A SHOOTING EXCURSION. 191 



had one of his wives cut to pieces, for some very 

 triflinof offence. 



On taking my leave of the Resident, I fixed the 

 day for our shooting excursion. We were to go to 

 a place called Pritie, on the northern shore of Babao 

 Bay, and distant some fifteen miles from the ship, 

 which rendered it necessary therefore to make an 

 early start. 



Daylight on Monday morning accordingly found 

 us on the northern shore of the bay, but we soon 

 ascertained that our guide knew very little about 

 the matter ; and what was still worse, there was 

 no orettinof near the shore, a bank of soft mud front- 

 ing it for some distance, at this time of tide, and 

 particularly in the vague direction our guide gave 

 us of Pritie. The day was fast advancing ; so we 

 made our way back to a cliffy projection we had 

 passed before light, where, after some difficulty, we 

 got on shore. Whilst the breakfast was cooking, I 

 made a sketch of the bay, and took a round of 

 angles, all the charts and plans I had seen being 

 very erroneous. 



Our guide appeared to take our not going to 

 Pritie greatly to heart ; but we made the best of our 

 way to some clear spots on the side of the high land 

 seen from the boat. We met a few natives, who all 

 agreed there were plenty of deer close by, which we 

 believed, for we saw numbers of very recent tracks. 

 But the jungle was inpenetrable ; so, after rambling 

 for an hour or two, at the expense of nearly tearing 



