198 IN THE EYE OF DAY 



wounded, turns hunter, and, concealed, awaits the 

 sportsman, who must approach with infinite cau- 

 tion, with senses always alert and hand ever ready, 

 if he would stop or turn aside the vicious charge. 

 You may never in this jungle survey the field of 

 operations from some vantage point; but in the 

 close growing tangle of vines, and canes, and thorn 

 bushes, and heavy coarse weed or grass-like mass 

 —through which you can never get even dim sight 

 for over twenty yards and most of the time can 

 scarcely see that many feet ahead— you must fol- 

 low the tracks of the seladang you have wounded, 

 never knowing at what instant the maddened beast 

 may burst from the jungle practically right on top 

 of you. One seladang I was fortunate enough 

 finally to get, was only just the other side of a 

 bamboo clump when he started his charge full at 

 me. This is the dangerous and the unavoidable 

 feature of hunting the beast in Malay. Luckily 

 for the hunter, the seladang, if unsuccessful in its 

 charge, passes on to await him at another point. 

 Never have I heard of one turning instantly to 

 a second charge after missing the hunter on the 

 first rush. But, on the other hand, if the seladang 

 charges home, it remains to gore its victim. 



So it is, because of the temper of the seladang 

 and of the kind of the country he roams, that in 

 Malay the heavy rifle is the only safe one. Sela- 



