A HUNT For. BABIRUSA. 325 



Decevihe)' 20th. — A bright, clear day, and just 

 suitable for starting on our hunt. We have a ship's 

 long-boat and a small prau, both containing about 

 twenty natives, and a large pack of dogs to start up 

 the game. The controleur is the captain of our boat, 

 and an old, gray Malay, Avho has been a seaman and 

 a whaler for most of his days, is the coxswain of 

 the other, and pilot for both. For ballast we have 

 a full load of rice, oui* two boats carrying only half 

 the whole party, the other portion — twenty-five na- 

 tives and half as many dogs — went yesterday, 

 under the charge of the second native chief of the 

 village, who rejoices in the euphonious title of 

 Hiikoin hadua, but the Dutch call him the " Sec- 

 ond Head." From Kema up to the strait, between 

 Limbi and Celebes, we had a light air oif the shore. 

 A thin cloud, like a veil of gauze, gathered on the 

 heads of the tmn-peaks known as " The Sisters," 

 and fell down in rich graceful folds over their green 

 shoulders. From the crests of all these peaks, down 

 to the high-water line on the shore, is one dense, un- 

 broken forest. There dwells the sapi utung or 

 " ^vild ox," probal:>ly not indigenous, but descended 

 from the tame sapi introduced from Java and Ma- 

 dura. The natives describe them as being exceed- 

 ingly fierce, both the cows and the bulls. Here that 

 peculiar antelope, the Anoa depressicornis^ H. Smith, 

 abounds. In tliese same dense, undisturbed forests 

 the l)al)irusa {Bahirnsa alfiwus^ Less.) is found in 

 large numbers ; and a species of Sus^ much like the 

 lean hog that lives in the forests of our Southern 

 States, is very abundant. As soon as ^ve entered 



