came out of the adjacent wood, which, from being seldom shot at and regularly fed, are almost tame. Here is a snake story: "One night about nine o'clock," says the author, "I heard a curious noise and rustling overhead, as if some heavy animal were crawling slowly over the thatch. The noise soon ceased, and I thought no more about it and went to bed soon afterwards. The next afternoon just before dinner, being rather tired with my day's work, I was lying on the couch with a book in my hand, when gazing upwards I saw a large mass of something overhead which I had not noticed before. Looking more carefully I could see yellow and black marks, and thought it must be a tortoise-shell put up there out of the way between the ridge pole and the roof. Continuing to gaze, it suddenly resolved itself into a large snake, compactly coiled up in a kind of knot; and I could detect his head and his bright eyes in the very centre of the folds. The noise of the evening before was now explained. A python had climbed up one of the posts of the house, and had made his way under the thatch within a yard of my head, and taken up a comfortable position in the roof; and I had slept soundly all night directly under him. I called to my two boys who were skinning birds below, aud said, Here's a big snake in the roof;' but as soon as I had shown it to them they rushed out of the house and begged me to come out directly. Finding they were too much afraid to do anything, we called some of the labourers in the plantation, and soon had half-a-dozen men in consultation outside. One of these, a native of Bouru, where there are a great many snakes, said he would get him out, and proceeded to work in a business-like manner. He made a strong noose of rattan, and with a long pole in the other hand poked at the snake, who taen began slowly to uncoil itself. He then managed to slip the noose over its head, and getting it well on to the body, dragged the animal down. There was a great scuffle as the snake coiled round the chairs and posts to resist the enemy, but at length the man caught hold of the tail, rushed out of the house (running so quick that the creature seemed quite confounded), and tried to strike its head against a tree. He missed, however, and let go, and the snake got under a dead trunk close by. It was again poked out, and again the Bouru man caught hold of its tail, and running away quickly dashed its head with a swing against a tree, and it was then easily killed with a hatchet." It was about twelve feet long, very thick, and capable of doing much mischief-could have swallowed a dog or child. The ourang-utan is not a carniverous animal, and like most others will retreat rather than show fight, unless compelled to do so in selfdefence or in anger or retaliation, when he becomes a formidable antagonist. A large one being seen by some Dyaks feeding upon the young shoots of a palm by the river side, he made off to the jungle, the people with spears and choppers after him. The man who first came up with him endeavoured to run him through, but the ourang, seizing the spear with his hands, in an instant got the man's arm in his mouth, making his teeth meet in the flesh above the elbow, which he tore dreadfully, but the poor fellow's companions coming up the ourang was killed. The man who was lacerated by its fangs was ill for a long while, and never fully recovered the use of his arm. The strength of hand and finger of the mias or orang-utan must be immense; its favourite fruit is that of the durian, and the animal destroys great quantities, though, strange to say, if clearing in the forest happen to intervene it will not attempt to get across at it. The fruit which is very delicious lies within an exceedingly thick case covered with strong conical spines or spikes; however, he contrives to make a hole, and then by sheer force tears it open. With two exceptions, the mias is never attacked by any other animal, and the author gives verbatim particulars received by him from old Dyak chiefs who had passed their lives in places where the brute is most abundant. One of these said, "No animal is strong enough to hurt the mias, and the only creature he ever fights with is the crocodile." When there is no fruit in the jungle, he goes to seek food on the banks of the river, where there are plenty of young shoots that he likes, and fruits that grow close to the water. Then it is the crocodile sometimes tries to seize him, but the mias gets upon him, and beats him with his hands and feet, and tearing at him kills him. The Orang Kaya, or chief of the Balow Dyaks, declared "the mias has no enemies; no animals dare attack it, but the crocodile and the python. He always kills the crocodile by main strength, standing upon it, pulling open its jaws, and ripping up its throat. If a python attacks a mias, he seizes it with his hands, and then bites it, and soon kills it." "The mias," he added, "is very strong; there is no animal in the jungle so strong as he." Mr. Wallace adverts to the remarkable fact that an animal so large and of such a high type of form as the ourang-utan should be confined to so limited a district as that in which it is found, and then proceeds to comment upon the size attributed to the beast, the actual height being deceptive, as it never walks in an upright position. We have alluded to the powerful character of the hand and fingers, so let the reader conceive what the grasp must be from arms which outstretched will measure from seven feet to seven feet eight inches, Mr. St. John, in his "Life in the Forests of the Far East," mentioning an orang, shot by a friend of his, with an arm measuring seventeen inches in girth, and wrist, twelve. Dr. Clarke Abel describes the skin of an orang, which the captain and crew who killed the creature declared looked so gigantic that they thought it was seven feet high, though they found on measuring it when dead that it was only about six feet. Mr. Wallace queries many of the measurements, and his opinion is of considerable weight, seventeen bodies freshly slain of orangs having been carefully tested by him. He is inclined to believe, however, that the length and strength of the arms, and the width of the face continue increasing to a very great age. When Richard Hakluyt, in the reign of Her Most Excellent Majesty Queen Elizabeth, visited his cousin of the Middle Temple "and found lying open vpon his boord certeine bookes of Cosmographie with an vniversall Mappe," so deep an impression was made upon him by what he read and had explained to him, that he resolved by God's assistance to prosecute the special knowledge and kind of literature relating to travel so happily by chance brought to his notice, and most nobly in after years he carried out his determination. If in these the days of our gracious Queen Victoria Hakluyt could have risen, "with what singular delight he would have bene, as it were, ravished in beholding" innumerable books of travel and maps, and this though "he meddled with the navigations onely of our owne nation." Such works are legion, and amongst them stand out prominently for remarkable details pages like these, a further notice of which we regret being unable to give. TEN THOUSAND MILES OF TRAVEL, SPORT, AND ADVENTURE; by Captain Townshend, 2nd Life Guards. A more interesting book of travel, sport, and adventure than the one under notice has not been published for some time. Life-like descriptions of scenery and manners are interspersed with thrilling adventures by field and flood, thus rendering the volume attractive and instructive to all classes of readers. Captain Townshend seems to possess the faculty of acute observation and the talent of expressing himself in language vigorous and graphic, and at the same time fresh and natural. As a book of travel, it would stand high: as a sporting work, no writer of our day has exceeded him. SALES OF BLOOD STOCK. At Middle Park, Eltham, on Saturday, June 12: Bf by Amsterdam, out of Tease-me-Not (Mr. C. Rayner) 45 40 105 Bc by Saunterer, out of Esther, by Touchstone (Mr. R. Sherwood) Be by King John, out of Gossamer, by Birdcatcher (Col. Astley) Ch c by Gladiateur, out of Celerrima (Mr. Dangan) Ch c by Blair Athol, out of Princess Maud (Lord Anglesey) Ch c by St. Albans, out of Leprosy (Mr. W. S. Crawfurd) Ch f. by Newminster, out of Margery Daw (Mr. Bertram) 65 150 310 450 65 260 55 330 Bc by Dundee, out of Shot, by Birdcatcher (Mr. Merry) Bc by Newminster, out of Battaglia (Mr. Bertram) Be by Buccaneer, out of Ambassadress (Mr. Bertram) 400 1000 520 Ch c by Amsterdam, or Weatherbit, out of Chaperon (Mr. Catley) Blf by St. Albans, out of Blackbird, by Voltigeur (Mr. W. Vaughan) Brf by Saunterer, out of Actress, by Annandale (Col. Astley) GS. Bf by Blair Athol, out of Peasant Girl (Mr. Beadman) Bf by Gladiateur, out of Eltham Beauty (Mr. W. Vaughan) Bf by Ely, out of July (Mr. Joseph Dawson) Ch f by High Treason-The Belle, by Birdcatcher (Mr. Garrett) B f by Saunterer, out of Gratitude (Mr. Pryor) Ch f by Marsyas, out of Elspeth (Mr. Whittaker) Ch f by Saunterer, out of Governess (Mr. T. V. Morgan) Ch f by Gladiateur, out of Lady Chesterfield (Mr. Lincoln) Bc by Newminster, out of Eda (Mr. Heene) At Clumber, on Friday, June 18: THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE'S STUD. YEARLINGS, 70 70 50 100 200 85 140 40 580 150 110 100 115 330 155 55 210 Ch c by Stockwell, out of Contadina (Mr Foy) Bc by Tim Whiffler, out of Topsail (Mr Clayworth) Be by Exchequer or Wingrave, out of Schism (Mr W. S. Crawfurd) Bc by Parmesan, out of Mag on the Wing (Captain Machell) Contadina, by Newminster, out of Mathilde; with a colt by Exchequer, and covered by Schism, by Surplice, out of Latitude; covered by Wingrave (Mr W. S. Crawfurd) 400 30 50 135 50 85 15 20 20 20 30 60 550 100 200 Mag on the Wing, by Magpie, out of Welfare; covered by Jalius (Mr Raincock) Hawthorn Blossom, by Newminster, out of Lady Hawthorn; with a colt by Wingrave, and covered by Julius (M. A. de Montgomerie) 80 560 Merry Bird, by Mountain Deer, out of Maid of Tyne; with a colt by Exchequer, and covered by Julius (Mr Cavaliero)... Polynesian, by Kingston, out of Omoo; with a colt by Exchequer, and covered by Julius (Mr W. S. Crawfurd) 1550 Opoponax, by Drogheda, out of Nerio; with a colt by Wingrave, and covered by him again (Mr Hall) Constance, by Epirus, out of Little Finch; with a colt by Wingrave, and covered by him again (Mr Baily) Zoraide, by Balrownie, out of Lena; with a colt by Wingrave, and covered by Exchequer (Mr Soane)... Gomera, by Marsyas, out of Palma by Plenipotentiary; covered by Julius and Wingrave (Duke of Hamilton) Ladybird, by Newminster, out of Black-eyed Susan; with a colt by Wingrave, and covered by Julius (Mr Blenkiron) 600 700 Nike, by Orlando, out of Ayacanora; covered by Wingrave (Mr Blenkiron) 570 125 140 Voluptas, by Stockwell, out of Extasy; with a colt by The Ranger, and covered by 400 Sidewind, by Scandal, out of Breeze; covered by Exchequer (Mr Ambery) 50 95 HORSES IN TRAINING. Pericles, by Newminster, out of Peri, 6 years (Captain Machell) Artemis, by Ivan, out of Diana, 3 years (Mr Soane) Melan, by Lord of the Isles, out of Mag on the Wing, 2 years (Mr Soane) Grand Falconer, by St Albans, out of Hawthorn Blossom, 2 years (Mr Blenkiron) STALLIONS. Exchequer, by Stockwell, out of Stamp (Mr W. Smith) Pace, by Caterer, out of Lady Trespass (Duke of Hamilton)... At Albert-gate, on Monday, June 21: THE PROPERTY OF SIR T. B. LENNARD. Carousal, 5 years, by Sir John Barleycorn, out of Skylark by Peep-o'-Day Boy (Mr ... Ch m, 5 years, by Sir John Barleycorn, dam by Marshal Soult (Mr Bartlett) MR. HILTON'S YEARLING. Be by Ely, out of Steel Pen (Mr Heene) THE EARL OF HOWTH'S YEARLING. Bre by Plum Pudding, out of Sister to St Lawrence, by Dr O'Toole (Mr Nightingall) THE DISS YEARLINGS. Be by Vedette, out of Nunnery, by Kingston (Mr Graham)... Bre by Vedette, out of Fiction, by Flying Dutchman (Mr Toynbee) Be by Lacydes, out of Bay Rosalind, by Orlando (Mr Richards) Bre by Vedette, out of Antidote, by Kingston (Lord Meath) Ch e by Lacydes, out of Sooloo, by Stockwell (Captain Machell) Bf by Lacydes, out of Scandal, by The Libel (Mr Moore) Br yearling c by Rataplan, out of Adelaide, by Cotherstone (Mr Johnson) By Messrs. Tattersall, at Newmarket, in the July Meeting: DISS YEARLINGS. Bay colt by Vedette, dam by Cowl (Mr. C. Rayner) Bay colt by Vedette, out of Castanette by Pelion (Mr. Wright) Bay colt by Vedette, out of Rather High by Venison (Mr. C. Rayner) MAJOR BARLOW'S YEARLING. Thunderer, ch c by Thunderbolt, out of Homily (Mr. W. S. Crawfurd) THE PROPERTY OF MR. C. NAYLOR. Sister to Wild Briar by Stockwell, out of Summerside, 2 yıs (Mr. C. A. Parker) DISS YEARLINGS. Bay filly by Lacydes, out of Miss Sellon by Cowl (Mr. R. Porter) Filly by Promised Land, dam by Cotherstone, out of Catalpa (Mr. Parlby) Colt by Vedette, out of Ellen Percy (Mr. Gunn)... Mare by Y. Flatcatcher, dam by Paragone; covered by The Ranger (Mr. Sanger) |