STILL IN BORNEO. 131 



"Touched," said he. 



'• Do you think so ?" 



•• Yes, Hsten." 



AVe could hear the irregular and painful breathing of 

 the beast growing fainter, and in the morning found a 

 few yards from the tower a magnificent specimen of the 

 jaguar with my friend's bullet just back of his shoulder, 

 where death must have followed promptly. On the way 

 back from this very trip we managed to capture a fine, 

 well-grown entellus, that closely resembled the sacred 

 monkey so common in India, especially in Bengal. For 

 this animal the Indians have so deep a veneration that 

 they allow him to enter their gardens and help himself 

 to all the fruit he wants without the least remonstrance. 

 As the animals always travel in companies, this privilege 

 results in absolute starvation to the farmer who is visited. 

 You may go to bed w4th a superb garden filled with 

 bananas, guavas, and all the delicate tropical fruits, ripe 

 and luscious: the next morning you wake up to find — 

 nothing. At dawn a band of sacred apes has fallen 

 like a blight on your garden ; and there the thieves are, 

 eating the plunder under your very nose. The servants 

 refuse to toucli the intruders, and if you try to shoot 

 them yourself leave your service, and your house is 

 soon tabooed, for they have the countenance and sup- 

 port of all the superstitious natives from Cape Com- 

 orin to the Himalayas and from the Persian Gulf to 

 Calcutta. 



