Crittenden press. [volume] (Marion, Ky.) 1879-1907, 1895-06-06
A RIMAU DAHAN.
The Adventur Of Two Little
Girls In Sunatra.

Near the southeastern point Of Suma.
ira, one Of the largest islands Of the
East Indian archipelago, there lived, a
few miles inland from Sunda strait,
| two American families whom I will
call, respectively, Mowbray and Sher-
| wood, the head Of the former owning Q
coffee plantation and that Of the latter
a large area of rice Zelda.
The Mowbrays had but one child, q
iihe, manly boy of sixteen, while the
Sherwoods were the happy parents of
two charming little girls, the elder
named Lillian and the younger, Lulu.
Many years ago, while making pro-
longed stay in southern Sumatra and
an cxpl oration of some Of the smaller
adjacent islands, ! became acquainted
with both these families, and was much
surprised to find that neither knew Of
the others existence, though their es-
tates were sepa rated only by a wide
bayou, running not very far inland.
This state of things determined to
~eriedy on the earliest opportunity,
feeling sure that these strangers in q
strange land"-my own countrymen-
would take much comfort In each 9TH
er's society. But the pleasant task Of
introduction was taken out Of my
hands in an unexpected and rather
singular manner One day Lillian and
Lulu Shcrwo God, ever in search Of nov
cities, had wandered, unattended,
nearly n mile from home and were
gathering flowers along the edge Of a
bride path, which ran through a lug
uriant grove Of cocoanut palms and
wild orange trees, when they were 80
startled by the sudden appearance of q
horseman, coming around bend in
the path on q gallop, that they invol.
unfairly screamed out in alright.
The rider, a bright-faced boy, carry
ing silver-mounted rifle and bestrid-
ing beautiful Arab mare, instantly
drew up, raised his hat, and said: II
beg your pardon, young ladies. I'm
very sorry to have brighten ed you, but
did not see you at all. My name is
Ernest Mowbray. My father is a cof-
fee planter, and we live about six miles
FIR ON here, on the other side Of the big
bayou"
"Oh, we're not bit frightened,
now" replied Lillian. 1--WE are Mrs.
Shcrwood's little girls. Our papa owns
those rice fields over there, and it's
only little way to our house. We
were just picking some Of these flow
crs; they're SO different from those in
our own country. We came from the
United States OF America only two
months ago, and everything here
seems very strange to u.s."
While the child was speaking, Ernest
removed his hat entirely; and when
she uttered tho words UNITED States"
with such evident pride he smiled de-
bent almost to his saddle
bow, apologiZed once more, and rode
slowly away.
"My! what q nice, polite boy; he
speaks English, too; not that horrid
Dutch, Malay and Chinese we hear
every day" exclaimed Lillian.
Eyes, and he called us young ladies!"
chimed in Lulu.
well, I'm sure we are young ladies';
I'm past ten and you're nearly nine"
sagcly rcjoined Lillian. "But do wish
the boy had stayed longer so we could
have good look his pretty gun and
that lovely hor~,! don't suppose
we'll ever see him again, though"
the small maid was greatly
mistaken.
After a little, tho children left the
path and, always finding some thing
new to admire, strayed deeper into the
wood. BY and by they came to a
cleared space, evidently an old Malay
yam or maize field, wherein grew only |
4 few huge wild orange trees and q
lump or two OF giant cacti. As they
,arclessly approached one Of the latter.
Lulu cried out: "Oh, sister! see that
'urious-looking dog lying under the
Dig cactus. He's got a pretty red bird
between his paws and Is going to eat 1t.
Let's go and drive him away" And
he two innocents walked straight
oward full-grown ''clouded" or tor
oise.shell tiger!" .-
This creature, really species of
eopard, and found only in Sumatra, Is
allied by the natives "rimau dahan,"
name which means, believe, q
timber Of forked trees. During my
tay on the island saw but two speci.
aens of this, one of the rarest and most
Of the cat family.
The animal is nearly as large rs the
eopard Of India, and Of similar ar
'oreal habits, though ordinarily not SO
cree and dangerous. Its markings
re quite unique, somewhat Resembling
hose Of the true tiger and leopard,
nd yet not precisely similar to either,
rescnting, Us they do, strange ad.
,ixture Of tigcr-like stripes. leopard
Ike spots, and hollow, disk-lik
atchcs, resembling those Of the Jag
ar. The general ground color ~ the |