374 TWO YEARS IX THE JUNGLE. 



measure, accounted for the ill-health of the occupants. My onlj 

 wonder is that they did not die off altogether in a single year. In 

 this A-illage, be it remembered, we saw the Dyak at his worst, and 

 we gladly left it behind. 



Just before dark we passed the last Dyak viDage and kept on 

 paddling for some time longer, until high water, in fact, when we 

 tied up to the bushes for our evening meal, and, in spite of mos- 

 quitoes, slept soundly in the boats until morning. 

 I About ten o'clock the next day we killed another f^ood-sized 

 orang, and at noon occuri'ed the grand episode of our experience 

 in Borneo, the death of the "Rajah," the largest orang of all. 



We had just met a Malay sampan coming down the river, and, 

 in answer to our inqumes, the occupants said they had seen no 

 mias. Half a mile higher up we heard a deep guttui'al growl or 

 roar, coming from the jungle back from the river, we thought, 

 which put us on the alert. Presently Blou, who was steeling my 

 boat, whispered, "Mias! mias, tuan ! " and struggled frantically 

 to stop the boat The paddlers backed water directly, although 

 we saw nothing until the boat had backed several yards. Then we 

 espied the knee of a large orang, who was lying on a branch about 

 twenty feet above the water and only twenty yards from us. His 

 body was entirely hidden by the green foliage, so I stood up in the 

 boat and fired at his leg to rouse him. 



"The Turk awoke." He started up instantly, growling hoarsely 

 with pain and anger, and started to swing away. His reach was 

 surprising in its length. Fortunately the water was deep, there 

 were no screw pines to hinder our progress, and in a moment our 

 sampan was directly under the old fellow, who then cUmbed high 

 to escape us. It was a huge mias chappin, long-haired, big and 

 burly. He growled savagely at us, and one of my men kept saying 

 in large capitals, 



" Chappin ! chapped ! mias chappin ! fire. Sir ! fire ! fire ! — That's 

 mias chappin, big, big ! ! ! " 



The men were all efreatlv excited, but I knew that the old fel- 

 low was ours and waited for a good shot. In a moment the oppor- 

 tunity came, and I fired twice in quick succession at the orang's 

 breast. He stopped short, hung for a moment by his hands, then 

 his hold gave way and he came tearing down, snapping off a large 

 dead branch as he fell, and landed broadside in the water, which 

 went fl}*ing all over us. He fell within ten feet of our boat, and 

 we secured him without getting out 



