I
Instantly Fired, And He Made Off At Once, So That I Could Not
Then Tell Whether I Had Hit Him.
He now moved very rapidly and very noiselessly for so large an
animal, so I told the Dyaks to follow and keep him in sight while
I loaded.
The jungle was here full of large angular fragments of
rock from the mountain above, and thick with hanging and twisted
creepers. Running, climbing, and creeping among these, we came up
with the creature on the top of a high tree near the road, where
the Chinamen had discovered him, and were shouting their
astonishment with open mouths: "Ya Ya, Tuan; Orangutan, Tuan."
Seeing that he could not pass here without descending, he turned
up again towards the hill, and I got two shots, and following
quickly, had two more by the time he had again reached the path,
but he was always more or less concealed by foliage, and
protected by the large branch on which he was walking. Once while
loading I had a splendid view of him, moving along a large limb
of a tree in a semi-erect posture, and showing it to be an animal
of the largest size. At the path he got on to one of the loftiest
trees in the forest, and we could see one leg hanging down
useless, having been broken by a ball. He now fixed himself in a
fork, where he was hidden by thick foliage, and seemed
disinclined to move. I was afraid he would remain and die in this
position, and as it was nearly evening. I could not have got the
tree cut down that day. I therefore fired again, and he then
moved off, and going up the hill was obliged to get on to some
lower trees, on the branches of one of which he fixed himself in
such a position that he could not fall, and lay all in a heap as
if dead, or dying.
I now wanted the Dyaks to go up and cut off the branch he was
resting on, but they were afraid, saying he was not dead, and
would come and attack them. We then shook the adjoining tree,
pulled the hanging creepers, and did all we could to disturb him,
but without effect, so I thought it best to send for two Chinamen
with axes to cut down the tree. While the messenger was gone,
however, one of the Dyaks took courage and climbed towards him,
but the Mias did not wait for him to get near, moving off to
another tree, where he got on to a dense mass of branches and
creepers which almost completely hid him from our view. The tree
was luckily a small one, so when the axes came we soon had it cut
through; but it was so held up by jungle ropes and climbers to
adjoining trees that it only fell into a sloping position. The
Mias did not move, and I began to fear that after all we should
not get him, as it was near evening, and half a dozen more trees
would have to be cut down before the one he was on would fall.
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