THE MAU FOREST 
199 
from our tracker that the sounds emanated from Sotik 
Wandorobo—a tribe of forest-dwellers, one of the 
lowest of human types. We had previously observed 
trees entirely stripped of bark, which, we were told, 
these poor creatures had eaten; and also found their 
huts in the forest—small, conical structures of green 
branches stuck into the ground, bent over, and inter¬ 
laced with smaller branches, hardly bigger than dog- 
kennels. Each hut had a slightly raised platform at 
ANOTHER HORNBILL ( LopJlOCerOS ). 
the further end inside; so that these wild men of the 
woods evidently disapprove of sleeping on the bare 
earth. 
“ Although these savages were aware of our presence 
and followed us throughout our nightly wanderings (as 
we discovered by their tracks covering ours on the dewy 
grass at dawn), yet they in no way molested us, nor did 
we ever see them. 
“ It was into these solitudes that we penetrated, each 
with a few followers and a light tent apiece, that was 
pitched amidst foliage so rank as to be invisible at 
twenty yards from any point of view—never could I 
have found my way back to mine but for our savage 
guides. 
