236 COLLECTOR'S RAMBLES 



the other side of a creek. I started in pursuit, in great 

 haste, and had no difficulty in tracking him by the 

 blood spattered on the leaves. He gave me a long 

 chase, but I finally came across him in a gully, and 

 brought him down with a charge of big shot. I had 

 to skin him on the spot, and the skin alone was a 

 heavy load. He was nearly or quite as large as a man, 

 and his body would probably have weighed one hundred 

 pounds. They are said to be good eating, but we found 

 him very tough, and not so good as the pigeons. 



We came upon a burial-cave on one of our excur- 

 sions into the woods, and it was a weird place, enough 

 to startle even the bravest. 



This cave was a natural one in the side of a hill, and 

 had been used by the people as a burial-place for many 

 years, judging by the accumulation of skeletons in and 

 about it. There were hundreds of them, and skulls 

 with their empty sockets stared at us from every side. 

 Many of the bodies were in sacks or nets, and some 

 were quite fresh, and could not have been placed there 

 many days before our arrival. One skeleton, the dried 

 flesh still clinging to the bones, sat at the mouth of the 

 cave keeping guard over the ghastly place ; while a 

 dead baby in a net hung by a branch of a tree near by. 

 I left, feeling sick and heavy of heart. 



We started for Narinuma that very afternoon ; and 

 were glad to get back among our friends, and into our 

 house, which almost seemed like a home to us. 



