good deal. Frank, I remember, shot during his
rambles several fine specimens of kingfishers. There
are, I believe, thirteen specimens of the kingfisher
tribe in Borneo—some really gorgeous in plumage.
Frank and I made many sporting expeditions about
the island, and had some good shooting. I remember
cautioning' him about his Winchester—a rifle that is
an awkward customer at times. You do not always
know when it is loaded or not. A useful weapon in
a tight place, no doubt. Witti carried a Winchester.
I liked Witti. He was a gentleman—a little . odd,
perhaps, but a fine fellow. He and Frank got along
well.
“ You ask me to give you some details of our life at
Kudat, and any special incidents of travel or sport.
Of the many incidents in our life at Kudat, one of the
most amusing—though at one time it seemed very
serious—was the loss in the bush of Count Montgelas.
He had come out to Borneo * globe-trotting,’ and was
staying at Kudat, preparatory to a trip to Sandakan
and elsewhere. We were a large party at Kudat at
th a t time, as the Company’s yacht, Leila, was in harbour
with Mr. Treacher, Governor of Sabah, Major
Papillon, B.E. (a friend of his), and Mr. Du Boulay,
private secretary, on board. We had all been bidden
to a feast on board the Leila that evening. During the
afternoon several of us had gone out in different
directions for the evening ‘ crawl.’ Montgelas was one
who went out ‘ gunning.’ We all assembled to dress
for dinner, and ordered our boat to be in readiness to
take us off to the yacht, which was anchored some
quarter of a mile off in the bay. On calling the roll
before dinner, Montgelas was reported absent—his
servant saying the ‘ Tuan ’ hadn’t come in. Ju st then
we heard a report of a gun in the bush near, and some
one said, ‘ There he is.’ So we decided to go on board,
and to send the boat back for him, telling his servant
to make him ‘ hurry up.’ On arriving on board, Mr.
Treacher waited a while and then decided to sit down
to dinner. To our surprise. Montgelas, after some
time, didn’t appear, and on sending off to the shore
we were told he hadn’t come in. This sounded serious—
so finishing dinner as rapidly as possible, we all went
on shore, and learning that no signs of him were to be
found, we organized a search expedition. I selected a
party of Sikhs, picking out all the shikarries (men that
knew the bush), dividing it into two parties: one to go
along the jungle-path that runs to the point at the
coast from Kudat, and the other to go along the sea-
beach to the point, where the parties were to meet for
further action; with the Sikhs I also told off some of the
Malay police. Gueritz and some others went with one
party by the jungle-path, Frank Hatton and I by the sea-
beach with the other. We arranged a few signals, viz. by
firing a certain number of shots from a rifle. Off went
the two parties, and after a sharp walk, stopping every
now and then to yell in concert, ‘ Montgelas ! ’ we, the
beach party, heard three shots fired, s ig n ify in g th a t
a trail or news had been found. We doubled on,
rounded the point, and entered the bush by the jungle-
path, and soon came to the spot where Gueritz had
fired the three signal shots. Here we found that a
reply had been heard from the bush on their left to
their shouts. Taking the trail from the right, we
all shouted ‘ Montgelas,’ and to our joy heard a faint
answering shout. ‘He’s moved,’ they said, as the