TWO SEA-DYAK LEGENDS. 13 



say, he did not see any bird nor did he meet with any animal. 

 Everything was very quiet and still. Worn out with fatigue, 

 he sat down to rest under a large tree, and feeling hungry, he 

 ate some of the food he had brought with him. It was now 

 long past midday, and he had not been able to kill a single 

 bird ! Surely none of the others could be so unfortunate as he ! 



He determined not to be beaten by the others, and after a 

 short rest, he started again and wandered on in quest of birds. 

 The sun had gone half-way down in the western heaven, and he 

 was beginning to lose heart, when suddenly he heard not far off 

 the sound of birds. He hurried in that direction, and came to a 

 large wild fig tree covered with ripe fruit, which a large number 

 of birds were busy eating. Never before had he seen such a 

 sight ! On this one large tree, the whole feathered population 

 of the forest seemed to have assembled together ! On looking 

 carefully, he was surprised to see that the different kinds of 

 birds were not all intermingled together as is usually the case. 

 Each species was apart from the others. Here he saw a large 

 flock of wild pigeons on one branch, and next to them were the 

 parrots, all feeding together but keeping distinct from them. 

 Upon this tree there were hornbills, wood-peckers, wild pigeons 

 and all the different kinds of birds he had ever seen. 



He hid himself under the thick leaves of a shrub growing 

 near, very much pleased at his luck. He took a poisoned dart 

 and placed it in his blow-pipe, and taking good aim, shot it out. 

 He had aimed at one bird in a particular flock, and he hit it. 

 But that bird was not the only one that fell dead at his feet. 

 To his astonishment, he saw that many of the other birds that 

 were near it were killed also. Again he shot out a dart, and 

 again the same thing happened. The bird that was hit fell down 

 dead, and with it the birds that were near it. In a very short 

 time, Siu had killed as many birds as he could carry. As the 

 little basket, in which he had brought his food, was too small to 

 hold them all, he set to work and made a large coarse basket with 

 the bark of a Pendok tree growing near. Then he put his load 

 on his back and started to return home, glad that he had been 

 so successful. 



He tried to follow the way by which he had come, but as he 

 had not taken the precaution to cut marks in the trees he passed, 



E A. Soc.No. 40,1903 



