My friends remained three days, and got plenty of wild
pigs and two Anoas, hut the latter were much injured by
the dogs, and I could only preserve the heads. A grand
hunt which we attempted on the third day failed, owing to
bad management in driving in the game, and we waited
for five hours perched on platforms in trees without getting
a shot, although we had been assured that pigs, Babirusas,
and Anoas would rush past us in dozens. I myself, with
two men, stayed three days longer to get more specimens of
the Maleos, and succeeded in preserving twenty-six very
fine ones ; the flesh and eggs of which supplied us with
abundance of good food.
The Major sent a boat, as he had promised, to take home
my baggage, while I walked through the forest with my
two boys and a guide, about fourteen miles. For the
first half of the distance there was no path, and we had
often to cut our way through tangled rattans or thickets of
bamboo. In some of our turnings to find the most practicable
route I expressed my fear that we were losing our
way, as the sun being vertical I could see no possible clue
to the right direction. My conductors, however, laughed
at the idea, which they seemed to consider quite ludicrous;
and sure enough, about half way, we suddenly encountered
a little hut where people from Licoupang came to hunt
and smoke wild pigs. My guide told me he had never
before traversed the forest between these two points ; and
this is what is considered by some travellers as one of the
savage “ instincts,” whereas it is merely the result of wide
ceneral knowledge. The man knew tD the topography of
the whole district; the slope of the land, the direction
of the streams, the belts of bamboo or rattan, and many
other indications of locality and direction; and he was thus
enabled to hit straight upon the hut, in the vicinity of
which he had often hunted. In a forest of which he knew
nothing, he would be quite as much at a loss as a European.
Thus it is, I am convinced, with all the wonderful accounts
of Indians finding their way through trackless forests to
definite points. They may never have passed straight
between the two particular points before, but they are well
acquainted with the vicinity of both, and have such a
general knowledge of the whole country, its water system,
its soil and its vegetation, that as they approach the point
they are to reach, many easily-recognised indications
enable them to hit upon it with certainty.
The chief feature of this forest was the abundance of
rattan palms, hanging from the trees, and turning and
twisting about on the ground, often in inextricable confusion.
One wonders at first how they can get into such
queer shapes; but it is evidently caused by the decay and
fall of the trees up which, they have first climbed, after
which they grow along the ground till they meet with
another trunk up which to ascend. A tangled mass of