p 



BORNEO 189 



but the hunter, who was with us, continually 

 lost the track. It did not occur to me that the 

 man was afraid, and I merely thought that he 

 was incompetent. We accordingly gave up the 

 pursuit, and went back to meet the other 

 sportsmen, with the object of obtaining the 

 services of a better tracker. We had not gone 

 far when we met the hunt arriving. The Bajao 

 beaters, thirty or forty in number, with their 

 large palm-leaf hats and bare legs, were all 

 mounted on country-bred ponies, and presented 



t weird and amusing spectacle. A native Mu- 

 ammadan gentleman from Dutch Borneo, who 

 ad settled in the Company's territory, was 

 ne of the party. He had made the pilgrimage 

 to Mecca, and was an intelligent, courteous 

 gentleman, and was said to render considerable 

 ■issistance to the administration. He did not 

 ^^Hook like a sportsman, but he had a gun and was 

 I very keen, and showed himself in the course of 

 the day to be quite a good shot. 



Mr. Bunbury supplied us with another hunter, 

 who had some mongrel dogs, and we returned 

 to the place where the wounded bull had entered 

 the forest. There was a herd of timbadau in 

 the forest, and as soon as the dogs were let loose 

 they dashed into the cover in full cry, and the 

 timbadau began bolting out into the open at the 

 end of the jungle, which was not far distant. 

 Mr. Bunbury and Mr. Fraser ran to cut them 

 off, and some free shooting began. My son also, 

 after a few minutes, followed the others. I was 

 much disgusted, as there appeared to be little or 

 no hope of my recovering the wounded bull, 



