Seen and Lost. 38 1 



the man's extraordinary appearance. I do not think 

 that a sufficient explanation ; for however strange 

 a man's appearance may be, his intimate friends 

 and associates soon lose all sense of wonder at his 

 strangeness, and even forget that he is unlike others. 

 My belief is that this curiosity, or whatever it was 

 they showed in their faces, was due to something in 

 his character — a mental strangeness, showing itself 

 at unexpected times, and which might flash out at 

 any moment to amuse or astonish them. There 

 was certainly a correspondence between the snarling 

 action of the mouth and the dangerous form of the 

 teeth, perfect as that in any snarling animal ; and 

 such animals, it should be remembered, snarl not 

 only when angry and threatening, but in their 

 playful moods as well. Other and more important 

 correspondences or correlations might have existed ; 

 and the voice was certainly unlike any human voice 

 I have ever heard, whether in white, red, or black 

 man. But the time I had for observation was 

 short, the conversation revealed nothing further, 

 and by-and-by I went away in search of the odorous 

 kitchen, where there would be hot water for coffee, 

 or at all events cold water and a kettle, and materials 

 for making a fire — to wit, bones of dead cattle, 

 " buffalo chips," and rancid fat. 



I have never been worried with the wish or am- 

 bition to be a head-hunter in the Dyak sense, but on 

 this one occasion I did wish that it had been possible, 

 without violating any law, or doing anything to a 

 fellow-creature which I should not like done to 

 myself, to have obtained possession of this man's 

 head, with its set of unique and terrible teeth. For 



