550 WILD ANIMALS. 



Sumatra. His principal obiect in visiting the first place was to see 

 tlie great man-like ape, or " mias," as it is called by the natives, in 

 its native haunts, to study its habits, and obtain good specimens 

 of the different varieties. In all these objects he succeeded beyond 

 his expectation. 



The incidents connected with his shooting the first full-grown 

 animal he saw is thus described : — " I heard a very slight rustling 

 sound overhead, but on gazing up could see nothing. I moved about 

 in every direction to get a full view into every part of the tree under 

 which I had been standing, when I again heard the same noise but 

 louder, and saw the leaves shaking as if caused by the motion of 

 some heavy animal, which moved off to an adjoining tree. I imme- 

 diately shouted for all of them (a companion, named Charley, and 

 two Dyaks) to come up and try and get a view, so as to allow me 

 to have a shot. This was no easy matter, as the mias had a knack 

 of selecting places with dense foliage beneath. Yery soon, however, 

 one of the Dyaks called me and pointed upwards, and, on looking, 

 I saw a great red, hairy body, and a huge black face gazing down 

 from a great height, as if wanting to know what was making such 

 a disturbance below. I instantly fired, and he made off at oncie, 

 so that I could not then tell whether I had hit him. 



" He now moved very rapidly and very noiselessly for so large 

 an animal, so I told the Dyaks to follow and keep him in sight 

 while I loaded. The jungle was here full of large angular frag- 

 ments of rock from the mountain above, and thick with hanging 

 and twisted creepers. Running, climbing, and creeping among 

 these, we came up with the creature on the top of a high tree near 

 the road, where the Chinamen had discovered him, and were 

 shouting their astonishment with open mouth, ' Ya-Ya, Tuan ; 

 orang-utan, Tuan.' Seeing that he could not pass here without 

 descending, he turned up again towards the hill, and I got two 

 shots, and, following quickly, had two more by the time he had 

 again reached the path ; but he was always more or less concealed 

 by foliage, and protected by the large branch on which he was 

 walking. Once, while loading, I had a splendid view of him, 

 moving along a large limb of a tree in a semi-erect posture, and 

 showing him to be an animal of the largest size. At the path he 



