AN ARMY OF APES.

Western Star, Issue 1292, 27 February 1897, Page 1 (Supplement)

AN ARMY OF APES.

BATTLE WITH OURANG OUTANGS. A resident of Malacca thus describes an adventure with ourang outangs whale travelling with his Malay servant, Eamba. We came upon the apes quite unexpectedly within sight of my farmhouse. There were 30 •or 4-0 of them, a fact which is quite contrary to the convictions of some of tbe noble gentlemen who write books on zoology. The loose-balred apes were in a great state of excitement. They seemed to discuss a matter of immense consequence to themselves and shrieked wildly, gesticulating at the same time. All appeared to be above 5 feet high. Indeed many must have reached 7 feet. Suddenly the entire mob turned against tbe ourang outang that stood in their midst like a prisoner. They beat him, using, as far as I could see, their left bands principally. Then a gray-haired man of the woods let oat a terrifying screech, which was probably a signal, for immediately afterward himself and all his mate? began to tear to pieces the comrade condemned to death. I heard his bone* break, so near was I to theplaoe of execution. The ourang outang Cried piteously his voice resembling that of a woman in sore distress. The novel quartering process lasted about half a minute. As the ourang outangs formed a circle around the mutilated body of their victim 1 heard a shot. Pamba had fired in the midst of them. All fled but one, an old ape, which rolled on the ground with a broken arm. The Malay advanced upon him, whereupon the animal ran off. My servant is a native of these parts, and is intimately acquainted with their animal world. He gave as his opinion that these orangoutangs had never seen a white man and did not know anything of firearms. The shot had startled and frightened them. About a week later Pamba appeared breathless in the dining room just as we were sitting down to out evening meal. “ They have come,” he cried “ See for yourself, master.” I walked out on to the veranda, and following the Malay’s direction observed a large number of ourang outangs assembled at the end of tbe carriage way leading to my house. In front of them stood a colossal gray-haired ape, which undoubtedly acted the part of the leader. He was screeching and chattering away at a tremendous rate, pointing toward us as he did so. “Look at his arm,” said Pamba. “ There is where my shot struck him.” It was indeed the ourang outang we had encountered, to his sorrow, some time ago. The longer I observed him the more convinced 1 fbecame of the fact. “We ought to teach him a lesson.” I said. “ Fetch my guns.” Pamba, trembling with blood-thirstiness after the mau•ner of his race, went and returned with lightning rapidity, bat before we could raise the rifles to our cheeks the ourang outangs bad vanished. The servant was rather proud of the a ot. “ Man of the woods is smart animal,” he said. “ Knows when he has enough. Will not stand in front of a gun.” Next morning we found the body of a native child in our front yard. The little one bad been strangled to death. The nail marks at her neck were long and sharp. The ourang outangs had entered upon their campaign of revenge. This death in the circle of natives intrusted to our care struck my poor wife, who was ill, as an evil omen. Her condition became worse and her exoitabilty at last so pronounced that 1 decided to take her to Penang at once and send her home by tbe next mail steamer. Saturday afternoon at three o’clock our carriage was brought up to the door, Pamba took me bj‘ the arm and said, “If master be wise, he will wait until to-morrow and not drive through the forest, which is lull of ferocious beasts.” ■

I laughed away his misgivings. “My good fellow,” I said, “ whoever lieard of an attack of wild animals on Europeans in broad daylight ? Jump in the rear and take care of little Charley. You may take my pistols if you will. The mistress and myself will take the box seats.” “ Master knows better than Poor Pamba,” said the Malay, “ but I warn master of danger.” Travel was comparatively easy during the first hour or so, though the road grew worse all the time the farther wo progressed on the way to the sea. The Malay’s evil predictions,though I would not admit it, had cast a shadow over tbe hopeful frame of mind in which I indulged. Now the forest became thicker, the road more uneven than ever ; thorns and stones interfered with the gait of tbe pony. We had to go at a very slow pace. From Pamba cot a word. In his lap rested my two pistols ; from his girdle hung the krls, a two-edged knife, sharp as a razor, which the natives handle with astonishing dexterity. Just as we were entering upon the second half of our journey we heard sounds over our heads in the trees. They were like, “ Tsjik-tsjik-tsjik.” “Man of the wood is here,”-said Pamba stoically. I looked up. More than a dozen ourang outangs were watching us with gloating big eyes from above. And as we proceeded we observed that each tree forward on the road was manned by a couple of tailless apes, “ They are the sentinels, having mounted guard over us,” whispered the Malay, and half a minute later he added, “ They are forming themselves into an army.” A small troop bub a horrible one ! When we bad passed the first guardhouse tree, its hairy occupants let themselves down to tbe ground and trotted after ns with uncertain, wavering steps, crying their monotonous “ Tsjik-tajik ” and showing their terrible teeth. Tbe farther we proceeded the more numerous the procession grew.

Our pony seemed to be aware of the danger Before I could raise the whip he had entered upon a fast trot and now broke into a gallop. Onward sped our brave pony, but the number of sentinels above us, the army behind us, increased every minute. Now I counted sis apes in each tree on the road. Some of the monsters tried to jump into our carriage from the lower branches, but happily did not calculate with the movements of the horse, and all fell upon the ground. Suddenly an old ape alighted upon the step of the cart. His tremendous jaws for a moment opened not i foot from my face, and a whiff of his polluted breath struck my nostrils. At thifc moment Pamba’s right, armed with an iron bar, descended upon the orang outang’s head, which fell to the ground with a terrible howl. My wife, who had been leaning heavily upon mo for some time, now swooned away, and my two little ones began to cry for help and mercy. I recognised. the impossibility of escape by flight. Our cart was swinging from one side of the way to the other and might turn over at any moment. When the troop of apes was about 75 feet distant from us, I ordered Pamba to Are. “They will run away after the first shot,” I said to myself, doubting the truth of my own statement. The Malay, as if he had followed my thoughts, said : “ Man of the wood knows that we cannot escape; that he got ns. This time he will not turn tail."

One of the apes fell as a result of two shots fired. The others.continued to run after us. I handed Pamba my revolver. He waited until they Were but 20 feet away, then fir-.d six times in quick succession. For a second or so the animals seemed taken by surprise. They had probably anticipated but one shot. Seeing two of their comrades drop, they hesitated, conferred among themselves in their own shrilltoned language, then trotted on. The pony was panting and struggling hard for breath, and the nest house was at least four miles away.

“ Master must go ahead. Pamba will fight man of the wood,” said the Malay after awhile. My head was swimming. With a dying wife and two little ones insane with fright. 1 hardly knew what I was doing, but 1 called out: “Take courage,, boy. We will yet escape them.”

A minute later Pamba rose, placed little Charley lu ray lap and with a voice full of emotion whispered : “ God is good to white man. Master will look after Dhoba and Pamba’s children. Goodbye, master.” Dhoba was the Malay’s wife. With that the brave fellow jumped from tbe waggon, in his right hand the glittering kris. I saw him face the army of apes, dealing terrific blows with his knife. Then as my waggon turned the corner’ he disappeared amid the hundreds of howling, screeching boasts.

We arrived at Penang without further accident. On the next morning I started out with ten well armed men to search for Pamba. Tbe ourang outangs had vanished, Pamba’s body, torn in fifty or more pieces, we found in the roadway, surrounded by eleven dead apes, each one as big as a man. The ourang outang with the broken arm was among them.