THE LORIS. 31 



clinging to his hair, to the great disgust of the two 

 Mulchers, who declared that it was the most un- 

 fortunate animal that could be met with in the 

 jungle, as it always portended death or misfortune 

 at hand. Chineah and the gang laughed heartily 

 at their superstition, but as subsequent events 

 turned out, they often recalled to mind the 

 Mulchers' saying, and a loris was ever afterwards 

 an object of extreme dread to them. We now 

 pushed forward rapidly, and soon came to our pro- 

 posed rendezvous, the village of GujelhuUi, where 

 I bought half-a-dozen sheep, a basket of fowls, and 

 a bullock load of rice for food, at the same time 

 engaging a party of Mulchers who knew the 

 country to accompany us. We then held a con- 

 sultation as to what was best to be done, and it 

 was arranged that we should immediately continue 

 our journey to Mayanduroa, a little Mulcher vil- 

 lage said to be four coss distant,* which was to be 

 made our temporary head-quarters, as the most 

 likely ground was in that neighbourhood. 



Accordingly, as soon as we had partaken of some 



* A coss is two English miles. 



