IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap. 



itself better understood. Certainly, of all animals, the dog is the 

 one which ought to have had the greatest chance of learning how to 

 talk, on account of the instinctive sympathy which, like an electric 

 current, passes between it and Man when it wishes to explain its 

 thoughts or to understand ours. Had Man been associated with the 

 dog during the plasmative epoch, I believe that to the expression of 

 our face and to the sound of our voice there would have been aroused 

 in the dog, owing to the attention with which he listens to us and 

 observes us, analogous movements in its vocal organs, which, instead 

 of expressing themselves by inarticulate sounds, would have enabled 

 it to talk and to learn a language. 



The dogs of the Dyaks are small, and have a fox-like aspect, 

 somewhat like that of our Italian " pomer." Their hair is usually of 

 a reddish-dun ; their ears are short, erect, and very mobile ; the 

 tail, usually carried high and turned up, and kept in constant motion, 

 terminates in a large brush ; the legs are rather short in proportion 

 to the rest of the body. Not the least of their peculiarities is that 

 they have never learnt to bark. Highly intelligent, they readily 

 attach themselves to the person who takes care of them and treats 

 them kindly ; and they are very plucky and useful in hunting deer 

 or pigs, for which they are especially kept and trained. In Dyak 

 villages they will not let a European approach. 



Having spoken of the Dyak dog, it is natural to say something of 

 cats ; and the domestic animal in Borneo deserves a word of men- 

 tion on account of the singular peculiarity of its tail, which is 

 generally very short, or else marked with a kind of abrupt twist, 

 as if it had been broken, and badly set. I cannot suggest any ex- 

 planation of this singular character, which is well known and com- 

 mon enough. Perhaps, owing to the perennial dampness of the soil, 

 the tail of cats in Borneo became an impediment. I have noted 

 that animals in confinement with long tails — monkeys for instance — 

 suffer in Borneo when kept on the ground, the tail in such cases easily 

 getting ulcerated. Perhaps this has been the case with the cat, 

 and the shortening and crookedness of its tail is a step towards 

 adaptation to local conditions. 



In the small cove at Tanjong Datu, where our boat lay sheltered, 

 the wind at that season being from the south-west, the sea was 

 perfectly smooth. We were only a few hundred yards from the 

 westernmost point of Borneo, where no anchorage exists, even for 

 small vessels, and where the sea is always rough, even during the 

 good season, and very much so during the north-east monsoon. 



The weather being fine next morning, I started to round 

 the cape by sea ; but as soon as we got beyond the protection it 

 afforded against the south-west wind, we met with such heavy 

 weather that the sampan began to fill, and to avoid getting swamped 

 I had to turn back. The sea is always more or less heavy here on 



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