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Page:Life in Java Volume 2.djvu/23

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CURIOUS BATS. 7

Mounting the ponies which were brought for us,

and followed by several of ^Ir. II 's men,

carrying tombas or spears, and by a pack of village curs famous for scenting out wild boar, we sallied forth in picturesque guerilla style. Some distance from the house we had to cross a stream, the opposite bank of which wc had no sooner gal- loped up than we beheld a most cui'ious sight.

Hanging from the Ijranches of two or three large trees growing close together, were myriads of what apjieared to ujc long black bottles,

"Th('S(; are some curious kind of fruit,"' said I to Mr. U .

" Fi-uit I"' replied he, "why, they are bats, or dying foxes, as some ])eople call them you will se<', wlien wc get nearer, how they will Ijy about the tree."

.And true enough our near aj)[)roach was the slgmd for ;i gi'inral flight. Tliest> cui-i(jus-I(iokini{ creatures are called by the Javanese the kaluno-;

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