92 IN MALAY FORESTS. 



a rat. Round the tree dashed the Malay, keeping 

 an outspread finger on its trunk, and round after 

 him came the sladang. He could not gain on it, 

 and it could not catch him ; but, as he ran, its 

 jaws slobbered blood and saliva upon his back. 



While the animal followed him with outstretched 

 muzzle, its horns, of course, lay innocuous upon its 

 shoulders ; and the moment that it tried to get its 

 head down to throw its horns forward into action, 

 the circle in which the two ran was so small that 

 the man gained ground. The other man watched 

 this performance from behind another tree, and 

 after a while rashly shouted to his friend to make 

 a rush to another tree. The sladang heard the call, 

 stopped, saw the man, and charged him straightway, 

 goring him so that he died a few minutes later. 



To corroborate his story, the survivor produced 

 his coat, the back of which was drenched and 

 clotted with blood and saliva. 



Of the supreme courage of a sladang I once saw 

 a striking instance when a bull, so badly wounded 

 that it could only manage a shuffling hobble, pre- 

 ferred to charge me at this slow and painful pace 

 rather than to die with its back to a foe. 



When I was in charge of Ulu Pahang some years 

 ago, sladang were comparatively common in the down 

 river districts, but my official duties kept me so busy 

 in the mining area up river that it was only rarely 

 that I was able to visit that part of the country. 

 I had no regular tracker, and when I could get away 

 took with me as gun-carrier one of my boatmen, or 

 a local Malay. 



