^0 FURTHER DESCRIPTION OF AFRICA. 



nothino- could surpass the indolent ease with which he left us 



behind. 



This was my first interview with this peculiar animal ; and the 

 superstitious Dyak assured Thursday, relating numerous parallel 

 cases, that as I had not killed the orang, the orang would certainly 

 kill me. He said he had knovs^n a great many travelers who Irad 

 been attacked by them and killed, and that I would soon join their 

 number, although he confessed that he had never himself l)een 

 present at such a misfortune. 



One morning, as I was returning from a long walk through 

 the woods in search of insects, one of my boys came running toward 

 me, shouting with excitement, "Quick, take your gun! a large orang, 

 a large orang!" 



MUST KILL OR BE KILLED. 



He had only breath enough left to tell me the animal was up 

 the path toward the Chinaman's camp, and I hurried in that direc- 

 tion followed by two Dyaks. One barrel of my gun was loaded with 

 ball, and I sent Charley— the boy— back to camp for more ammuni- 

 tion, in case I should find the game had kindly waited for me. We 

 walked carefully, making almost no noise, stopping every now and 

 then to look round ourselves, until Charley rejoined us at the spot 

 where he had seen the orang, and I put a ball in the other barrel 

 and waited, sure that we were near the game. In a moment or two 

 I heard a heavy body moving from tree to tree, but the foliage was 

 so thick we could see nothing. 



Finally, fearing I might lose him entirely, I fired at random into 

 a tree in which we thought he must be. For so large an animal he 

 moved with remarkable swiftness and silence, but I felt sure, if we 

 could follow his general course, we should eventually catch sight of 

 him in some more open bit of forest. And so it proved. 



Just at the spot where he had first been seen by Charley, and 

 to which we had now got back, his tawny side and black head 

 appeared for an instant; I saw him cross the path, dragging one leg 

 as if it had been broken. At any rate, he could not use it, and he 

 took refuge between two branches of a lofty tulip-tree, sheltered 



