350 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 



At the front of the house the steps lead up into a spacious audi- 

 ence-room, from the door of which there is a fine view of several 

 miles directly down the Sadong, here a mighty river half a mile 

 wide. The house is used as a police station by a detachment of 

 half a dozen men, whose duties consist mainly in striking the houi'S 

 on a deep-toned gong which hangs in the verandah. Ah me ! that 

 gong ! As I recall its deep mellow " boom," which was always 

 music to my ears, there rise before me pictures of half-naked 

 Dyaks, red-haired orang-utans, dark-green jungle, wet trousers, 

 canned salmon, green peas, and Bass' pale ale. 



The grounds in front of the house are tastefully laid out, and 

 quite filled with flowering shi'ubs and curious plants from the sur- 

 rounding jungle, all of which seem to thrive without care. 



The \irgin jungle comes up to within a hundred yards of the 

 house at the back, and the Malay kampong nestles at its edge. 

 Near the house stands the government rice store, where the Dyak 

 revenue (of one doUar's worth of rice per family) is received and 

 stored. The whole establishment was then in charge of Mi'. Eng 

 Quee, the government writer, a Chinese half-caste, to whom I 

 brought, from IVIr. Crocker, a letter which proved an open sesame 

 to aU the privileges the place aflforded. No one could be more 

 obliging than I found Mr. Eng Quee, and he was of infinite service 

 to me. 



An hour after we landed, the Malay headman of the village 

 came to pay his respects ; and a little later a party of Dyaks came 

 to be questioned regarding the possibilities of finding orang-utans. 

 In his own country this animal is universally called the " mias," al- 

 though he is occasionally refeiTed to by the Malays as an " orang- 

 utan," which means, literally, jungle-man, from "orang" man, and 

 "utan" jungle. 



The English name of the mias is a corruption of the Malay, 

 commonly written as "orang-outang." 



None of the Dyaks or Malays could give any definite informa- 

 tion as to the abundance of these animals in the Sadong valley, their 

 present whereabouts, or the best ways and means of finding them. 



They assured me there were "mias somewhere in the jungle," 

 but they could not tell me where to seek them. They thought I 

 might kill at least one every week, which was quite encouraging, 

 and I thought I would be satisfied with as good luck as that would 

 be. I gave powder and lead to such of the Dyaks and Malays as 

 were wilUng to hunt orangs for me, and started them out. 



