416 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 



drop your hat, gi'ip your gun finnly, draw yoiir head well down 

 between your shoulders, and, with one eye to the front, go tearing 

 through the undei'brush like a wild bull, down the hill at full speed 

 and at the imminent risk of breaking yoiu' neck. You dart nimbly 

 through every little opening, and choose a practicable route with 

 surprising quickness of eye, as a monkey does when running through 

 tree-tops. 



" After a hundred and fifty yards, good measure, you stop short, 

 cock your gun, and glare wildly upward to catch sight of yom- prey 

 as quickly as possible. In three seconds your greedy eyes have 

 scanned every tree-top within gun-shot, and at last you see some 

 branches shaking, a hundred yards away, on the opposite side of a 

 deep ravine ! No use ! he has beaten you in a fair race, and goes 

 on swinging gayly from tree to tree, leaving you to sit down pant- 

 ing hke a steam-tug, bathed in perspkation, wishing for a drink of 

 water, and puzzled to know whether you ought to laugh or get mad. 



" Then you proceed to comfort yourself by calHng to mind the 

 fact that the trees are very tall, and it is almost impossible 

 to see a gibbon on account of his gray body harmonizing so 

 well in color with the leaves on which the sun shines ; that his 

 hair is fine and close, and his body and limbs so lean that to 

 shoot at one is almost Hke shooting at a skeleton ; that they never 

 stop running until three or four legs are broken ; and finally, that 

 they fly a great deal faster than you ever had an idea they could 

 anyway. But, all the same, you pronounce it genuine sport and 

 acknowledge that you have met your match. And so you draw off 

 to the nearest stream, throw yourself upon the sand, drink about two 

 quarts of clear, cold water, and proceed to repair damages generally. 



" So far, I have had five just such experiences as the above with 

 wah-wahs, though the most notable occurred to-day. I had two 

 such chases, felt sure of kilhng at least one, had three snap shots, 

 and not a single gibbon did I get. They are valuable animals, a 

 skin being worth at least $20, to say nothing of the rarity of good 

 ones, and one specimen represents a good day's work — when taken ! 

 To hunt them is the most exciting work I have done for some time, 

 violent exercise to be sure, but good to improve one's wind. The 

 troop we stai-ted this morning had at least ten individuals in it, the 

 most of them full grown and large. 



" In the afternoon shot a goat sucker and four black monkeys 

 (Semnopithecus femoralis) ; saw nothing else except one small gib- 

 bon, which I chased, of course, — for practice ! 



