332 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



The wild hogs plunge into the water to avoid the 

 dogs, and the natives then pursue them in boats and 

 kill them with spears. As soon as the hunters return 

 to camp, they cut up the hogs, and smoke the pieces 

 over a smouldering fire. The dogs now skulk about 

 to seize a piece if possible, and while the natives are 

 crouching round the fire transforming the lean pork 

 into tough bacon, you are frequently startled by a 

 sharp yelping as some one finds his portion disappear- 

 ing beneath the jaws of one of these hungry brutes, 

 and a liberal chastisement is at once administered to 

 the thief with the first stick or club at hand. 



Decemher 23r/. — Last night there was another 

 heavy shower. The water poured down in torrents 

 through our thatching of palm-leaves, for we had 

 already found that both the boat's sail and the old 

 tarj)aulin afforded little protection here where the 

 water appears to fall in broad sheets. Late in the 

 evening the controleur came back from fishing. We 

 could hear the Malays that were pulling his l3oat 

 singing in an unusually loud and merry style, and all 

 gathered on the.beach to see what wonderful monster 

 of the deep they had secured. It proved to be a fish 

 as large as a horse-mackerel, and weighing fully two 

 hundred pounds, which the controleur had succeed- 

 ed in taking with a small line by chancing to get it 

 alongside the boat and securing it by gafts. As our 

 stock of rice was getting low, we decided to return, 

 though I could scarcely feel satisfied, for I had hoped 

 to get a complete skeleton of the rare babii'usa ; how- 

 ever, the controleur more than made up the loss by 

 giving me half a dozen skulls of the equally I'are ante- 



