CERVUS MUNTJAK. 



Other modes of chace are also employed by the natives of rank. One in 

 particular is common in the western parts of the Island ; a district is surromided 

 by a line of hunters, and the Kidang is driven in towards a central spot ; forty 

 or fifty animals are in this manner often obtained at a single pursuit. Many of 

 the hunters are mounted, and the horses are trained to the chace. The sportsman 

 endeavours to overtake the animal, and to kill it by a stroke with a sword. The 

 inhabitants of Pugar and Blambangan, two provinces at the eastern extremity of 

 Java, possessing a small population, but abounding in extensive plains and acclivities, 

 which afford an ample range and abundant pasture to the Kidang, are particularly 

 skilled in this sport. The best horses are trained for it : the sportsman, without a 

 saddle, mounts on the naked back, and carries on the pursuit with a fi-antic impe- 

 tuosity, at the risk of his hmbs and neck. During my visit to these districts, I was 

 frequently entertained by aged natives with narratives of their favourite sport, and 

 of the dangers and accidents they had encountered on many occasions ; but these had 

 not diminished their ardour for this amusement. The native Stag of Java is pursued 

 in the same manner. 



In Banka a less arduous, but more destructive method is employed to take the 

 Kidang. A long rope of rattan is suspended, at a proper height above the ground, 

 between two trees ; numerous nooses, of the same material, hang from this, in a 

 close and continued series, and the Kidang, driven towards it, pursued by dogs, and 

 blinded by fear, does not perceive the slender rattan, and thrusting his head into a 

 noose, is strangled on the spot. 



The Kidang has other enemies and pursuers besides man ; the tiger and leopard 

 also approach its retreat, and many are annually destroyed by them. But in a mild 

 climate, a constant and regular supply of food abounds, and no great variation or 

 decrease is observed in their number. They are found in pairs, or in small troops, 

 rarely exceeding a single family. 



The Kidang is impatient of confinement, and is not fitted for the same degree 

 of domestication as the Stag. It is, however, occasionally found in the inclosures of 

 natives and Europeans, but requires a considerable range to live comfortably: it 

 is cleanly in its habits, and delicate in the choice of food. The flesh affords an 

 excellent venison, which is often found on the tables of Europeans. The natives 

 eat the males, and always present them in a conspicuous place in their feasts ; but 

 in consequence of some pecviliarities in the habits of the females, they have an 

 aversion to them as food. 



