JAUNTS IN THE JUNGLE. 15 



Without any other habitation than the thickset 

 branches of the nearest tree, the Veddah lives princi- 

 pally on wild honey and raw deer-flesh. In fact, 

 nothing comes amiss to its digestion : and whether it 

 really is a human being, or not, is with many an open 

 question to the present time; although the fact of its 

 constructing bows and arrows for the purpose of 

 slaughter, would argue in favour of the former sup- 

 position. 



The bow they make use of never exceeds eighteen 

 inches in length, whilst the arrow scarcely exceeds a 

 foot, and with this dimunitive weapon, which is gene- 

 rally poisoned they pick off a deer at full gallop, 

 sending in the shaft behind the shoulder, and piercing 

 the heart; but more generally, ensconced in their 

 roosting-places, they await the arrival of the unsus- 

 pecting victim, to sleep or feed just beneath them, 

 and then quietly sending- a shaft into a vital part, 

 are stocked with venison for a week. 



Clothes of any description they abjure, in place of 

 which both men and women are entirely covered with 

 pile, whilst the profuse locks of both sexes, reaching 

 below the knees, form a complete shelter to them 

 from rain or sun. 



On what terms of intimacy and friendship they 

 stand with the next degenerated specimen in the 

 family of Creation the ourang-outang it was never 

 my good fortune to discover ; but often have I in 

 some of my jaunts in the jungle, in search of a dinner 



