The Body Just Below The Arms Was Three Feet Two
Inches Round, And Was Quite As Long As A Man's, The Legs Being
Exceedingly Short In Proportion.
On examination we found he had
been dreadfully wounded.
Both legs were broken, one hip-joint and
the root of the spine completely shattered, and two bullets were
found flattened in his neck and jaws. Yet he was still alive when
he fell. The two Chinamen carried him home tied to a pole, and I
was occupied with Charley the whole of the next day preparing the
skin and boiling the bones to make a perfect skeleton, which are
now preserved in the Museum at Derby.
About ten days after this, on June 4th, some Dyaks came to tell
us that the day before a Mias had nearly killed one of their
companions. A few miles down the river there is a Dyak house, and
the inhabitants saw a large Orang feeding on the young shoots of
a palm by the riverside. On being alarmed he retreated towards
the jungle which was close by, and a number of the men, armed
with spears and choppers, ran out to intercept him. The man who
was in front tried to run his spear through the animal's body,
but the Mias seized it in his hands, and in an instant got hold
of the man's arm, which he seized in his mouth, making his teeth
meet in the flesh above the elbow, which he tore and lacerated in
a dreadful manner. Had not the others been close behind, the man
would have keen more seriously injured, if not killed, as he was
quite powerless; but they soon destroyed the creature with their
spears and choppers. The man remained ill for a long time, and
never fully recovered the use of his arm.
They told me the dead Mias was still lying where it had been
killed, so I offered them a reward to bring it up to our landing-
place immediately, which they promised to do. They did not come,
however, until the next day, and then decomposition had
commenced, and great patches of the hair came off, so that it was
useless to skin it. This I regretted much, as it was a very fine
full-grown male. I cut off the head and took it home to clean,
while I got my men to make a closed fence about five feet high
around the rest of the body, which would soon be devoured by
maggots, small lizards, and ants, leaving me the skeleton. There
was a great gash in his face, which had cut deep into the bone,
but the skull was a very fine one, and the teeth were remarkably
large and perfect.
On June 18th I had another great success, and obtained a fine
adult male. A Chinaman told me be had seen him feeding by the
side of the path to the river, and I found him at the same place
as the first individual I had shot. He was feeding on an oval
green fruit having a fine red arillus, like the mace which
surrounds the nutmeg, and which alone he seemed to eat, biting
off the thick outer rind and dropping it in a continual shower. I
had found the same fruit in the stomach of some others which I
had killed. Two shots caused this animal to loose his hold, but
he hung for a considerable time by one hand, and then fell flat
on his face and was half buried in the swamp. For several minutes
he lay groaning and panting, while we stood close around,
expecting every breath to be his last. Suddenly, however, by a
violent effort he raised himself up, causing us all to step back
a yard or two, when, standing nearly erect, he caught hold of a
small tree, and began to ascend it. Another shot through the back
caused him to fall down dead. A flattened bullet was found in his
tongue, having entered the lower part of the abdomen and
completely traversed the body, fracturing the first cervical
vertebra. Yet it was after this fearful wound that he had risen,
and begun climbing with considerable facility. This also was a
full-grown male of almost exactly the same dimensions as the
other two I had measured.
On June 21st I shot another adult female, which was eating fruit
in a low tree, and was the only one which I ever killed by a
single ball.
On June 24th I was called by a Chinaman to shoot a Mias, which,
he said, was on a tree close by his house, at the coal-mines.
Arriving at the place, we had some difficulty in finding the
animal, as he had gone off into the jungle, which was very rocky
and difficult to traverse. At last we found him up a very high
tree, and could see that he was a male of the largest size. As
soon as I had fired, he moved higher up the tree, and while he
was doing so I fired again; and we then saw that one arm was
broken. He had now reached the very highest part of an immense
tree, and immediately began breaking off boughs all around, and
laying them across and across to make a nest. It was very
interesting to see how well he had chosen his place, and how
rapidly he stretched out his unwounded arm in every direction,
breaking off good-sized boughs with the greatest ease, and laying
them back across each other, so that in a few minutes he had
formed a compact mass of foliage, which entirely concealed him
from our sight. He was evidently going to pass the night here,
and would probably get away early the next morning, if not
wounded too severely. I therefore fired again several times, in
hopes of making him leave his nest; but, though I felt sure I had
hit him, as at each shot he moved a little, he would not go away.
At length he raised himself up, so that half his body was
visible, and then gradually sank down, his head alone remaining
on the edge of the nest.
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