obtained a good supply of fine fist, we slowly passed
along the high, well-sheltered shore, while the
heavy wind sighed through the lofty branches over
our heads. Now a gleam of light comes over the
dark water, just beyond that high bluff; we are near
the camp, and in a few moments stand again on the
beach. This day is done, and yet the storm continues,
but we hope we may be more favored to-morrow.
December 22d.—Last night I soon fell asleep after
such vigorous use of the paddle, though the storm
wailed, and my couch was any thing but a bed of down.
At midnight a troubled dream disturbed my brain.
An indefinite horror thrilled along my veins as I fancied
for a moment that I was whirling round such a
deep yawning maelstrom as Poe has pictured, and
then literally “ a change came o’er the spirit of my
dream,” but scarcely a change for the better, for I
was fixed in the midst of a water-spout, and, in my
struggles to escape, awoke and found a great stream
of water pouring down on me from the tarpaulin
that formed the roof of our tent. A heavy shower
had come on, and the water was all running into a
depression in the sail over me, in which, of course,
there was a hole, so that the whole formed one big
tunnel. Of course, both K. and the controleur enjoyed
my discomfiture greatly, but I consoled myself
with the thought that long before daylight they
would find themselves in the same plight; and the
next morning, apparently, the thing that was farthest
from their thoughts was to inquire of me in regard
to the water-spout.
That portion of the party that had left Kema in
advance of us had taken little rice. The conProlewr,
therefore, thought we must make a third attempt to
reach the northern end of the island, notwithstanding
K ’s earnest entreaties to be only taken back to
Kema once more. We had not reached the narrows,
however, before we met the hukom with all his men
and dogs. They had found the surf so high that
the only way most of his men had been able to
reach their boats, was to run down the steep rocks
and plunge head foremost into the combing waves.
We now landed a few natives to scour the woods,
and finally come to the southern end of the island,
while we went round in the boats. In order to make
their way through the dense forest, instead of putting
on more clothing as a protection against the sticks and
stones and thorny vines, they stripped off what little
they wore, except a narrow band over the loins. At
the southern end of the island was a small, deep bay,
and here we encamped for the third time. Soon the
natives came in, but they had secured only two wild
hogs. I preserved the skull of one, a female, m
which the canine teeth were not as long as those of
a male. The hukom declared that in the babirusa
only the males have the long curved teeth, which the
Malays have fancied resemble the antlers of a deer.
While waiting for us, he had been hunting in the
vicinity of his camp, and had taken one female by
driving her to the end of a high point. As soon as
she saw there was no chance for her to escape, she
leaped down the precipice and was killed by the
fall. Such suicide, he says, is frequently resorted to
by that animal when it finds it can retreat no farther.