Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
larvatus), which is as large as a three-year old child, has a very long tail, and a fleshy nose,
longer than that of the biggest-nosed man. The further we went on the narrower and more
winding the stream became; fallen trees sometimes blocked up our passage, and sometimes
tangled branches and creepers met completely across it, and had to be cut away before we
could get on. It took us two days to reach Semábang, and we hardly saw a bit of dry land all
the way. In the latter part of the journey I could touch the bushes on each side for miles; and
we were often delayed by the screw-pines (Pandanus), which grew abundantly in the water,
falling across the stream. In other places dense rafts of floating grass completely filled up
the channel, making our journey a constant succession of difficulties.
Near the landing-place we found a fine house, 250 feet long, raised high above the ground
on posts, with a wide verandah and still wider platform of bamboo in front of it. Almost all
the people, however, were away on some excursion after edible birds'-nests or bees'-wax,
and there only remained in the house two or three old men and women with a lot of chil-
dren. The mountain or hill was close by, covered with a complete forest of fruit-trees,
among which the Durian and Mangusteen were very abundant; but the fruit was not yet
quite ripe, except a little here and there. I spent a week at this place, going out every day in
various directions about the mountain, accompanied by a Malay, who had stayed with me
while the other boatmen returned. For three days we found no Orangs, but shot a deer and
several monkeys. On the fourth day, however, we found a Mias feeding on a very lofty Duri-
an tree, and succeeded in killing it, after eight shots. Unfortunately it remained in the tree,
hanging by its hands, and we were obliged to leave it and return home, as it was several
miles off. As I felt pretty sure it would fall during the night, I returned to the place early the
next morning, and found it on the ground beneath the tree. To my astonishment and pleas-
ure, it appeared to be a different kind from any I had yet seen; for although a full-grown
male by its fully developed teeth and very large canines, it had no sign of the lateral pro-
tuberance on the face, and was about one-tenth smaller in all its dimensions than the other
adult males. The upper incisors, however, appeared to be broader than in the larger species,
a character distinguishing the Simia morio of Professor Owen, which he had described from
the cranium of a female specimen. As it was too far to carry the animal home, I set to work
and skinned the body on the spot, leaving the head hands and feet attached, to be finished at
home. This specimen is now in the British Museum.
At the end of a week, finding no more Orangs, I returned home; and, taking in a few fresh
stores, and this time accompanied by Charles, went up another branch of the river, very sim-
ilar in character, to a place called Menyille, where there were several small Dyak houses and
one large one. Here the landing-place was a bridge of rickety poles, over a considerable dis-
