308 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 



saurus salvator), wading about on the mud banks, also looking for 

 food. At my solicitation my young man Francis at once jumped 

 out into the mud and gave chase. He sank almost to his knees at 

 everj' step, and the race was certainly the slowest on record. The 

 official time was one hundred yards in twenty minutes ; but the 

 kabra goya got beaten, although usually a swift runner ; the soft 

 mud so impeded its progress that it was finally overhauled and 

 killed with a stick. Its length was just six feet. We often found 

 small crocodiles lying hidden in the little gullies which the reced- 

 ing water cuts in the mud banks, and shot several as they came 

 charging out toward the deep water. 



The most interesting animals we found on the mud flats were some 

 fishes whose actions were really remarkable. Although apparently 

 stranded there, they seemed to feel perfectly at home, and went 

 jumping round over the mud in every direction with the gTeatest 

 indifierence to their sudden change of element. In reality they 

 were feeding upon the tiny crustaceans left on the bank by the re- 

 ceding tide. They were very lively considering the nature of their 

 play-ground, and when I tried to beguile my Malay boatmen into 

 catching some specimens for me, they declared it would be impos- 

 sible to catch them on account of the deep mud, and the swiftness 

 of the fish. Neither was my young man Francis to be tempted 

 into such a muddy enterprise, and as I make it a rule never to ask 

 a servant or assistant to do anything I would not be wilHng to do 

 myself, I saw that I would have to lead the attack in person. 



The Malays were thunderstruck when I pulled off my shoes and 

 told them to put me ashore. Seeing that I was really going, 

 Francis, like a good boy, did not hesitate to follow, and we stepped 

 out of the sampan into mud and water hip deep. 



We will never know the actual depth of the mud on that bank, 

 but we sank into it to our knees at every step, and were fortunate 

 enough to stop sinking at that point. What a circus it must have 

 been for those who looked on ! But, in for a penny in for a pound, 

 and, bidding Francis choose the largest fish when possible, we went 

 for them. There were probably a dozen in sight, hopping spas 

 modically about, or lying at rest on the mud, but when we selected 

 the nearest large specimens and made for them, they developed sur- 

 prising energy and speed, and made straight for their burrowa 

 They progressed by a series of short but rapidly repeated jumps, 

 accomplished by bending the hinder third of the body sharply 

 around to the left, then straightening it very suddenly, and at th« 



