132 THROUGH CENTRAL BORNKO 



at dusk. Every evening aftenvard about eight o'clock it 

 was a regular visitor, taking food out of my hand and then 

 continuing its trip to the kitchen, which was less than 

 a hundred metres farther up the river hank. Finally 

 it became a nuisance, turning over saucepans to look for 

 f(X)d and othenvise annoying us, so I bought it for one 

 ringit in order to have it skinned. The difficulty was to 

 catch it, because its quills are long and sharp; but next 

 evening the Murungs brought it to me enmeshed in a 

 strong net, and how to kill it was the next question. 



The Dayaks at once proposed to shoot it with the 

 sumpitan — a very good scheme, though I fancied that 

 darkness might interfere. However, in the light of my 

 hurricane lamp one man squatted on the ground and 

 held the animal, placing it in a half upright position 

 before him. The executioner stepped back about six 

 metres, a distance that I thought unnecessary, consider- 

 ing that if the poisoned dart hit the hand of the man it 

 would be a most serious affair. He put the blow-pipe to 

 his mouth and after a few moments the deadly dart en- 

 tered the porcupine at one side of the neck. The animal, 

 which almost at once began to quiver, was freed from the 

 entangling net, then suddenly started to run round in a 

 small circle, fell on his back, and was dead in less than a 

 minute after being hit. 



It was a wonderful exhibition of the efficiency of the 

 sumpitan and of the accuracy of aim of the man who used 

 the long heavy tube. The pipe, two metres long, is held 

 by the native with his hands close to the mouth, quite 

 contrary to the method we should naturally adopt. 



