A STRANGE HUNTING STORY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue 63, 8 April 1881, Page 3

A STRANGE HUNTING STORY.

. . ■ ■. - ■ ♦ . There are very curious and pretty horns in my gun-rack. Once on * time, in guiltlessness of hearh, I committed myself to cerain definitions in zoology, a science I have studied rather with my eyes than with my brain They were wrong, no doubt, for all the flaccid pack of bone collectors set upon and mouthed me ii: their toothless jawa. I left them a* it, staiting for another course of piactical experience. But the incident warns me to be careful in description of technical sort. We used to think in Borneo that the kijong is an an t elope, but probably enough we were mistaken. Whatever its class, it if a pretty littlebeast, ehestnut-cplour-td, standing about two feet high', an/ very good to eat. One. half the sur» face of its horns ie clothed with skin and hair ; a spreading. rim marks thf paint whence springs the true^ antler. O ver w J>he forehead, a ; little branch cuils inward. The tips bend to nieec each other with a slight inclination backwards. Five pairs on either side, form the rack ; at top and bottom pi the frame are horns very similar at first glance, but seem to Jbe radically different on examination. No curling rim sets off the root of the anler. winch rises straight, diverging cuf-i ward. There is no sign of a branc'\ and the width of the forehead is greater. For sixteen years, more or less, I hate been intending to submit these two pairs of horns to. .scientific scrutiny ; for I hive reason to believe they represent a species unknown. ToUtie best «t my- reoollection, th/ kijongs were all shot or speared in tKe net. It is wondious luck to catch these little creatures in the open. Hardly can the European eye perceive the small deer of Borneo, when it browses at sunset among the low close brushwood of the slopes. Its antU>r-tipt> alone are visible among the stalks and branches, betraying ie to the keen^Mgh ed Dyak by their motion. If the least wind be sirring, your best glass will "scaiceiy serve you. Thf guide trembles with impatjeftce as he .direc.ts. .your gaze ; for the sun is going down, mists are riah>g in the vJley whfre you crouch, ..^'eiue shadows Bwiftly mount to quench the lurid glow still burning up aJove. Bit eyes sparkle as he whispers, in a fyre^th'Bcarce audible at three feet distance. !0 is ornaments softly tiuk'e with the quiver of his bodr, like that wh*ii'; ftifci'. > patitnt uaroh, your 4ul) eyi

sees as it were a twig that moves Kinongst the sheeny, gto>sy tangle, '" when the Dyak marks the steadying of your glance, he rises suddenly, his hfiad and neck above the foliage. This is the moment. If your si»ht ia strained upon the proper place, you will see for one short second a small graceful head uptaised, large ears pricked forward, dark pyes fixed upon you. U|jon your conduct at this crisis will depend your, supper.' Hut the kijoug is too s'.nall to show the slightest sign' above ~ the brushwood, arid to wary to be often caught at salt- pans or drin lung-peaces. In fact, I do not remember to have heard any sportsman boast of having shot one fairly—in the open, that is, He' dif fers from the equisire p'landok, th«mouse*>deer. in being only a jungle animal. P'laudok are fond of grass, and with the extremest cnution the lovely lit le creatures may h« stalked. I have somewhere the skull of one shot just ou side my garden fence at Sibi; the smallest of toy-terriers has a bigger he d One day whilst I watdressing 1 skins of birds and snakes, or what not, an'old Konnowir chief ear watching me. " What a f<>ol the lord is !" he observed to m\ interpreter. I have come to think that this opinion of my character mildly expressed 'ho v'ews of long -uffeiiug Ali, but he was hugely indignant. ''This Kennowit man say you fool, sir!" he exclaimed " Whai he mean, the ignorant Leathen ?" " Ask him," I replied ; and it was done with emphasis. Thf worthy savage explained that no one ight,in his head would abandon the luxuries'of-Helati to pick up feathers and rubbish on the. other side of thf* world.' "For," said lie, with the frankness of his uncouth people, "he does not collect things worn having-.' There are charm 8 aruongsj; us Kennowits, aB everybody knows, really useful; but when my brother offered him for sale the wndrnus stone discovered in <f snake's belly, he would not have it. Look at those horns he staking- toßela i; common kijonj*',p, and rusa'sj pip's tusks, and snake's foeth. I possess the horn of a p'landok ! Its fellow was brass, and I melted it to make this siri box. That .is. a real charm* What will-he ffive?" "Show it me!",l. said, not without interest; when 'the chief's words had been duly"' translated. The p'landok in alleged to have no ! orns, and I n«ver saw an examplp o )ho contrary; but a .op lief pro ■ vails, wherever this animal is found, ♦hat very rare individual:; hiK^sem*. kind of exemscenoo on the forehead. WFien the Kennowif produced his -necimen, however, it was evidently no more than a kijong horn, maU formed and stunted. There were other things in the tambok which contained it, a basket of spilt rattans, nrettily dyed acd plaited Turning j it over, T examined the chiefs s*ock of fetishes. They wre the silliest ruhbish possible, tusks and bones and teeth. b»ts of wood curiously twined, knots of hair and pebbles. 'Why," I said to Ali, "This Kennowit man himself lays store by kijong horns!" holding up the proof". My interpreter laughed roughty triumphing over the Kaffir, and all 'he savages assembled made merry it their lord's expense." But he cried, "That a kijorg! It is the charm on which our village depends For its prosperity. No bijong ever

had horns like those They came . 1 the head of an antu." Then he f)ointed out the differences which I "iave mentioned, apparent enough when brought to notice. His people listened with awe. " fell him I will give a quarterdollar for the • thing!" I said to Ali, taking my gun for the evening's strool. The Ken nowit scorned to answer, and I went my way. Later at night, when we had resembled round the fires, I heard the following story. . . . Thus the Kennowit told the legned of his charm. "One day," he, said "after the rice-harvest, I went to seek guttapercha in the woods. It is long ago ; I was a young man, poor, and unconsidered. We Kennowits lived . much farther up the stream then, for the English Bajah had not yet established peace, and, betwixt the Kayansandthe Kyaks,,we led the life of hunted deer. Even in holiday time our warriors did not dare go out, as the custom is, to seek jungle produce. They were brave, they feared no enemy, they had many heads in the pangah. But the women and children were not safe from hour to hour. As for me, I was a single man, in want of a wile ; so I took provisions and set out Giutatrees were common there as bamboos. But on this occasion — it was the strangest thing ! — I could not find a tree. When I climbed a tapong, to overlook the forest, there they stood in dozens ; but all vanished at my approach. Some necromancer had bewitched me. I could pick up gutta-leaves quite fresh, torn off by the monkeys or parrots ; but there was no tree overhead. And yet all this while my angei (omen-bird; flew constantly before me on the right hand, uttering three cries. The grasshoppers were equally propitious. They never sang together, but one at a time, always on the right. I dreamt also of a wife and children, which, as you know, is a sign of extraordinary luck ; but still the gutia-trees disappeared before me. So I went on for a week. With &uch encouragement, no one but a fool would have returned ; but when I found mycelf above the rapids, two day's march in the Kayan country. I was frightened. It was borne in upon me that an antu dogged my track. I made t c figure of an alligator in mud and stuck it full of bamboo spikes. My bird called | Trik, trik,' all the while I was shaping the image, and I knew that it was pleased. At evening time I got into a tree and waited . Something passed softly underneath, stood an instant, breathing in pain , then dashed through • the brushwood. Nest day I cut half a dozen stout bamboos, and sharpened them so keen that they would pierce a plank of iron-wood. With these I made traps, and set them round about the place. I dared not watch again, but lay far off in the woods, trembling. About midnight the forest suddenly echoed with bellowings and screams. Lightning played round me. The trees clashed their branches. In the blue glare I saw fearful shapes, which rushed yelling by me. The marrow withered in my bones, and I turned face downwards to the earth. A hurricane swept through the forest, and lifted me, but I clung fast to roots and bushes. Then tlie rain suddenly swelled and came upon me ; in a flood ; but I struggled against it, and kept my ground. At length, with a last long shriek the tumult stilled. The antu was dead 1" The effect of this story on a superstitious and imaginative audience was striking. Men, women, and children had drawn close to hear. Their wild eyes burned with excitement, and they pressed one on another till the perspiration gleamed on their naked shoulders. At this moment, in the bush outside, a shrill cry rang out, that of a wild cat springing on its victim. The women screamed, the men straggled towards their arms, and all the serried mass rolled on the floor. I laughed heartily, so did my Malays, so did the Kennowits when they recovered from the scare. But the girls ran away, and were seen no more that night. " You looked for the antu in the morning ?" I asked of the chieftain. "What did you find ? " "An awful thing ! Its head was like a panther's, with fangs of steel ; its body like that of a horse, „ and its tail a snake ; that was still alive, and hissed at me. When I struck at it with my parang, it broke away from the body and glided off." " And on the creature's head were those horns?" "Yes, I brought them home, and everything has prospered with me since. Whilst I cut off the antu's head, my omen bird called behind me for the first time. Of course I returned, and everywhere on that same trail, which had not a gutta-tree when I advanced, they grew in clumps. More than that I found gold, and groves of sago, and I know not what. It employed me weeks to bring my promisee to the river, but in all that jbhne no Kayan ever appeared^ Tbecame the richest manJju^nlr^ village, and when we JB&mf, after the English Rajah's coming, the people chose me for their tuah." . What is one to say to this story ? That tbe old man believed it I could scarcely doubt. Many repetitions had increased its marvel, and had furnished the antu with some attributes which Cuviers would have ridnuled ; but a foundation of truth .^Seemed to be discernable.— From "A Traveller's Tales," in All the Year Rotmd.