The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

3G THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.inches. I iDreserved its skin and skeleton, and in doing so foundthat when it fell from the tree it must have broken an arm anda leg, which had, however, united so rajDidly that I had onlynoticed the hard swellings on the limbs where the irregularjunction of the bones had taken place.Exactly a week after I had caught this interesting littleanimal I succeeded in shooting a full-grown male Orang-utan.I had just come home from an entomologizing excursion whenCharles ^ rushed in out of breath with running and excitement,and exclaimed, interrupted by gasps, "Get the gun, sir,—bequick,—such a large Mias " "! Where is it ? " I asked, takinghold of my gun as I spoke, which happened luckily to have onebarrel loaded with ball. " Close by, sir—on the path to themines—he can't get away." Two Dyaks chanced to be in thehouse at the time, so I called them to accompany me, and stai'tedoff, telling Charley to bring all the ammunition after me as soonas possible. The path from our clearing to the mines led alongthe side of the hill a little way up its slope, and parallel with itat the foot a wide opening had been made for a I'oad, in wliichseveral Chinamen were woi'king, so that the animal could notescape into the swampy forests below without descending tocross the road or ascending to get round the clearings. Wewalked cautiously along, not making the least noise, and listeningattentively for any sound which might betray the j^resenceof the Mias, stopping at intervals to gaze upwards. Charleysoon joined us at the place where he had seen the creature, andhaving taken the ammunition and put a bullet in the otherbarrel we dispersed a little, feeling sure that it must be somewherenear, as it had probably descended the hill, and would notbe likely to return again. After a short time I heard a veryslight rustling sound overhead, but on gazing up could seenothing. I moved about in every direction to get a full viewinto every part of the tree under which I had been standing,when I again heard the same noise but louder, and saw the leavesshaking as if caused by the motion of some heavy animal whichmoved off to an adjoining tree. I immediately shouted for all ofthem to come up and try and get a view, so as to allow me tohave a shot. This was not an easy matter, as the Mias had aknack of selecting places with dense foliage beneath. Very soon,however, one of the Dyaks called me and pointed upwards, andon looking I saw a great red hairy body and a huge black facegazing down from a great height, as if wanting to know what wasmaking such a disturbance below. I instantly fired, and he madeofi' at once, so that I could not then tell whether I had hit him.He now moved very rapidly and very noiselessly for so lai^gean animal, so I told the Dyaks to follow and keep him in sightwhile I loaded. The jungle was here full of large angular fragmentsof rock from the mountain above, and thick with hanging1 Charles Allen, an English lad of sixteen, accompanied me as an assistant.