SEA TRAGEDY OF THE JUNGLE FOLK 135 
directions—when we started them by pulling on the 
ropes. I allowed myself to be guided entirely by 
the judgment of the natives; they appreciated my 
confidence and took care to see that the work was 
done accurately. 
The hacking of the parangs and the conversation 
attracted hundreds of jungle animals, including 
many of the smaller orang-outangs. We did not 
molest them, and they grew bolder, until we had a 
large, chattering, screaming audience watching us 
work. 
Long before the two big brutes came back to 
their home, we were on our. way to Omar’s kam- 
pong, with the first stage of the work completed. 
The jungle as we left it did not appear greatly dif- 
ferent from the way it looked when we arrived. I 
knew that the orang-outangs would realize that 
some one had been there, and yet I was fairly cer- 
tain that the absence of human beings would re- 
assure them. And, too, they would have several 
days to accustom themselves to whatever changes 
they noticed. 
At the kampong, I called the men together again, 
this time for an informal council. I told them that 
T had considered carefully everything they had said 
the day before, and that, after inspecting the loca- 
tion, I had come to the conclusion that we could 
easily capture the animals. It would be simply a 
matter of rapid work and of each man’s thoroughly 
understanding his job. Drawing a circle on the 
