Crittenden press. [volume] (Marion, Ky.) 1879-1907, 1895-06-06
A RIMAU DAHAN.
The Adventure OF Two Little
Girls IN Sumatra.

Near the southeastern point Of sums-
ira. one OF the largest Islands Of the
East Indian archipelago, there lived, a
few miles inland from Sunda strait,
two American families whom ! will
call, respectively, Mowbray and Sher-
wood. the head OF the former owning a
coffee plantation and that of the latter
a large area of rice fields
The Mowbrays had but one child, q
flse, 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 a pro-
longed stay In southern Sumatra and
an expl Grafton OF some Of the smaller
adjacent islands, ] became acquainted
with both these families. and was much
surprised TO and 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 dete rmined to
-emedy on the earliest opportunity,
feeling sure that these strangers in a
strange land"-my own countrymeu-
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 wood, ever in search Of nov
elites, had wandered, unattended,
nearly a mile from home and were
gathering flowers along the edge Of
bride path, which ran through a lux
uriant grove OF cocoanut palms and
wild orange trees, when they were SO
startled by the sudden appearance of q
horscman, coming around a bend In
the path on a gallop, that they invol-
unfairly screamed out In alright.
The rider, n brigh:faced boy, carry
ing n silver-mounted rife and bcstrid-
ing beautiful Arab mare, instantly |
drew up, raised his hat, and said: II |
beg your pardon, young ladies. TN |
very sorry TO have brighten ed you. but |
did not see you at all. My name Is /
Ernest Mowbray. My father is cot
fee planter, and we live about SIX miles
fr ON here, on the other side of the big
bayou"
"Oh, we're not a bit frightened,
now" replied Lillian. 1--WE are Mrs.
little girls. Our papa owns
hose rice fields over there, and it's
only little way 10 our house. We
we're just picking some OF these flow
,rs; 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 us"
While the child was speaking, Ernest
his hat entirely; and when
she uttered the words United States"
with such evident pride he smiled de-
ightedly, bent almost 70 his saddle
BOW, apologized once more, and rode
,lowly away
my! what n nice, polite boy; he
peaks English. too; not that horrid
Dutch, Malay and Chinese we hear
very day." exclaimed Lillian.
yes, and he called US young ladiesl"
himed in Lulu.
We'll, I'm sure we are young ladies:
IN past ten and you're nearly nine"
agely rejoined Lillian. but ] do wish
he boy had stayed longer, so we could
ave a good look - his pretty gun and
hat lovely hora- | don't suppose
gell ever see him again. though"
therein the small maid was greatly
mistaken.
After a little, the children left the ;
ath and, always finding something {
ew to admire, strayed deeper into the
God. BY and by they came to '
cared space, evidently an old Malay
am or maize field, whereon grew only ]
few huge wild orange trees and }
Jump or two OF giant cacti. As they '
approached one of the latter, c
ulu cried out: "Oh, sister, see that
dog lying under the v
& cactus. He's got a pretty red bird y
.tween his paws and is going 10 eat IL. n
cts 70 and drive him away" And C
e two innocents walked straight o
ward full-grown "clouded" or tor v
ise-shell tiger!" a
This creature, really a species Of S:
opard, and found only in Sumstra, Is b
He'd by the natives "rimnu dahan," N
name which means, believe, a y,
mber Of forked trees. During my 81
" on the island ! saw but two speci-
ms of this, one of the rarest and most |
lutiful OF the cat family. vc
The animal Is nearly as large as the IL
pard Of India, and OF similar ar
real habits. though ordinarily not SO DIR
rec and dangerous. Its markings In
, quite unique, somewhat resembling 81
'sc Of the true tiger and leopard, til
4 yet not precisely similar TO either, be
,senting, as they do, strange ad- III
xture OF tiger-likc stripes, leopard
e spots, and hollow, disk like
tches, resembling those Of the jag. IN
r. The general ground color OF the tn
Z Is gray. and nlonn the hnrk Of nm m,