JUNGLE HUNTER 259 



my desire to make fast headway, and promised 

 good presents to the men if they worked diligently ; 

 so there was little conversation during the paddling 

 hours, which were from daylight to sunset, except 

 on the more or less frequent occasions when we had 

 to stop and clear the stream of fallen trees, or cut 

 a way through the entangling roots of a great stump 

 that barred our passage. At such times I was 

 much taken with the skill of the Malays in handling 

 the parang and with the speed and accuracy and 

 force of their strokes. 



Thus one afternoon late we were paddling up 

 stream, with me in the bow, rifle in hand, as usual, 

 when, as we rounded a bend in the river, I sighted 

 a tapir about fifty yards ahead. It was just disap- 

 pearing into the palms at the river bank as I took 

 a snap shot at its hind quarter— all that was to be 

 seen when I got my rifle to shoulder. On the re- 

 port, the canoe stopped so suddenly that I, sitting 

 loosely, went over backwards on top of one of the 

 natives, who shunted against another, and a sudden 

 panic resulted which came very near upsetting the 

 craft. Eighting myself, I was a bit surprised to 

 notice that my men, including the intrepid Uda, 

 were obviously in a greatly perturbed state of 

 mind. And I was at a loss to know why, until I 

 urged Uda to send the canoe on so I could land 

 and track the tapir. It appears that, having seen 



