CERVUS MUNTJAK 
Other modes of chace are also employed by the natives of rank. One in 
particular is common in the western parts of the Island ; a district is surrounded 
by a line of hunters, and the Kidang is driven in towards a central spot ; forty 
or fifty animals are in tlus manner often obtained at a single pursuit. Many of 
the hunters are mounted, and the horses are trained to the chace. The sportsman 
endeavours to overtake the animal, and to kill it by a stroke with a sword The 
inhabitants of Pugar and Blambangan, two provinces at the eastern extremity of 
Java, possessing a small population, but abounding in extensive plains and acclivities, 
which afford an ample range and abundant pasture to the Kidang, are particularly 
skilled in tins sport. The best horses are trained for it : the sportsman, without a 
saddle, mounts on the naked back, and carries on the pursuit with a frantic impe- 
tuosity, at the risk of his limbs and neck. During my visit to these districts, I was 
frequently entertained by aged natives with narratives of their favourite sport, and 
of the dangers and accidents they had encountered on many occasions ; but these had 
not diminished their ardour for tliis amusement The native Stag of Java is pursued 
in the same manner. 
In Banka a less arduous, but more destructive method is employed to take the 
Kidang. A long rope of rattan is suspended, at a proper height above the ground, 
between two trees ; numerous nooses, of the same material, hang from this, in a 
close and continued series, and the Kidang, driven towards it, pursued by dogs, and 
blinded by fear, does not perceive the slender rattan, and thrusting his head into a 
noose, is strangled on the spot. 
The Kidang has other enemies and pursuers besides man ; the tiger and leopard 
also approach its retreat, and many are annually destroyed by them. But in a mild 
climate, a constant and regular supply of food abounds, and no great variation or 
decrease is observed in their number. They are found in pairs, or in small troops, 
rarely exceeding a single family. 
The Kidang is impatient of confinement, and is not fitted for the same degree 
of domestication as the Stag. It is, however, occasionally found in the inclosures of 
natives and Europeans, but requires a considerable range to live comfortably : it 
is cleanly in its habits, and delicate, in the choice of food. The flesh affords an 
excellent venison, which is often found on the tables of Europeans. The natives 
eat the males, and always present them in a conspicuous place in their feasts ; but 
in consequence of some peculiarities in the habits of the females, they have an 
aversion to them as food. 
