The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-02-27
THE GATEWAY TO
THE PHILIPPINES
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER.

| NOOfS @fo'Nt ASAos ~ \ NiiH -. C.'N fS.tN~--'
Singapore.
6HIS Malay peninsula offers some
live opportunities for Theodore
i Roosevelt and his son Kermit. Its
jungles are infested with tigers, and the
Singapore government Is now offering
rewards of $50 each for every full-grown
tiger killed. and SIS apiece for tiger cats
Just outside the city are tracts of dense
vegetation In which such beasts are some-
times shot. They swim the old channel
north of the island. coming out of the
lahore jungles. and now and then pick
up Malay baby for breakfast. Just the
other day the young Sultan of lahore,
who is the great sportsman. killed a big
tiger. 1t is the nineteenth he has shot
since reaching manhood. As he showed
its claws, which he had cut off as a
trophy, he was asked IL he expected to
bag his twentieth. He replied:
II most certainly shall IL he does not
bag me-
In a visit to lahore I saw the tracks
of a tiger IN the mud not far from this
mans palace. 1t had prowled through
the dust in front of the then quiet buzz
saw.
nc
The word "singapore'' comes from two
native terms meaning Lion City," for
in the. past the island upon which 1t
stands has been the lair of these beasts,
and 1t is said that as many as 300 ma
tives have been devoured by them in one
year. The animals came here first a.
about the time the colony was founded.
and some years ago one was discovered
choking to death in the fishing nets off
the shore facing the mainland. He had
started to swim the channel and got
caught in the nets.
AS l sat in the Singapore club the other
night one of the English officials told me
how man-esting tiger recently slaugh-
tered a Malayan, his wife and five chill
dren, leaving only the sixth. little boy,
who related the story. This family was
living on the edges of the jungle not far
from the channel in hut covered with
thatch. The tiger sneaked up and sprane
upon the roof. He scratched open large
hole and the Malayans within as they
looked up and saw him were so fright
ened that they were unable to move.
They were huddled together just under
him and before they recovered thei
senses he sprans down and struck tne
father with his right paw and Drained
him. He then proceeded to kill the othe'
members of the family with the exceptio
of the boy above referred to, who wa
lying in bunk raised high above tn
floor and thus escaped discovery. IN
BOYS says the tiger first killed his father
mother and the four children, leaving hi
little sister, a baby of three years. Atte
he had killed the first he began playini
with their bodies, watching the little 81
as q cat does a mouse. If she attempte
to creep away he would walt until she
had moved Just outside the length of hi
paw when he would reach over and dra
her close to him. He would then go on
playing with the dead bodies. sucking
the blood and taking bite now and tht
until the child attempted to move, whe
the same proceeding was re-enacte
This lasted until the little girl expired
fright and exhaustion. The tiger the
bit her in the back of the neck ant
sucked her blood. After long time h.
finished his feast and walked out OF the
hut, leaving the boy overhead undis'
turbed
A Land of Snakes
AS for me, I am more afraid OF the
snakes than the tigers. The latter are
cowardly beasts, and will attack one
only in the dark or when they can sneal
up behind and catch him off guard.
The snakes are SO many that one II
liable to step upon them as he goes
through. the jungle, or II he sleeps IN
native hut, one may perhaps drop dWor
from the roof There are A kinds o.
snakes on this little island, which Is no
half as big as some Texas farms, ant
| of these there are IA varieties Whicf
carry poison bags under their tongues o.
| at the roots of their teeth. The worst
perhaps. is the cobra, which splits venom
The Malayans tell me there IS no cure
for its bite When attacked 1t erect'
the body and dilates the skin ON eacf
side of the head so that it seems u
have nut on a hood. At the same tim'
1t makes a noise like an angry cat, ant
If attacked 1t will throw to distance o.
six or eight feet a poisonous fluid winch
If it touches the eye or sore, mean
sure DEATH 1t Is this snake that th'
iugglers all over the far east use to show
their skill They handle it with impunity
laying it on the ground and playing upor
flute, which seems to charm 1t. Ihel
also wrap cobras around their naked
necks and fondle them. The other day
q traveller who was watching one o.
these Hindoo jugglers made bet tina
the cobras poison glands had been ex'
tracted and offered to prove this by
handling the cobra himself. He grabbed
hold of it and the snake sank its fangs
into his arm. He died within lev
hours.
A cobra was recently found in bath
room where a little baby was playing
II did not offer to injure the child, and
seemed inclined to play with 1t. and II
was only when the other people came
in that it elevated Its head, swelled out
it's hood, and began to spit. The other
day three of these snakes were found al
one time In the bathroom OF villa
near here.
Among the other snakes are pythons'
twenty or more feet in length. They
are not dangerous, and out in the country
the natives ..omesticate them and use
them as ratcatchers in the place of house
cats. One twenty feet long was recently
captured in q Buddhist temple outside
Singapore. The government is now pay
ing Is apiece for dead snakes of fourteen
feet and upward. and from that down to
80 cents for the smaller varieties
CfviIixed Singapore
Stories like those / have just told seem
strange in connection with this Island OF
Singapore, which is perhaps the richest
trade center of it's kind 1t is the great
halfway station around the world, the
chief city at the crossways of the hemi-
spheres and our southern gateway to the
Philippine islands. 1t has harbor which
cost millions, and today something like
$500 .OO0. 900 worth of merchandise comes
annually into 1t. 1t is the seventh harboi
of the world In tonnage and seventh II
the number of vessels which call. There
are 80 different steamer lines which
stop at Singapore. and the English gov
eminent is now investing something like
SO .c0o, 600 to make new docks and to I'M
prove this as a naval base
Singapore is one of the most important
of the commercial ports OF the far east
1t Is the ganglionic nerve center. or rather
shipping center for the archipelago OF
the Dutch East Indies. for Slam and, al
far as the eastern trade is concerned, Sfol
Asia and Europe. 1t Is one of the best