Transcribe Hornaday, W. T. Letter to Ward, Henry A. (1878-08-30)

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ybg
</u No 24. ?    Simujan River. N. Borneo.
August </u 20th > 1878.
Dear Professor Ward:
     I've been having grand success in
hunting Orangs lately, and am tempted to go a little
into particulars about it, as I feel sure anything about the
Orang utan will be of interest to you. Before I had been here
a week I met an old Dyak who had just come down from
the interior, and among other things he told me that orangs
were plentiful near his village away up the river and that
by going up I would be sure to get two or three ^orangs^ in as many
days. I decided to make a little expedition at once up to
the place he mentioned and set out last Sunday week.
We took two boats, both of them small & light. One was a
broad steady boat, with no load, three men to paddle and
with the decks cleared for action.  </s At the tow > I sat in the
middle of the boat with my rifle, fowling -piece, cartridges &
field glass handy, and our business was to lead the way &
kill whatever we came to. The other boat coming behind us
was provided with a roof & contained all the luggage and my 
faithful </s Chine > Heathen Chinese cook & right hand man besides
two men to paddle.
     We kept on up the river until we began to see Orang
nests, and then we kept a very bright lookout. I must tell
you that an Orang builds a big shambling nest nearly every
night unless he returns to an old one. They are very rude
affairs, nothing but piles of small leafy branches, about 2 to
3 ft in diameter, Often they are placed within 20 ft of
the ground, in the top of small saplings. We passed a great
many of these nests, mostly old, and every object was,
closely scrutinized to see if we couldn't turn out an Orang.
At last about 10 o'clock in the day we saw one on a tree
a hundred yards ahead of us, a real live Orang utan. How
my heart throbbed! But he twigged us as quickly as we
did him & hid himself in the thick leaves of a huge
creeper that encircled the trunk of the tree. We paddled
up as fast as possible but couldn't see a thing until we
got right opposite the tree, when we saw a huge, red,
hairy arm encircling the trunk. As I could do no better
I drew up & sent a bullet through the arm, and then

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ybg </u No 24. ? Simujan River. N. Borneo. August </u 20th > 1878. Dear Professor Ward:

    I've been having grand success in

hunting Orangs lately, and am tempted to go a little into particulars about it, as I feel sure anything about the Orang utan will be of interest to you. Before I had been here a week I met an old Dyak who had just come down from the interior, and among other things he told me that orangs were plentiful near his village away up the river and that by going up I would be sure to get two or three ^orangs^ in as many days. I decided to make a little expedition at once up to the place he mentioned and set out last Sunday week. We took two boats, both of them small & light. One was a broad steady boat, with no load, three men to paddle and with the decks cleared for action. </s At the tow > I sat in the middle of the boat with my rifle, fowling -piece, cartridges & field glass handy, and our business was to lead the way & kill whatever we came to. The other boat coming behind us was provided with a roof & contained all the luggage and my faithful </s Chine > Heathen Chinese cook & right hand man besides two men to paddle.

    We kept on up the river until we began to see Orang

nests, and then we kept a very bright lookout. I must tell you that an Orang builds a big shambling nest nearly every night unless he returns to an old one. They are very rude affairs, nothing but piles of small leafy branches, about 2 to 3 ft in diameter, Often they are placed within 20 ft of the ground, in the top of small saplings. We passed a great many of these nests, mostly old, and every object was, closely scrutinized to see if we couldn't turn out an Orang. At last about 10 o'clock in the day we saw one on a tree a hundred yards ahead of us, a real live Orang utan. How my heart throbbed! But he twigged us as quickly as we did him & hid himself in the thick leaves of a huge creeper that encircled the trunk of the tree. We paddled up as fast as possible but couldn't see a thing until we got right opposite the tree, when we saw a huge, red, hairy arm encircling the trunk. As I could do no better I drew up & sent a bullet through the arm, and then