from the noise, instead of towards us. Two of them were shot, and by the
stone bolts above mentioned. We now went to fresh ground, when, provoking
to say, the same thing happened again, not without our suspicions being
raised that this was purposely contrived; so that after all we were
obliged to leave without a single shot. Each deer, the largest of which,
a doe, must have weighed a hundred pounds, was shot STANDING, for the
natives have a peculiar cry, which arrests the animal's progress for a
moment, while they fire.

THE JAVANESE COMMANDANT.

The deer were all brought up to the commandant, who begged our acceptance
of them. We thanked him, and took the two smallest. By the time we
reached Pritie they were skinned and hung up, ready to be put into the
boats. The persons who had shot them had received their stone bolts again
very little injured; the hole they make is enormous. We rewarded these
people; but to the commandant we were really at a loss how to express our
obligations. At length we thought of giving him some powder and shot,
which was a present he seemed right glad to receive. I afterwards learnt
the history of this excellent old Javanese, and was surprised and grieved
to hear that a person so universally esteemed had been banished from Java
and his family for some trifling political offence. His property was sold
to purchase his freedom, and the proceeds were entrusted to the captain
of a ship, who ran off with the whole, thus at once ruining a most worthy
family, and reducing my good friend the commandant to the necessity of
remaining in exile. I was glad to hear, on my second visit to Timor, that
he was still alive and well, though without any prospect of an
alleviation to his condition.

Wishing him farewell, we left Pritie with some regret. By dark we had