“I had just come home from an entomologising excursion, when Charles rushed in, out of breath with running and excitement, and exclaimed, interrupted by gasps, ‘Get the gun, sir--be quick--such a large Mias!’ ‘Where is it?’ I asked, taking hold of my gun as I spoke, which happened luckily to have one barrel loaded with ball. ‘Close by, sir--on the path to the mines; he can’t get away.’ Two Dyaks chanced to be in the house at the time, so I called them to accompany me, and started off, telling Charley to bring all the ammunition after me as soon as possible. The path from our clearing to the mines led along the side of the hill, a little way up its slope, and parallel with it at the foot a wide opening had been made for a road, in which several Chinamen were working, so that the animal could not escape into the swampy forest below without descending to cross the road, or ascending to get round the clearing. We walked cautiously along, not making the least noise, and listening attentively for any sound which might betray the presence of the Mias, stopping at intervals to gaze upwards. Charley soon joined us at the place where he had seen the creature, and having taken the ammunition, and put a bullet in the other barrel, we dispersed a little, feeling sure that it must be somewhere near, as it had probably descended the hill, and would not be likely to return again. After a short time I heard a very slight rustling sound overhead, but on gazing up could see nothing. I moved about in every direction, to get a full view into every part of the tree under which I had been standing, when I again heard the same noise, but louder, and saw the leaves shaking, as if caused by the motion of some heavy animal, which moved off to an adjoining tree. I immediately shouted for all of them to come up and try and get a view, so as to allow me to have a shot. This was not an easy matter, as the Mias had a knack of selecting places with dense foliage beneath. Very soon, however, one of the Dyaks called me and pointed upwards, and on looking I saw a great red hairy body and a huge black face gazing down from a great height, as if wanting to know what was making such a disturbance below. 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 twisting 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 mouth: ‘Ya, ya, Tuan! Orang-utan, 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