84 
AFTER A RHINOCEROS BY MOONLIGHT. 
beast was in the garden, so out we sallied ; it was as 
clear as day when we started, but we had to walk some 
distance and before we got to our destination a dark cIolkI 
came up and all was as black as Erebus ; on entering the 
garden we heard something moving ahead of us, but it was 
so dark we could see nothing. We waited for it to clear, 
but as there was no sign of it doing so, we got into the 
carriage and drove away. We had not gone far when the 
moon burst forth again in all her glory, and we afterwards 
heard that the rhinoceros was seen standing in the road in 
full moonlight. My last hope now was on the Preanger 
Mountains, and in the swampy plain of Bandoeng. My leave 
was rapidly coming to an end so I hastened on my way. 
The plain of Bandoeng is an elevated plateau some 
thirty miles in length, and varying between six and ten 
miles in breadth. It consists of a swampy black soil, the 
finest in Java they say, and covered with high reeds, called 
glagga, which are from thirteen to fifteen feet high, with 
here and there open plains of low allony-allony (a broad- 
bladed grass) up to a mans waist, with pools of stagnant 
water, some of these covering dangerous bogs. The plain 
abounds with deer, rhinoceros, ttgers and hog. A hunting 
party a month ago, in one of their grand beats killed one 
hundred and twenty deer and a rhinoceros, but the poor 
brutes were hemmed in on every side and slaughtered like 
sheep, in a fold. On these occasions they collect a great 
number of beaters and surround a portion of the plain, 
gradually decreasing the circle ; the sportsmen are mounted 
on the bare backs of ponies, as no saddles would stand the 
rush and scramble through these tough high reeds. The 
only weapon they use is a short heavy kind of sword, with 
