The Eyes, Which Were Of Immense Size, Were Eagerly Scrambled
For, That The Hard Parts In The Centre, Which Are Valuable Charms,
Might Be Set In Gold As Rings.
It was sad to see the terrible "glaring
eyeballs" of the jungle so dim and stiff.
The bones were taken to be
boiled down to a jelly, which, when some mysterious drug has been
added, is a grand tonic. The gall is most precious, and the flesh was
all taken, but for what purpose I don't know. A steak of it was stewed,
and I tasted it, and found it in flavor much like the meat of an
ancient and overworked draught ox, but Mr. Ferney thought it like good
veal. At dinner the whole talk was of the wild beasts of the jungle;
and, as we were all but among them, it was very fascinating. I wanted
to go out by moonlight, but Mr. Ferney said that it was not safe,
because of tigers, and even the Malays there don't go out after
nightfall.
Mr. Ferney has given me a stick with a snake-mark on it, which was
given to him as a thing of great value. The Malay donor said that
anyone carrying it would become invulnerable and invisible, and that if
you were to beat anyone with it, the beaten man would manifest all the
symptoms of snake poisoning! Mr. Ferney has also given me a kris. When
I showed it to Omar this morning, he passed it across his face and
smelt it, and then said, "This kris good - has ate a man."
I could not sleep much, there were such strange noises, and the sentry
made the veranda creak all night outside my room; but this is a
splendid climate, and one is refreshed and ready to rise with the sun
after very little sleep.
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