CHAP. IV.] MI AS ATTJCKED BY DTAKS. 



49 



to a ridt^e ot fold at each side. Hia oiitstretclied arms 

 nipasurod seven feet tliree inches acTOsa, and his height, 

 nieasnrin;^ fairly from the top of the head to the heel, 

 was four feet two inches. The body just helow the 

 arms wsis three feet two inches round, and was quite 

 as lonjT as a man's, the legs Toeing exceed in!L,dy short in 

 proportion. On exaniination we found he had been 

 dreadfully wounded. Uoth legs were broken, one hip- 

 joint and the root of the fipiue completely shattered, and 

 two bullets were louiid flattened in his neck and jaws I 

 Vet he was still alive when he fell. The two Chinamen 

 carried him home tied to a polo, and I was occupied ■with 

 Charley the whole of the next day, preparing the skin and 

 boiling the bones to make a perfect skeleton, which are 

 now preserved in the Museum at Derby. 



About ten days after this, on June 4th, some Dyaks 

 came to tell iis' that the day before a Mias had nearly 

 killed one of their companions. A few miles down the 

 river there is a Dyak house, and the inhabitants saw a 

 large Orang feeding on the young shoots of a palm by the 

 river-side. On being alarmed he retreated towards the 

 jungle wdiich was close by, and a number of the men, 

 armed with spears and cheppers, ran out to intercept him. 

 The man who was in front tried to run his sjiear through 

 the animal's body, hut the Mias seized it in his hands, and 

 in an instant got hold of tlie man's ann, which he seized in 

 his moutli, making his teeth meet in the flesh above the 

 elbow, which he tore and laceiuted in a dreadful manner. 

 Had not the others been close behind, the man would >ave 

 been more seriously injured, if not killed, as he wa;? quite 

 jiowerlesa ; but they soon destroyed the creatin-e with their 

 spears and choppers. The man remained ill for a long 

 time, and never fully recovered the use of his arm. 



They told me the dead Mias was still lying -ft'here it hail 

 been killed, so I olTered them a reward to bring it up to 

 our landing-place immediately, which they promised to do. 

 Tliey did not come, however, till the next day, and then 

 decomposition had commenced, and great patches of the 

 liair came olf, so that it was useless to skin it. This I 

 regretted much, as it was a very fine full-grown male. I 

 cut off tlie head and took it home to clean, while I got 



s 



