84 AFTER A RHINOCEROS BY MOONLIGHT. 



beast was in the garden, so out we sallied ; it was as 

 clear as day when we started, but we had to walk some 

 distance and before we got to our destination a dark cloud 

 came up and all was as black as Erebus ; on entering the 

 garden we heard something moving ahead of us, but it was 

 so dark we could see nothing. We waited for it to clear, 

 but as there was no sign of it doing so, we got into the 

 carriage and drove away. We had not gone far when the 

 moon burst forth again in all her glory, and we afterwards 

 heard that the rhinoceros was seen standing in the road in 

 full moonlight. My last hope now was on the Preanger 

 Mountains, and in the swampy plain of Bandoeng. My leave 

 was rapidly coming to an end so I hastened on my way. 



The plain of Bandoeng is an elevated plateau some 

 thirty miles in length, and varying between six and ten 

 miles in breadth. It consists of a swampy black soil, the 

 finest in Java they say, and covered with high reeds, called 

 glagga, which are from thirteen to fifteen feet high, with 

 here and there open plains of low allony-allony (a broad- 

 bladed grass) up to a man's waist, with pools of stagnant 

 water, some of these covering dangerous bogs. The plain 

 abounds with deer, rhinoceros, tigers and hog. A hunting 

 party a month ago, in one of their grand beats killed one 

 hundred and twenty deer and a rhinoceros, but the poor 

 brutes were hemmed in on every side and slaughtered like 

 sheep, in a fold. On these occasions they collect a great 

 number of beaters and surround a portion of the plain, 

 gradually decreasing the circle ; the sportsmen are mounted 

 on the bare backs of ponies, as no saddles would stand the 

 rush and scramble through these tough high reeds. The 

 only weapon they use is a short heavy kind of sword, with 



