. Two years in the jungle : the experiences of a hunter and naturalist in India, Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula and Borneo . Malays were thunderstruck when I pulled off my shoes andtold them to put me ashore. Seeing that I was really going,Francis, like a good boy, did not hesitate to follow, and we steppedout of the sampan into mud and water hip deep. We will never know the actual depth of the mud on that bank,but we sank into it to our knees at every step, and were fortunateenough to stop sinking at that point. What a circus it must havebeen for those who looked on ! But, in for a penny in for
. Two years in the jungle : the experiences of a hunter and naturalist in India, Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula and Borneo . Malays were thunderstruck when I pulled off my shoes andtold them to put me ashore. Seeing that I was really going,Francis, like a good boy, did not hesitate to follow, and we steppedout of the sampan into mud and water hip deep. We will never know the actual depth of the mud on that bank,but we sank into it to our knees at every step, and were fortunateenough to stop sinking at that point. What a circus it must havebeen for those who looked on ! But, in for a penny in for a pound,and, bidding Francis choose the largest fish when possible, we wentfor them. There were probably a dozen in sight, hopping spasmodically about, or lying at rest on the mud, but when we selectedthe nearest large specimens and made for them, they developed sur-prising energy and speed, and made straight for their burrowaThey progressed by a series of short but rapidly repeated jumps,accomplished by bending the hinder third of the body sharplyaround to the left, then straightening it very suddenly, and at th«. ON THE SELANGORE SEA-COAST. 309 same instant lifting the front half of the body clear of the groundby means of the armlike pectoial fins which act like the front flip-pers of a sea lion. These fins are almost like arms in their struct-ure and use, the bones being of gi-eat length, and thus giving themember great freedom of movement. Owing to the soft and yield-ing nature of the mud the leaps were short, about six inchesbeing the distance gained each time, but they were so rapid, themud so very deep and our progress so slow, the fish always suc-ceeded in aettine: into their holes before we could reach burrows were simply mud-holes, going straight down to adepth of three to four feet, large enough in diameter to admit amans arm easily, and, of course, full of water. Although the mudwas soft it was not sticky, and we were able to use our hands forspades very
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjecte, booksubjecthunting
