Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-02-26
lsnccInl correspondence.l )


~NGAPORE+This Malay pcninsu
Ia offers some live opportunities
y for Theodore Roosevelt and hi
son Kermit It's Jun9les arc In
tested with tigers, and the Singapore
government Is now Offering rewards o
$50 each for every full-grown tige'
killed. and $l5 apiece for tiger cats
Just outside the city arc tracts oi
dense vegetation in which such beasts
are sometimes shot. They swim the
old channel north OF the Island, com
ing out OF the lahore jungles. and now
and then pick up a Malay baby Tor
breakfast Just the other day the
young sultan of Jahore. who is a
great sportsman. killed big tiger.
1t is the nineteenth he has shot since
reaching manhood. As he showed It's
claws. which he had cut of as trophy
he was asked II he expected to bag his
twentieth. He replied:
II mos, certainly shall If he does not
bag me-"
In visit to lahore saw shc tracks
! Of tiger in the mud not far from
this mans palace 1t mad prowleu
through the city during the preceding
night, and had played around saw
mill, walking through the dust in
front of the then quiet buZ5-saw.
THE TIGER ISLAND.
The word singapore" comes from
two native terms meaning Lion City"
IL should be called Tiger city" for
in the past the Island upon which II
stands has been the lair of these beasts.
and II is said that as many as 300 ma
tives have been dcvourcd by them In
one year. Tho animals came here
first at about the time the colony was
founded. and some years ago one was
discovered choking to death in the
fishing nets on the shore facing the
mainland. He had started to swim
the channel and got caught in the nets.
AS | sat IN the Singapore club the
other night one of the English officials
told me how & man-eating tiger re-
Gently slaughtered a Malayan, his
wife and five children. leaving only
the sixth little boy who related the
story. This family was living on The
edge of the jungle not far from the
channel in a hut covered with thatch
The tiger sneakcd up and sprang upon
the roof. He scratched open large
hole and the Malayans within as they
looked up and saw him were so fright
encd that they were unable to move.
They wore huddled together just under
him, and before they recovered their
senses he sprang down and struck the
father with his paw and Drained him,
He then proceeded to kill the other
members of the family with the eXcep-
tion of the boy above referred to, who.
was lying In bunk raised high above
the floor and thus escaped discovery. |
The boy says the tiger first killed his |
father. mother and the four children, |
leaving his little sister. baby of three !
years. After he had killed the first he |
began playing with their bodies. |
watching the little girl as a cat does a |
mouse. II she attempted to creep away /
he would wait until she had moved |
when he would reach over and drag |
her close TO him. He would then go on |
playing with the dead bodies, sucking |
the blood and taking a bite now and |
then until the child attempted to move, |
when the same proceeding was re- |
enacted. This lasted until the little girl |
expired Of fright and exhaustion. The |
tiger then bit her In the back of the |
neck and sucked her blood After a |
long time he finished his feast and
walked out of the hut. leaving the boy
overhead undlsturbed. I
A LAND OF SNAKES.
AS for me. am more afraid of
snakes than tigers. The latter are
cowardly beasts. and will attack one
only In the dark or when they can
sneak up behind and catch him off
guard. The snakes are so many that
one is liable to step upon them as he
goes through the jungle, or, II he
sleeps in a native hut, one may per-
haps drop down from the roof There
are A kinds OF snakes OH this little
island. which is not half as big as some
Texas farms, and OF these there are
IA varieties which carry poison bags
under their tongues or at the roots OF
their teeth. The worst, perhaps is tho
CORA, which spits venom. The Ma
ayans tell me there is no cure for
is bite. When attacked II erects the
body and dilates the skin on each side
'f the head so that it seems TO have
out on hood At the same time il
makes noise like an angry cat. and
attacked 1t will throw poisonous fluid
which. II it touches the eye OF sore