A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 427 



Dyak long-house, to be a fac-simile of the real thing. I am to 

 pay him a dollar for it when it is completed. His only objection 

 to making it was a lack of confidence in his ability to make 

 something entirely new and heretofore unseen. But he caught 

 the idea very quickly and went to work at once. Another Dyak 

 has imdertaken to make for me a model of a prau (large boat), to 

 be likewise complete in every particulax'. 



"November 14:th. — Killed a gibbon in the morning. Perdition 

 seize all English-made foot-gear ! My ' superior London-made 

 shooting-boots ' (shoes), the best in the market at Singapore, went 

 entirely to pieces to-day, after precisely two-and-a-half months' 

 wear. The soles came off bodily. Would they had been immor- 

 tal ! The hunting-shoes made for me at Kochester lasted me 

 through fourteen months' constant wear in all sorts of wet and 

 dry weather ; through muddy swamps and over rocks as well. 

 Now I shall be obliged to wear my Sunday (!) shoes to hunt in, 

 and they, being also of the best English make, will probably last 

 me thi'ough the month. 



"November 15(h. — Shot a half-grown mias. In the afternoon, 

 Perara came running in from the jungle to tell me to come and 

 shoot two mias chappin which he had just seen about a mile 

 from the house. We ran aU the way back to the spot, up hill and 

 down, splashing recklessly through mud and water — and of course 

 the mias were both gone. And of course we failed to find them. 

 This is the third time the boys have played that little game on 

 me, and made me nearly drown myself in perspiration. 



"November IGth. — A disgusting day's work. Having nearly ex- 

 hausted my stock of Berdan primers, I loaded all my shells yester- 

 day with Ely's. To-day, in the course of a long jaunt, we found 

 two troops of gibbons, and five cartridges out of nine failed to go 

 off. One fine chance after another resulted in the ghastly metalHc 

 ' click * of the hammer, which always chills a hunter's marrow and 

 makes him think unutterable things. In spite of my hard work 

 and good opportunities I killed not even one gibbon, and at last, 

 tired out and disgusted, we started home. But I was doomed to 

 have Tantalus' cup offered me once more. On the wa.j a fine wild 

 hog presented himself at fifty yards and stood still. I quickly 

 drew a bead on his head with my rifle, pulled the trigger — 'click,' 

 and away went the hog. 



" November ISth.— On going out with Le Tiac and Dobah we 

 found a fine, large porcupine {Hystrix longicauda) caught by a 



