CHAPTER XXIX

ROD, SHOTGUN AND RIFLE

The Philippines offer strong attractions to the devotees of the shotgun and the rifle, and they are a fisherman's paradise.

Having in my earlier days spent some four years in collecting natural history specimens in the islands I did not need to be enlightened as to the pleasure which might be had in hunting ducks, snipe, shore birds, jungle fowl, and wild pigeons; nor as to those afforded to the hunter of large game by bringing down wild carabaos, hogs, and deer, bagging an occasional man-eating crocodile, or trying to outwit the wily tamarau of Mindoro, which is one of the most difficult of all forest-inhabiting ruminants to track down and kill, and has an uncomfortable habit of hunting the hunter when molested; but now, in view of my neglected early opportunities, I must confess with shame and confusion of face that it remained for Governor-General Forbes to show me, after I had resided in the islands for sixteen years that I had been missing a sport fit for kings by not sooner taking up fishing in the sea.

To one who has been even temporarily attached to a hundred-pound barracuda through the medium of a split bamboo rod, a tarpon reel, three hundred yards of line, and a good strong spoon hook, or has fought a sixty-pound tanguingui, or even a thirty-pound pampano, to a finish, it seems strange that any one should ever have characterized fishing as a "gentle art."

If good old Sir Izaak Walton had struggled with a big tuna until his fingers and thumbs were blistered or skinned, and every muscle in his body was tired and sore, only to see a huge shark bite his finny prey off back of the gills when it was almost ready to gaff, it is possible that his language in discussing fishing would have been less mild, and his general attitude toward the subject less gently philosophic.

Verily, Sir Izaak missed much by not having been born after modern fishing tackle had been invented and employed in taking the denizens of deep tropical seas. Let no one be unduly dismayed over the diminution of big game fish in the vicinity of Catalina Island, or off the Florida coast, for among the myriad islands of the Philippine Archipelago one may fish to one's heart's content, visiting grounds already well known, or seeking new ones for himself, in the assurance that the supply of marine game fishes will not be perceptibly diminished for many a long year to come.

Soon after his arrival, Governor-General Forbes began to inquire about the opportunities for sea fishing. He received little reliable information and less encouragement, but undeterred, proceeded to find out for himself when and where to fish and what tackle to use in order to obtain the best results. At the outset his efforts netted him few fish or none, but he kept at it as opportunity offered, and, thanks to his perseverance, the sport is now firmly established on a sound basis.

One must have rod, reel, line and gaff suitable for tarpon fishing, and an abundant supply of good spoon hooks, wire leaders and swivels. Live bait and cut bait are as useful here as elsewhere, but game fish are so abundant, and spoon hooks have proved so successful in taking them, that comparatively little use has as yet been made of other lures. One should fish from a power boat which can be slowed down to four miles an hour without stopping, and will safely ride a moderately heavy sea.

When thus equipped, if the fisherman hies him to the edge of a coral reef where the bottom slopes steeply downward, runs the boat so that he sees green water on one side and black water on the other, and pays out fifty to a hundred yards of line, he will not have long to wait before his reel sings the merry tune so dear to the heart of his kind, and he finds himself vainly striving, with both thumbs on the brake, to lower the pitch of that insistent high note by slowing down the speed of the barracuda which has grabbed the spoon, hooked itself securely, and started for the coast of China with the obvious intention of getting there before dark.

A big barracuda may take fifty yards of line in his first rush and he may take two hundred, but one can be certain that when he is finally stopped he will jump clear of the water, and then will jump again just to show that he means it. After that, as he is reeled in, he will jump some more to keep up the interest. Ultimately, having acquired the habit of coming toward the boat, he will continue to practise it until he sees that craft, whereupon he is likely to start off at a rate which makes his first rush seem slow and deliberate. Now and then he will run down on the line for variety's sake, and then is the time for the boatmen to get into action, for if he gets slack line nothing remains but to bid him good-by as cheerfully as possible.

The largest specimen yet taken in the Philippines and actually weighed was a hundred ten pound monster caught on a trolling line trailed behind the coast guard cutter Polillo, on which I was making an inspection trip along the west coast of southern Palawan.

The largest specimen yet taken with rod and reel weighed fifty-two and eight-tenths pounds. It was brought to gaff in Biobican Bay by Governor Leo J. Grove of Nueva Vizcaya.

Very numerous individuals weighing between twenty and forty-five pounds have been captured, and the only reason why numbers of much larger specimens have not been taken is that tackle was not strong enough, or the skill of the fishermen was not sufficiently great. Big barracudas have teeth that would do credit to small sharks, and have sawed through or broken many a wire leader.

In the Philippines, as in other civilized countries, there are not lacking narrators of good "fish stories." From Filipino residents of San Juan, Siquijor, I recently heard a tale of a barracuda which towed a native dugout boat all day, jumping frequently, and was finally cut loose after dark by its disgusted would-be captors who found themselves unable to tire it out!

Of tanguingui, or sail fish, there are at least two species. The smaller commonly attains a weight of twenty to forty pounds. In the open sea off the coast of Leyte I took a specimen which measured sixty-four inches in length and weighed sixty-five pounds. It proved to be of a species new to science. This magnificent fish, when fresh from the sea, was a sight calculated to cheer a graven image.

Tanguingui fight much as do barracuda, except that they seldom jump out of the water after being hooked unless pursued by sharks. This seems strange, as under normal conditions they leap for the pure joy of the thing, attaining heights which I hesitate to specify lest I be held to have qualified for the Ananias club. I know of nothing more startling in its way than the shock one gets when his eye has missed the upward leap of a big tanguingui but catches the fish as it is dropping back toward the sea, apparently from the clouds.

While barracuda and tanguingui may be taken throughout the year, there seems to be a time when the fish of the latter species "run." At all events they are found in great numbers during April and May in the vicinity of Fortune Island, a short distance south of Manila Bay, but are very scarce, or entirely absent, there during the remainder of the year. I once visited the famous fishing grounds around Tanguingui Island, north of Cebú, in August, only to be assured by a light-keeper that I would find no fish at that season. He said that the barracuda would return in November and the tanguingui in February. His prediction as to the fishing in August promptly came true.

Pampano rank high among the game fish of the Philippines. What will California coast fishermen, accustomed to taking little fellows weighing a pound or two, say to fifty-pound individuals? I can imagine what they would say if not confronted by hard facts, but the truth is that a number of such pampanos have already been taken with rod and reel in the Philippines, and that there are plenty more waiting to be caught. During a trip to Palawan in December, 1911, Captain Tornroth of the coast guard cutter Polillo took a forty-nine-pound specimen. The same evening Dr. Victor G. Heiser, Director of Health, took an individual weighing thirty-two pounds. The following August the record was raised first to fifty-three pounds and then to sixty-three and a half pounds, the latter fish being caught by Mr. Frank W. Sweitzer.

The pampano takes the hook with a rush and seldom misses his strike. He never leaps while being played, but helps himself to line very liberally at the outset and runs deep at once. A large specimen is never satisfied until almost directly under the boat with several hundred feet of line out, and will get bottom, snag the line on a sharp point of rock or a branch of coral, and break away, if such a thing is materially possible. A pampano never quits fighting until he is in the boat, and is an adept at turning up his broad side after being hooked and swimming in a circle, resisting to the utmost all efforts to raise him. Under reasonably favourable circumstances it usually takes from twenty minutes to half an hour to land a twenty-five-pound individual. Pampano run in schools and when they once begin to bite the fun is fast and furious.

The sergeant fish is one of the gamest fighters for his weight to be met with in Philippine waters. He keeps up his determined rushes until brought to the side of the boat and leaps frequently while being played, at the same time making vigorous efforts to shake the hook. None of the specimens so far taken have exceeded twenty pounds in weight.

Ocean bonito are often met with in great schools and present a wonderful sight when one drives one's boat among them and sees them leaping high into the air, close at hand, on every side. The largest specimen yet caught with rod and reel is a sixty-pounder taken by Governor Forbes. I have seen numerous individuals which must certainly have weighed a hundred pounds or more.

Red snappers weighing five to twenty pounds also occur in great schools. They are usually caught with bait by sinking in deep water, but at times take the spoon freely. The larger individuals make a game fight. Annually during November and December these fish run in very large numbers from Naujan Lake in Mindoro to the sea. Whether or not they can be captured with rod and line while in fresh water remains to be determined.

The lapu-lapu, or "groupers," of which there are twenty-four known species in the Philippines, do not attain very great size, but are much prized on account of the delicious flavour of their especially tender flesh. Dr. Heiser has taken one weighing twenty-two pounds and I have seen the dried flesh of one which must have weighed approximately forty pounds. The colouring of a number of the species is extraordinarily beautiful. Some are light gray with round blue spots; others carmine red with blue spots over the body and blue lines and bars about the head; others are dark blue with carmine spots. There seems no end to the variety and beauty of the colour patterns, and each new one appears for the moment more wonderful than those which one has seen before.

Lapu-lapu have a special fondness for crevices in the rocks, and for holes in coral reefs, and in consequence are responsible for the loss of much good tackle. One must fight them from the moment they strike and give them no slack. The penalty for any carelessness in this regard is a broken line.

Leather jacks, commonly called dorados in the Philippines on account of their beautifully coloured yellow bellies, are extraordinarily abundant at certain seasons of the year when they run into the shallow waters at the heads of bays and sounds, apparently to spawn. When encountered at all they afford good sport for their size, fighting well and frequently making splendid leaps out of the water even after they are brought close to the boat and are apparently tired out. They commonly run from five to fifteen pounds in weight, but occasionally reach eighteen or twenty pounds.

The Philippine giant sea-bass, or jewfish, belongs to the same family as does the California species. While I was on shore at Mæander Reef in August, 1911, numerous hand lines with which sailors were fishing from the Polillo were carried away by jewfish. With the permission of the captain, the ship's log line was then pressed into service. I returned to the steamer just in time to assist in landing a hundred-and-thirty pound specimen. A steam trawler, which operated for a short time in the Philippines, took a specimen seven feet three inches in length, which weighed three hundred thirty-four and a fourth pounds.

In Coron Passage during July, 1911, I fought a very large fish, probably a jewfish, for an hour and twenty minutes, at the end of which time his dead weight broke my line when Governor Forbes, who was with me, attempted to lift him by it after he had indulged in a prolonged sulk in deep water. Although I had fought him steadily, I could not see that I had tired him in the least. In the course of the fracas the butt of my rod had made a two by three inch black and blue spot on my right leg and had worn the skin off over a similar area on my left leg, while my abdomen lacked a good deal of epidermis and I was tempted to believe that it lacked some dermis as well. My companions who witnessed the fruitless fight christened this particular fish the "sea carabao." [157]

Belt and socket should, of course, be used in fighting fish of such size. Heavy cots for the thumb and first finger of the left hand and the thumb of the right hand are very essential. I once got a badly burned thumb because I thought that I was not likely to hook a fish which would make a quarter-inch-thick leather brake heat through. A big ocean bonito promptly undeceived me.

Very exciting sport may be had by harpooning the huge rays which come to the surface in great numbers at certain seasons of the year. Specimens thirty feet across have been taken in the vicinity of the island of Siquijor. When one of these great fishes is harpooned, Filipino fishermen make two or three large boats fast to it as soon as possible for the reason that a single boat might be dragged under. Even so the taking of giant rays is not unattended with danger, for they make most extraordinary leaps into the air, and were one of them to fall on a boat the result would be disastrous.

We have knowledge of the existence of other very large game fishes which we have not as yet so much as seen. One species is taken by the natives of Siquijor, who use a three-quarter inch Manila rope and fish in water of considerable depth. A number of boats work close together and as soon as a fish is hooked all flock to the assistance of the lucky fisherman. A tremendous struggle then ensues and we are assured that if the fish is landed, it makes a meal for a whole village. What this species may be we do not know.

One of the charms of fishing in the Philippines lies in the fact that one can never tell what one is going to strike next. At Mæander Reef I took the first yellowtail ever caught in the islands with rod and line. Doubtless there are plenty more where that one came from. Indeed, yellowtails are common in the market at Zamboanga at certain seasons. Off the coast of Mindoro I took the first dolphin known to have been captured in these waters. On a recent trip I took a large porgy of a species new to the Philippines and likely to prove new to science. As yet we have hardly begun to explore the fishing grounds. What shall we find among the swift currents of the Batanes Islands, and what along the barrier reef of the unexplored east coast of northern Luzón? No one knows!

Although some 1400 species of fish have already been reported from the Philippines, new ones are constantly being added to the list, and it is rather a rare event when a returning party of fishermen fails to present the ichthyologist with one or more puzzles. On my first trip to Apo Reef, Dr. Heiser hooked a tremendous fish which leisurely went its way regardless of his efforts to control its movement. At one time it deigned to come under the bottom of the launch and within forty feet of the surface, where it could be seen with perfect distinctness. It was a long, slender, gamy-looking creature weighing perhaps one hundred fifty pounds, and it had vertical yellow bars on its sides. No such fish is known from these waters. Having viewed the boat to its satisfaction, it proceeded to go back to the reef and to take refuge under its overhanging edge. Vigorous efforts to dislodge it, lasting for half an hour, resulted only in sawing off a heavy wire leader.

One may tire for the moment of catching fish, but with a glass-bottomed boat at his disposal he will never tire of looking at them as he floats over the wonderful coral reefs for which the archipelago is famous. Certainly there are no "sea gardens" anywhere which can excel those of the Philippines. The powerful tropical sun penetrates the marvellously clear sea water to a great depth, revealing marine animal and plant life in endlessly varied and marvellously beautiful forms which beggar description. Former Secretary of War Dickinson is a rather serious-minded man, but when he gazed for the first time through the glass bottom of a boat into one of these wonder houses of nature, he shouted in his excitement and delight for all the world like a small and enthusiastic boy.

In a few moments one may see fish of the most amazing forms and extraordinarily bizarre colours: huge sharks; enormous rays; great sea-turtles; clam shells big enough for children's bath-tubs; sea-urchins; starfish; sea-anemones; jellyfish in endless variety of form and colour; sea-fans; and many other varied forms of marine animal and plant life.

When one grows weary of the water, one may land on snowy coral-sand beaches, bordered by cocoanut palms, may visit old deserted Spanish forts rapidly being invaded by rank tropical vegetation; may gather exquisite orchids; or may for the time being substitute hunting for fishing. In the Sulu Sea he may visit wonderful bird islands where the feathered folk refuse to get out of his way and peck viciously at his legs if he comes too near.

All these delightful experiences may be had without suffering any discomfort from the Philippine climate, concerning which such absurd ideas prevail among the uninformed. From November to March the temperature is delightful, except during the midday hours of bright days, when fish do not bite well in any event, and when sensible people keep off the water.

Thus far I have referred only to those game fishes which I myself have taken, or concerning which I happen to have personal knowledge. I will now briefly summarize what is at present known about the game fishes of the Philippines.

The albacore is fairly common, especially during the cooler months.

Amberjacks, reaching a length of two feet or more, are also common.

There are barracudas of seven different species, some of which attain a length of six feet and weigh a hundred pounds or more.

Bonitos of four different species have been taken. The "ocean bonito" and the "true bonito" are both abundant and afford fine sport. The larger individuals sometimes attain a weight of a hundred pounds or more.

There are six different species of croakers, also called roncadores. Some individuals reach a weight of a hundred pounds.

Groupers, locally known as lapu-lapu, are found in great variety, no less than twenty-four species having been recorded.

Hardtails, reaching a length of three feet, are abundant.

Leather-jacks, commonly called dorados, are also very abundant. They take the spoon freely and fight well. In weight they commonly run from five to fifteen pounds.

There are several small species of mackerel which are excellent table fish and afford fair sport.

Pampanos are found in great variety, no less than thirty species having already been recorded. Individuals weighing as much as fifty pounds are not uncommon.

Porgies of twelve different species have been taken, and some of the individuals have weighed up to thirty pounds.

Of snappers we have thirty-four known species. The red snapper not infrequently attains a weight of twelve to fifteen pounds, and the larger individuals fight well. At times they take the spoon freely. The gray snapper runs up to forty pounds in weight and makes a good fight. The rivulated snapper, which takes its name from the form of its beautiful colour pattern, is a good game fish, and I have seen specimens which weighed up to twenty pounds.

Sea-bass of two distinct species are common. Specimens weighing fifty to seventy-five pounds are frequently seen in the markets. The largest specimen as yet recorded from the islands weighed three hundred thirty-four and a fourth pounds.

Spanish mackerel, or tanguingui, are common throughout the islands at the proper season. A very intelligent Filipino collector of natural history specimens in the service of the government, who saw my sixty-five-pound specimen landed, assured me that he had previously seen larger ones caught.

Swordfish, nine feet or more in length, may be taken during the cooler months.

Tarpons up to five feet in length may be taken at the proper season, off the mouths of large streams. The species is distinct from that found in Atlantic waters, and the young take the fly freely.

Ten pounders, commonly called bid-bid in the Philippines, are not uncommon, and in spite of their name often attain a weight of thirty pounds.

Tunas. The great, or leaping, tunas are met with in large schools during the winter months. The natives call them "cachareta." So far as I am aware, none have yet been taken with rod and line, but their capture is, of course, only a question of time.

I believe it certain that the Philippines will become a Mecca for deep-sea fishermen, and to the end that piscatorial pilgrims may not come in vain, reliable data are being gathered and compiled by the Division of Fisheries of the Bureau of Science. The exact locations where exceptionally good catches are made are being marked on a comprehensive series of charts which cover the entire archipelago, and an accurate card record is also kept giving full information as to the localities where, the seasons when and the weather conditions under which exceptional catches have been made. Fishermen seeking fine sport and novel experiences will surely not be disappointed if they come to the Philippines.

While it is possible to find sheltered waters at any season, and to take fish throughout the year, our experience thus far seems to justify the belief that the months from January to August are on the whole the most favourable ones.

Fishermen may establish themselves at some favourable point, such as one of the many excellent camping grounds on Malampaya Sound, and work from this as a base, with no other water transportation than the motor boats from which they fish. Those who wish to have a good movable base of operations and to explore for themselves may, by making seasonable application, secure the use of one of the government coast guard boats at a cost of $115 a day. These convenient little vessels measure one hundred forty-eight feet over all and draw nine to eleven feet of water, according to the amount of coal carried and its distribution. They are safe in all weathers. Most of them have four good staterooms for passengers, with berths for eight people; but as they are provided with good double awnings and have abundant deck room, a much larger number of persons can be made comfortable, if willing to sleep on deck, using the staterooms for dressing-rooms. As a matter of fact, people who have been long in the islands seldom think of sleeping inside. The coast guard boats readily carry four motor boats on their davits, and two more might be placed on deck forward. The Negros is especially fitted out, and has stateroom accommodations for twenty people. All of these vessels have electric light, refrigerating plants and distilling plants.

I know of nothing more delightful than to explore the shores and bays of this wonderful archipelago in such a vessel, fishing and landing when and where one pleases. With the certainty of fine weather during the winter months the nights under the deck awnings are a delight, and nothing will more promptly restore jangling nerves to a normal state, straighten out impaired digestion and bring back vigorous health, than will such a salt water fishing trip in the Philippines.

Ducks and snipe are the stand-bys for the hunters who love the shotgun. A few years ago magnificent duck shooting was to be had on the Laguna de Bay, as well as in the province of Bataan just across the bay from Manila. Unfortunately the ducks on the Laguna were educated by some stupid fellows who shot at them with a Colt automatic gun. The ideas which they then developed as to danger zones seem to have persisted ever since, and it is now difficult to get within range of the great flocks which still continue to frequent this the largest fresh-water lake in the Philippines.

Ducks have been shot in season and out of season around the water-holes in Bataan and in the Candaba Swamp, as well as in the vicinity of the fish pens in Bulacan. The shooting has fallen off rapidly here, and in Nueva Ecija and Tarlac, for the same cause. We are powerless to remedy this condition. Some years ago a law was passed authorizing the secretary of the interior to provide regulations governing the seasons during which game might be shot, but through oversight no penalty was provided for the infraction of these regulations, and the assembly has persistently refused to amend the law in this respect.

On Naujan Lake in Mindoro, and elsewhere in the provinces, magnificent duck shooting may still be had. The whistling tree-duck and the Philippine mallard are the two species which afford the best sport, although pin-tails, bluebills, widgeons, and blue- and green-wing teal come in on migration as does a tiny goose, smaller than the ordinary duck. Several other species stray into the southern Philippines from the Celebes, while at least one Formosan species sometimes visits the Batanes Islands.

Jacksnipe come to the islands in enormous numbers from Asia, usually arriving about the middle of August in northern and central Luzón and gradually working their way south to Mindanao. The return migration commonly comes during February. The flight of the Asiatic jacksnipe is exactly like that of his American brother. In fact only an ornithologist can distinguish between the two species. A bag of one hundred birds to the gun is by no means unusual at the height of the season, and a strong sentiment is developing among Americans in favour of limiting the bag.

There are very numerous species of pigeons and doves in the Philippines. All of them are excellent table birds and several of them offer good sport. If one can take up his position under a fruit tree frequented by the great gray and green pigeons, known locally as baluds, about the middle of the afternoon he will get a wonderful series of shots at incoming birds flying fifty or more yards up in the air. They approach very rapidly, so that one must lead them a long distance, "pulling them out of sight" in order to bring them down. One may burn many a cartridge before he learns the knack of stopping these powerful, swift-flying birds. During certain seasons the larger pigeons roost, in countless thousands, in trees on little isolated cays remote from the larger islands, where wonderful shooting may be had during the morning and evening flights.

Junglefowl, the ancestors of all our domestic breeds of poultry, are to be found throughout the islands but only in a few places do they offer much opportunity for the sportsman who likes to kill his birds on the wing. Prior to the last eruption they were very numerous on the slopes of Taal Volcano.

A party which happened to visit Cavilli, a small isolated coral island in the Sulu Sea, once found it alive with junglefowl. No one else has ever seen any there. Obviously a great flock flew in and then flew away again.

## Particularly fine sport may be had on Fuga Island by walking along

the edge of the forest in the late afternoon. The birds which are then feeding in the open fly straight for cover and present difficult cross shots.

The larger hornbills are very good to eat, but as easy to hit on the wing as a fair-sized door sailing through the air would be, so do not offer much sport.

Wild hogs are abundant throughout the archipelago. Deer are found on nearly all of the islands, but there are several noteworthy exceptions, such as Palawan and Cebú. The Filipinos are very fond of hunting deer. Sometimes they run them down with dogs and drive them into nets where they lance them--a most unsportsman-like proceeding. The wealthier Filipinos like to take up their stations at good strategic posts, and then have the country beaten toward them. In this way they sometimes get fifty or more deer in a single drive. I have never been able to see anything very exciting about this method of hunting.

It is very good sport, on occasion, to still-hunt deer. The best deer shooting I have ever had was at what is called the Cogonal Grande in the center of the island of Culion. It is a great circular valley sloping very gradually toward the center. Its higher portions are overgrown with cógon grass which gives the valley its name. Probably it was once the bed of a lake. At all events its center is swampy at the present time and has grown up into a hopeless jungle of pandanus, bamboo grass, etc., through which runs a maze of deer paths. Numerous little cañons lead down from the neighbouring hills to this valley and each of them has forest in it.

In the month of December, when the cógon is dry, if fired it burns toward the centre on all sides until the blaze reaches the wet swampy portion where the vegetation is not dry enough to burn. If dogs are then put into the little stretches of forest which run down the ravines toward the open valley, they almost invariably drive out deer which run straight for the tangle at its centre, necessarily crossing ground which has been burned bare.

As a result one gets hard cross shots but has the advantage of seeing every bullet strike, as the soil is very dry at this season. This makes interesting shooting. One gets game enough to keep the camp in meat and not enough so that he feels like a butcher.

Many hunters go out at night with bull's-eye lanterns, shine the deer and fire at their eyes. This is not so bad as jacking them from a boat, because a man who hunts on foot necessarily makes a good deal of noise, and they are apt to become alarmed and run away, whereas one can approach in a boat so silently that they do not hear the noise of the paddles or the rippling of the water.

Hunting at night in this way in the Philippines is very interesting. One sees all sorts of nocturnal animals which are never met with by day, and also gets a good opportunity to pick up owls, nighthawks and other birds which are not ordinarily taken except by accident. However, the ordinary hunter is not an ornithologist, and does not care for such opportunities.

Wild hogs are hunted much as are deer. They drive readily. On account of the habit of the old boars of turning and facing dogs when the latter molest them, it is easy to bring them down.

The common people kill wild hogs with spears after the dogs have brought them to bay. This is by no means a safe undertaking, as some of the old boars attain tremendous size, have very formidable tusks and are capable of killing a man in short order if able to come to close quarters with him.

The wild hogs of the Philippines are very cleanly beasts. They take daily baths whenever possible, and often build for themselves beds of clean, fresh brush. They are extremely intelligent animals, and it is therefore very difficult to still-hunt them. In view of their huge bulk and ungainly proportions the absolute silence with which they move through the forests cannot fail to impress one who sees them stealing quietly along. After being disturbed they make plenty of noise as they rush away.

One of the best ways to still-hunt them is to secrete one's self near a water hole which they frequent for bathing purposes, but their sense of smell is very keen, and if the wind happens to blow in the wrong direction they will not approach the place where a hunter is lying in wait.

Wild hogs are fruit eaters for the most part, and their flesh is delicious. They are enormously abundant on the island of Tawi Tawi, where the durian tree abounds. The Moro inhabitants will not touch them, and as food is very plentiful during much of the year the island swarms with them, and they attain the largest size. Moros say that during the fruit season they become so covered with fat that if pursued for any length of time they fall, overcome by the heat and the running!

When I was in Tawi Tawi in 1901 with Dr. Bourns and a Filipino helper, one of us took a rifle along each morning when we went out to collect birds and in a few moments, after finishing his bird shooting for the day, was able to kill hogs enough to keep not only our party but the local Spanish garrison in meat, while the lard which our servants tried out lasted us for more than a year thereafter.

There are two animals in the Philippines which can with propriety be dignified by the name of "big game." These are the wild carabao, which is still to be found in various parts of the archipelago, and the tamarau, a true buffalo of a species which occurs nowhere in the world except on the island of Mindoro.

The wild carabao is a formidable antagonist, hard to stop and a vicious fighter after he is once wounded. Under ordinary circumstances he is very wary and difficult to approach. It is highly important in hunting him to use bullets with great stopping power. A number of men have been killed in the Philippines by wild carabaos which they had severely wounded. The most recent case which has come to my knowledge was that of a Mr. Barbour, in Mindoro. He was an old hand at the game, and had killed fifty-odd specimens. He shot a bull three times and it dropped apparently dead. Walking close up to it he dropped the butt of his rifle to the ground between his legs, and held the barrel with his knees while trying to light a cigarette. Without the slightest warning the injured bull sprang to its feet and drove a horn completely through him, killing him instantly.

There is an interesting and unsettled question as to whether the wild carabaos of the Philippines are indigenous to the islands or are merely the descendants of imported animals which have made their escape from captivity. My own opinion is that both beliefs are true or, in other words, that we have both a native wild race and other carabaos just as wild and just as fierce which are the descendants of tame individuals. The ordinary wild bulls have comparatively short and thick horns, while the bulls of the species found in Nueva Ecija and in northern Luzón generally have long, slender, very sharp, strongly curved horns. I believe that the latter animals belong to the true native race.

Wild carabaos are found not only at various points in Luzón, but abundantly in Mindoro and the Calamianes Islands. They appear in considerable numbers in Masbate, Negros and elsewhere in the archipelago.

To the inexperienced hunters who are inclined to try to bring them down my advice is "Don't!"

Few indeed are the men who have killed so much as a single specimen of the tamarau of Mindoro. It is a small jungle-inhabiting ruminant. Its color, when adult, is precisely that of the carabao. It is, however, a much smaller and more active animal. The bulls lose no opportunity to attack carabaos, both domesticated and wild, and in spite of their own inferior size kill them with apparent ease.

The tamarau is extremely muscular and when it charges, which it is prone to do on very slight provocation, bores a hole through the jungle vegetation, coming on with the speed and recklessness of a rhinoceros. Under such conditions it is excessively hard to stop, and when it pushes its charge home, woe be to the unlucky hunter. With rare exceptions it attacks when wounded if it so much as catches sight of a human being. Even when unmolested it not infrequently charges, without warning, when one gets unduly near. It feeds at night, and never lolls around in the water as does the carabao.

At the time I first came to the Philippines to collect natural history specimens in 1887, this animal was known only from travellers' tales and from what purported to be a stuffed individual in the Dominican museum. It was certainly stuffed, being about as shapely as a kerosene barrel. Its skin looked so exactly like that of a carabao that uncharitable persons had suggested that it was an artifact.

At this time the most absurd tales about the tamarau were in circulation. I was solemnly assured by one group of persons, who claimed to have seen it, that it had only one horn which grew out of the top of its head. Others were certain that it had two horns and but a single eye.

We did not anticipate the good fortune of discovering either a unicorn or a cyclops, but thought that there must be something behind all of these remarkable stories.

After undergoing many hardships and performing much hard work, our party succeeded in taking five individuals, the first ever killed and properly preserved.

The best way to hunt these wary and dangerous animals is to pick up a fresh trail early in the morning along some water course where they come to drink during the night, and follow it as noiselessly as possible. One is liable to jump the game at any moment. I shall never forget my astonishment when, on climbing up a steep river bank and diving into a tunnel through runo grass, I nearly fell over an old bull. Ordinarily, however, no such luck awaits one. It is frequently necessary to trail the quarry five or ten miles before one comes up with it, and then the usual reward, after crawling through underbrush and wriggling along on the ground, bitten by ants and mosquitoes, torn by thorns and covered with pestiferous land leeches, is to hear a terrific crash in the brush and never so much as catch a glimpse of the animal which makes it. The tamarau sleeps during the day, almost invariably lying down in the densest of jungle growth, facing back upon its own trail. Furthermore, it is uncommonly likely to put a bend in that trail before lying down, so that while one is still a mile or two from it by the line which it followed, it may in reality be not more than fifty or a hundred yards away.

A very skilful tracker is necessary if one is to have much hope of success, and one should not fire, even after the game is in sight, unless he can get a brain shot or can be certain of breaking the spinal column; otherwise, he endangers his own life by shooting, if the tamarau is at moderately close quarters.

I believe that no other ruminant is harder to kill outright. Certainly there is no other approximating the tamarau in size which is so tough. I refrain from chronicling my own experiences, as I am certain that my statements would not be believed, and prefer to leave hunters to find out for themselves how much shooting it takes to put one of these extraordinary beasts out of commission.

There is one place in Mindoro called Canturai, where tamarau may be taken with comparative ease. It was described to me, in Spanish days, as an extensive open area with a conical hill near its centre, and I was told that by burning the grass and sleeping on the hill one could readily get early morning shots at tamarau which came out to lick up the ashes.

But various other stories had also been told me, and one and all had proved false. I had dug pitfalls for the wary beasts in vain. I had perched in trees, devoured by mosquitoes, and with hard branches cutting into my flesh, waiting for some pugnacious bull to come out and fight a tame carabao fastened at a convenient distance from my hiding place, all to no purpose. Under such conditions a tamarau once came and bellowed around in the bushes, but did not show himself. I had heard tales of men who rode tamarau down on horseback and lanced them, and these yarns I knew to be false. So I never took the trouble to look up the Canturai story, worse luck, for it proved to be true.

American soldiers occupied Mindoro for years before one of them succeeded in killing a tamarau. Finally a party of officers went to Canturai and the first morning they shot seven! Various other persons who have since gone there have had extraordinary luck, although several have narrowly escaped being killed, owing to their folly in following wounded animals into the cógon grass.

A tamarau pursued under such circumstances will almost invariably back off at right angles to its own trail, wait for its pursuers to come up, and charge them, giving them no time to fire.

Young calves are as wild as their parents, and I am credibly informed will often endeavour to attack female carabaos if an attempt is made to get them to regard these animals in the light of foster mothers.

It is a curious fact that calves, and in fact young animals up to a year or more of age, are of a light reddish colour closely resembling that of some Jersey cattle. Their coats turn dark later on. Their horns, too, are at first circular in cross-section. Later they become triangular.

When pursued, tamarau cows have a curious fashion of passing their heads under their calves, raising them with the horns pressed down in such a way as to hold them against their necks, with forelegs hanging on one side and hindlegs on the other, and running with them. All in all, they are very interesting beasts, and we still have much to learn about them. The man who attempts to hunt them with anything but a heavy and thoroughly reliable rifle is a fool.

Crocodiles of the largest size frequent many of the streams and most of the lakes in the Philippines. They are also to be seen occasionally on sandbars rising out of the sea. Doubtless they will some day be shot for their hides, but as yet they are left undisturbed, unless they display special proclivities for eating human beings, valuable horses or fat cattle. The Filipinos claim that with crocodiles the liking for human flesh is an acquired taste, and that it is only in comparatively rare instances that they become man-eaters, as do tigers. I believe that this is true. Certainly, I have seen a clear pool full of happy Tagbanua children with a big crocodile lying in plain sight at the bottom of it. On the other hand, I have known of individual crocodiles, of evil reputation, each of which have killed numbers of human beings. In one little pool crossed by a trail which I have had occasion frequently to use in Cagayan province ten persons were pulled down and devoured in three years. Most men who use the rifle sooner or later become interested in putting these vicious reptiles out of the way whenever opportunity offers.

Hunters and fishermen, in search of new and exciting experiences, will not fail to meet with them in the Philippines, and the tourist will find there much that is picturesque, strange or wonderful.

##