SEA TRAGEDY OF THE JUNGLE FOLK 129 



they described the location and told how it could be 

 reached. A general discussion followed. I gave 

 each man a chance to express his ideas. They all 

 wanted to talk preferably all at the same time 

 and the council dragged on for hours. With the 

 assistance of Omar, I kept the debate orderly, and 

 we listened to all sorts of opinions. 



For the most part, they felt that it would be 

 necessary to kill the animals. That, of course, was 

 the last thing in the world that I wanted. It would 

 mean that the expedition was wasted effort: there 

 are few live orang-outangs in zoological gardens, 

 but many stuffed ones in museums. I did not agree 

 with the idea that we should have to kill the animals 

 but I did not entirely disagree. We compromised 

 by reaching the decision that, if they must be killed, 

 I should do the work and no man should try to kill 

 them without my consent. The natives had seen 

 what one bullet from my rifle would do to a tree, 

 and they were convinced that an orang-outang 

 would stand a poor chance. 



The council broke up and work began. I had 

 Omar set some of his men to making strong nets 

 of twisted rattan. He drew plans for the two cages 

 and had other men gather the limbs of trees for 

 them. The cages were just large enough to hold 

 the animals and small enough to keep them from 

 getting any leverage on the bars. After the skele- 

 tons of the cages were built, they were bound tightly 

 w r ith rattan ropes so that, even if the bars were 



