THE MAU FOKEST 



199 



from our tracker that the sounds emanated from Sotik 

 Wandorobo — a tribe of forest-dwellers, one of the 

 lowest of human types. We had previously observed 

 trees entirely stripped of bark, which, we were told, 

 these poor creatures had eaten ; and also found their 

 huts in the forest — small, conical structures of green 

 branches stuck into the ground, bent over, and inter- 

 laced with smaller branches, hardly bigger than dog- 

 kennels. Each hut had a slightly raised platform at 



ANOTHER HORNBILL {Lophoceros). 



the further end inside ; so that these wild men of the 

 woods evidently disapprove of sleeping on the bare 

 earth. 



" Although these savages were aware of our presence 

 and followed us throughout our nightly wanderings (as 

 we discovered by their tracks covering ours on the dewy 

 grass at dawn), yet they in no way molested us, nor did 

 we ever see them. 



" It was into these solitudes that we penetrated, each 

 with a few followers and a light tent apiece, that was 

 pitched amidst foliage so rank as to be invisible at 

 twenty yards from any point of view — never could I 

 have found my way back to mine but for our savage 

 guides. 



