AN EXPEDITION TO PENRISEN 267 



and it would be tedious to describe each in detail : we 

 were generally up shortly after sunrise, and wandered 

 about near the camp till 7, then every one went off 

 on the day's hunt and did not return till after midday ; 

 the afternoon was busily employed in skinning and 

 preserving our captures, while as soon as dusk set 

 in we were occupied with catching moths and other 

 insects attracted by our lights. When we were dis- 

 cussing the plans of our expedition in Kuching, we 

 had visions of an abundance of game on Mt. 

 Penrisen, and one of the most cherished articles of 

 our baggage was a large cooking-pot which we fondly 

 intended to keep ever full with a savoury stew. But 

 game on the mountain was conspicuous by its absence, 

 there were neither deer nor pig, nor Fire-Back Pheasants, 

 not even Button-Quail, 1 and we were driven to feed 

 on the pickled beef which we had brought with us, 

 and on the fowls which we bought from tfee Dayaks. 

 The trees round Mt. Prang swarmed with Barbets, 

 but they were poor eating, and Hornbills with their 

 dark red flesh were not very appetizing. 



Our supply of fowls having given out, and being 

 tired of the endless diet of rice and bully-beef, I decided 

 one day to eat a monkey, Semnopithecus rubicundus, 

 that one of the hunters had shot, and having over- 

 come a slight feeling of repugnance at eating an 

 animal not so very distantly removed from the genus 



1 Deer and pig do not ascend the mountains of Borneo above 

 2,000 feet, except perhaps on very rare occasions when in search 

 of food. Fire-Back Pheasants are found in the bamboo area, and 

 on the spurs of the mountains, but not above 1,000 feet. The 

 Argus and Bulwer's Pheasant (Lobiophasis) are found up to 

 2,000 feet. Button-Quail do not inhabit the old jungle ; they are 

 common on any cleared spot in the low country. C. H, 



