394 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 



after silently paddling up to within fifteen j'ards of him, I stood 

 in the boat to observe and afterward to make a rough sketch of him 

 on the inside of an envelope. 



While we were watching him, he snored almost continously, 

 " not loud, but deep," until presently the flies bothered him and 

 he awoke. With a slow, awkward sweep of his ponderous right arm 

 he drove the flies from his face, and a moment later was wide 

 awake. He was just rising to a sitting posture when my rifle-ball 

 caught him between his shoulders. He sprang up quickly, gave a 

 deep growl, flung himself forward into the tangled mass of green 

 vines and bx-anches which surrounded the nest on three sides, and 

 was instantly lost to view. He went crashing forward for a few 

 yards and then stopped ; there was a moment's silence, then a heavy 

 fall and a dull splash. Lamudin and Blou went into the water and 

 worked their way in to where the old fellow lay, and presently 

 towed him out. 



We went on down to the head of the lake, which, like the west- 

 ern side, is completely filled with screw pines growing in the water. 

 A small creek called Batang Rejang empties into the lake at this 

 point. We entered it and paddled up until it became so obstructed 

 with overhanging branches that further progi-ess was impossible. 



On the way back we encountered a large troop of proboscis 

 monkeys, and, by a sudden assault, I succeeded in killing two fine 

 old male specimens. As usual, they were over water, and, being 

 swift climbers and quite shy, were hard to kill. I saw, altogether, 

 during my ramblings in the forests of Borneo, perhaps a hundred 

 and fifty proboscis monkeys ; and, without a single exception, all 

 were over water, either river, lake or submerged forest. As long as 

 they are in sight they are very conspicuous objects, choosing the 

 most commanding positions in open tree-tops. Once I saw thirteen 

 in one tree, sitting lazily on the branches, as is their habit, sunning 

 themselves and enjoying the scenery. It was the finest sight I ever 

 saw in which monkeys played a part 



The cry of the "blanda," as the natives call it, is peculiar and 

 unmistakable. Written phonetically it would be " honk," and occa- 

 sionally "kee-honk," long drawn and deeply resonant, quite like 

 the tone of a bass viol. 



As the name would impl}', the most striking feature of the pro- 

 boscis monkey is its nose. In old male specimens this organ reaches 

 its grandest proportions, and is truly enormous in length, breadth 

 and thickness. It hangs from the face like — well, totally unlike any. 



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