OTHER EXPEDITIONS 279 



sake of sport does not appeal to me, but the slaughter 

 of all these beautiful creatures was not undertaken in 

 purely a wanton spirit ; we were shooting for the pot, 

 and it may be mentioned for the benefit of epicures 

 that a Curlew stewed in claret with an onion in his 

 inside to draw out his fishy flavour is a dish fit for 

 kings, and we were in search of one of the rarest of 

 birds Macrorhamphus taczanowskii, the Snipe-Billed 

 Godwit ; a bird like a Godwit, but with the tip of the 

 bill soft and flexible like a Snipe. This bird nests in 

 Eastern Siberia, but winters in China, India, and 

 Borneo ; very few specimens have ever been obtained, 

 and the only example in the Sarawak Museum had 

 been shot at the mouth of the Sarawak River amongst 

 a whole host of other waders, and our slaughter of 

 the innocents at Trusan was largely undertaken in the 

 hope of securing another specimen of this rare visitor 

 to Bornean shores. But our luck was out, and we 

 had to be content with materials for a stew. On our 

 way back the sun sank and it became intensely dark ; 

 the thunderstorm broke on us in all its force, with 

 crashing thunder, brilliant lightning, which for one 

 brief moment lit up the whole country-side, and absolute 

 torrents of rain. We were drenched to the skin in 

 no time, and it was almost impossible to see where 

 we were going ; but our crew rose to the occasion and 

 seemed thoroughly to enjoy the situation : they shouted 

 and yelled and fairly roared with laughter whenever 

 an unsuspected turn in the river took us crashing 

 into the bank. My experience of boat-journeys in 

 Borneo under varied conditions has taught me that 

 Malays and Sea-Dayaks wax most animated and cheerful 

 whenever discomfort or perhaps danger has to be 

 faced and overcome. 



