et long, and less than an inch in diameter, made of very hard wood,
skilfully and accurately bored, and smoothed inside.

The parong latok, already described, is a heavy sword. It has a head,
sometimes carved as an ornament, so that it cannot slip from the hand.
At about one-third of its length from this head, it bends at an abrupt
angle of about thirty-five degrees, and it makes a very ugly-looking
weapon.

"I suppose you all know that a mias is an orang-outang," said Louis. "No
doubt the weapons carried up to the tree are to be used in killing the
game when the tree comes down. We could easily bring down both; but we
won't fire at them, for I think we are all curious to see how the Malays
will manage the affair. The chopper has already made a big cut in the
tree, and I doubt if Lane could have done the work any quicker."

The carpenter did not say anything, but no doubt he was greatly
surprised at the rapid progress the native made with the biliong. He had
cut the tree more than half-way through the trunk; and it was evident
that he intended it should fall towards the river, for the second Malay
was clearing away the ground on that side so that they might have a fair
field for the fight that was to ensue. The chopper attacked the other
side of the tree, and seemed to deal his blows with even more vigor than
before.

The old orang kept up a constant growling. She had a nest just above the
limb where she sat, which was quite green, indicating that it had been
recently built. It was composed of the branches of the tree small enough
to be easily broken off by the "jungle man." They were simply placed in
a heap on the limb, with no particular shaping of the resting-place.

"She makes a new nest when the branches of the old one get dry; she like
a soft bed," said Achang. "But the tree will come down now; big fight,
they kill her."

He had hardly spoken these words before the tree suddenly toppled over,
and fell upon the ground with a heavy crash. The orangs seemed to have
no idea of what was going on at the foot of the tree, and they were
pitched out. The chopper seized one of the spears, and rushed after the
old one. The tree prevented the party on board the yacht from seeing the
expected battle; and with their rifles in their hands, the "Big Four"
sprang ashore, and secured a favorable position. The crew followed them,
though the engineer remained at his post.

The first Malay, who had done the chopping, had confro