CHAPTER X. 



A ROYAL TIG-HUNT. 



A royal boar hunt — The Sultan of the Solus — Sultana and ladies of the 

 court — Sulu costume and arms — Fine breed of ponies — Rough ground 

 — Pig sticking — Food for the dogs — A pleasing sight — Invitation to 

 the Istana — Datu Mahomed — The Sulu " Prince of Wales" — Curious 

 saddles — Pony racing — Meirnbong stream — Pleasant evening light — 

 Birds — Large bats — Abundance of butterflies — Fine fish — Good 

 angling — The " Hill of Tears "— Sugh, the old capital — Market at 

 Meirnbong — Tobacco — Native produce — Chain armour — Chinese 

 settlers. 



Soon after dinner one of the Sultan's "ministers" came 

 on board to tell us that a grand, pig-hunt was to be held 

 on the morrow, at which the Sultan and suite were to be 

 present, and as royal boar-hunts are not every-day affairs, 

 we all made up our minds to get ponies and go to see the 

 sport. These pig-hunting forays are as popular in Sulu as 

 a royal stag-hunt at home, only that the Sums have per- 

 haps a better reason to hunt their wild pigs, since they do 

 a deal of damage to the growing crops. About 9 o'clock 

 in the morning we went down to the headman's house 

 at Meirnbong and got our ponies saddled, and after a ride 

 of about half-an-hour through long grass and bushes we 

 came upon the beaters and dogs in a strip of low jungle 

 at the foot of a little hill. The men were yelling and 

 shouting so as to frighten the pigs from their covert out 

 into the grassy plain, where horsemen, each armed with 

 a long slender-shafted hunting-spear, were waiting in 



