A HUNT FOR BABIEUSA, 



Decenhber Wih—K bright, clear day, and just 

 suitable for starting on our hunt. We have a ship's 

 long-boat and a small pran, l>oth containing about 

 twenty natives, and a lai'ge pack of dogs to start up 

 the game. The controimr is the captain of our boat, 

 and an old, giay Malay, who has been a seaman and 

 a whaler for most of his daja, is the coxswain of 

 the other, and pilot for both. For ballast we have 

 a full load of lice, oui' two boats caiiying only half 

 the whole pai-ty, the other portion — ^twenty-five nar 

 tives and half as many dogs — went yesterday, 

 under the charge of the second native chief of the 

 village, who rejoices in the euphonious title of 

 Ilnkam hadm^ but the Dutch call him the " Sec-_ 

 ond Head." From Kema up to the strait, between 

 Limbi and Celebes, we had a light air off the shore. 

 A thin cloud, like a veil of gauze, gathered on the 

 heads of the twin-peaks known as "The Sisters,'* 

 and fell down in rich graceful folds over their gi'een 

 shoulders, Fi'om the crests of all these peaks, down 

 to the high-water line on the shore, is one dense, un- 

 broken forest. There dwells the Bapi uturig or 

 " wild ox," probably not indlgenoufi, but descended 

 from the tame sapi introduced from Java and Ma- 

 dura. The natives describe them as being exceed- 

 ingly fierce, both the cows and the bulls. Here that 

 peculiar antelope, the Afwa (kpresskmiis^ H. Smith, 

 abounds. In these same dense, undisturbed forests 

 the babirusa (^Bahirma alfwuSj Less.) is found in 

 large numbers ; and a species of >SW, much like the 

 lean hog that lives in the forests of our Sonthei'U 

 States, is veiy abundant. As soon as we entered 



