Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
off into the jungle close by, and devoured him. Next morning his remains were discovered,
consisting only of a few mangled bones. The Waidono had got together about seven hundred
men, and was in chase of the animal, which, I afterwards heard, they found and killed. They
only use spears when in pursuit of a tiger in this way. They surround a large tract of country,
and draw gradually together till the animal is enclosed in a compact ring of armed men.
When he sees there is no escape he generally makes a spring, and is received on a dozen
spears, and almost instantly stabbed to death. The skin of an animal thus killed is, of course,
worthless, and in this case the skull, which I had begged Mr. Ball to secure for me, was
hacked to pieces to divide the teeth, which are worn as charms.
After a week at Wonosalem, I returned to the foot of the mountain, to a village named
Djapannan, which was surrounded by several patches of forest, and seemed altogether pretty
well suited to my pursuits. The chief of the village had prepared two small bamboo rooms
on one side of his own courtyard to accommodate me, and seemed inclined to assist me as
much as he could. The weather was exceedingly hot and dry, no rain having fallen for sever-
al months, and there was, in consequence, a great scarcity of insects, and especially of
beetles. I therefore devoted myself chiefly to obtaining a good set of the birds, and suc-
ceeded in making a tolerable collection. All the peacocks we had hitherto shot had had short
or imperfect tails, but I now obtained two magnificent specimens more than seven feet long,
one of which I preserved entire, while I kept the train only attached to the tail of two or
three others. When this bird is seen feeding on the ground, it appears wonderful how it can
rise into the air with such a long and cumbersome train of feathers. It does so however with
great ease, by running quickly for a short distance, and then rising obliquely; and will fly
over trees of a considerable height. I also obtained here a specimen of the rare green jungle-
fowl (Gallus furcatus), whose back and neck are beautifully scaled with bronzy feathers, and
whose smooth-edged oval comb is of a violet purple colour, changing to green at the base. It
is also remarkable in possessing a single large wattle beneath its throat, brightly coloured in
three patches of red, yellow, and blue. The common jungle-cock (Gallus bankiva) was also
obtained here. It is almost exactly like a common game-cock, but the voice is different, be-
ing much shorter and more abrupt; whence its native name is Bekéko. Six different kinds of
woodpeckers and four kingfishers were found here, the fine hornbill, Buceros lunatus, more
than four feet long, and the pretty little lorikeet, Loriculus pusillus, scarcely more than as
many inches.
One morning, as I was preparing and arranging my specimens, I was told there was to be
a trial; and presently four or five men came in and squatted down on a mat under the
audience-shed in the court. The chief then came in with his clerk, and sat down opposite
