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-80- his office. At one o'clock he finally appeared, and turned out to be a fine chap, very enthusiastic about animals in general and the Ford de Kock Zoo in particular. He arranged for the Secretary of the Zoo, Mr. C. Grootes, to meet us that afternoon in the Zoo and do anything he could for us. It was interesting, when we went to the Zoo and et Mr. Grootes to learn that this little garden is self-supporting on a charge of 10 cents for adults and 5 cents (Dutch) for children. It is visited both by the natives and by tourists. The concession is no profit, as refreshments are sold at cost. The little Meningkabau village with doll-sized houses is intended for shelter for the monkeys that during the day run loose in the trees. On an exchange basis Bill succeeded in getting most of the Zoo away from Mr. Grootes - a big tapir, a pair of serow, wild cats, hog badger, martin, otter, squirrels, bintoerong, and hornbills. It was a most ^[[e]]ncouraging day! June 4 - We left Fort de Kock at 9 o'clock, heading northeast. We stopped in the beautiful Ayer Putih Canyon, where we did some collecting and admired the slender waterfall [[strikethrough]] across the river. [[strikethrough]] which comes out of the rocks on the opposite side of the canyon from the road. We/ [[insertion]] crossed the Equator again, and [[/insertion]] lunched in Kota Baroe, and drove on in the afternoon to Moeara Mahat, passing gorgeous dense jungle along the way. The little resthouse at Moeara Mahat is perched high in the hills right on the edge of the jungle, but the corkscrew mountain road comes up on one side of the house and goes down on the other, leaving us practically in an island of traffic (mostly freight vans roaring past us through the night.). Below us were the lights of a small village, and beyond the the river. The Mandoer was a young chap, only four months in his job, and anxious to please. The reistafel, which was cooked on a stove that was really just a cement shelf with five little wood fires built on it, was the last word. Tiny little chickens, broiled over the open fire, si ply melted in our mouths. Just as we were finishing dinner a Dutch^[[m]]an arrived, intending to spend the night, and a little disappointed to find that we were occupying the only two rooms in the rest house. However, Bill insisted on his having food and drink with us, and he told us that just 20 km. up the road he had seen a tiger, and were we not afraid to go wandering about in the forest? We assured him that tigers were nocturnal, and we only went in the woods by day, but he told us that at Bangkinang, a little further down the road, a tiger had come into the village at nine in the morning, and grabbed a native standing in front of the post office. Our open windows, and fly-screened klambos, looked a little inviting to tigers, but we heard not even a distant roar in the night. June 5 - The morning was delayed, partly by the Mandoer's slowness in getting breakfast, but chiefly by Bill's fussing over losing his forceps - his favorite pair, ade after a now extinct patter, and the pride of his entomological life. Fortunately we stopped
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Typewriter appears to be dropping the letter 'm' from time to time - Transcribed as typed with missing 'm's'