88 BORNEO— THE ORANG-UTAN. [chap. iv. 



was much troubled by tbe Dyak dogs, which, being always 

 kept in a state of semi-starvation, are ravenous for animal 

 food. I had a great iron pan, in which I boiled the bones 

 to make skeletons, and at night I covered this over with 

 boards, and put heavy stones upon it ; but the dogs 

 managed to remove these and carried away the greater part 

 of one of my specimens. On another occasion they 

 gnawed away a good deal of the upper leather of my strong 

 boots, and even ate a piece of my mosquito-curtain, where 

 some lamp-oil had been spilt over it some weeks before. 



On our return down the stream, we had the fortune to fall 

 in with a very old male Mias, feeding on some low trees 

 growing in the water. The country was flooded for a long 

 distance, but so full of trees and stumps that the laden 

 boat could not be got in among them, and if it could have 

 been we should only have frightened the Mias away. I 

 therefore got into the water, which was nearly up to my 

 waist, and waded on till I was near enough for a shot. 

 The difficulty then was to load my gun again, for I was so 

 deep in the water that I could not hold the gun sloping 

 enough to pour the powder in. I therefore had to 

 search for a shallow place, and after several shots under 

 these trying circumstances, I was delighted to see the 

 monstrous animal roll over into the water. I now towed 

 him after me to the stream, but the Malays objected to 

 have the animal put into the boat, and he was so heavy 



