden handle ; this knife is secured by 

 metal bands to a thin board, which thus serves as a scabbard. 

 The Pepohwans have also these weapons, using them for various 

 domestic purposes. Two young boys made up the party. 

 The men were short, but good-looking, with large eyes and 

 delicate features. They behaved very civilly, but were eager 

 to get any cartridges from me, rejecting with scorn the 

 empty cases I offered them. After more talk, they left, 

 saying that they were going home to dinner. As I was 

 leaving the place I put up a '^Crow-Pheasant" [Centropus 



