Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
being full as large as a man's. He was of the kind called by the Dyaks 'Mias Chappan,' or
'Mias Pappan,' which has the skin of the face broadened out to a ridge or fold at each side.
His outstretched arms measured seven feet three inches across, and his height, measuring
fairly from the top of the head to the heel, was four feet two inches. The body just below the
arms was three feet two inches round, and was quite as long as a man's, the legs being ex-
ceedingly short in proportion. On examination we found he had been dreadfully wounded.
Both legs were broken, one hip-joint and the root of the spine completely shattered, and two
bullets were found flattened in his neck and jaws! Yet he was still alive when he fell. The
two Chinamen carried him home tied to a pole, and I was occupied with Charley the whole
of the next day, preparing the skin and boiling the bones to make a perfect skeleton, which
are now preserved in the Museum at Derby.
About ten days after this, on June 4th, some Dyaks came to tell us that the day before a
Mias had nearly killed one of their companions. A few miles down the river there is a Dyak
house, and the inhabitants saw a large Orang feeding on the young shoots of a palm by the
river-side. On being alarmed he retreated towards the jungle which was close by, and a num-
ber of the men, armed with spears and choppers, ran out to intercept him. The man who was
in front tried to run his spear through the animal's body, but the Mias seized it in his hands,
and in an instant got hold of the man's arm, which he seized in his mouth, making his teeth
meet in the flesh above the elbow, which he tore and lacerated in a dreadful manner. Had not
the others been close behind, the man would have been more seriously injured, if not killed,
as he was quite powerless; but they soon destroyed the creature with their spears and chop-
pers. The man remained ill for a long time, and never fully recovered the use of his arm.
They told me the dead Mias was still lying where it had been killed, so I offered them a
reward to bring it up to our landing-place immediately, which they promised to do. They did
not come, however, till the next day, and then decomposition had commenced, and great
patches of the hair came off, so that it was useless to skin it. This I regretted much, as it was
a very fine full-grown male. I cut off the head and took it home to clean, while I got my men
to make a close fence about five feet high round the rest of the body, which would soon be
devoured by maggots, small lizards, and ants, leaving me the skeleton. There was a great
gash in his face, which had cut deep into the bone, but the skull was a very fine one, and the
teeth remarkably large and perfect.
On June 18th I had another great success, and obtained a fine adult male. A Chinaman
told me he had seen him feeding by the side of the path to the river, and I found him at the
same place as the first individual I had shot. He was feeding on an oval green fruit having a
fine red arillus, like the mace which surrounds the nutmeg, and which alone he seemed to
