The national forum., 1910-07-23

NiAiNh AlAlll fA9 bOOll 40 4 lldu ulOhbAAp
mine down one OF the natives rushed
out and cut his throat, so thai it
could be claimed that the beast had
been killed by slaughtering. Other
wise under their religion he and his
fellow Mohammedans could not eat
the carcass. There is not much to
say about the others, because there
is a great deal of luck about hunting.
my Malays were very faithful and
willing, except one who got rebellious.
had to keep him tied up in Chains
for three weeks. Going up the Krau
river we found that the stream could
hardly have been navigated for
long time as We had to cut away logs
that lay across the stream, to get our
boat along. When we got up to Ulu-
krau, which means source Of the
Krau,' | found little 'kampong, or
settlement pf aborigines. They are
called 'Sakis' and are absolutely jun
gle people. They wear no. clothes
except a bit Of twisted skin and are
lbal lDC III llSL' Wv
tions and habits they are very much
like monkeys. They are dark brown,
their cooking utensils are Of the
crudest kind and to make fires they
use flint and FIBRE They grow their
own tobacco, which | tried and found
very rank, and their own rice, though
monkey meat is the principal article
of diet.
"At first they were inclined to be
hostile, looking upon me with suspi-
cion because of my color, but | gave
them some matches and some civil
lized tobacco, and that warmed their
hearts. They had never been out of
the jungle and most of them had new
er seen a white man. They don't even
speak Malay, though their King had
a smattering of that tongue They live
in huts Of bamboo lashed together
with rattan and placed high up in
trees because Of the danger from ele-
plants and smaller beasts. made
one of these huts my headquarters
for three weeks. There is no furniture
of any description in them, the only
contents being palm leaves, which
take the place of bed.
Their main weapon in the chase
is blowpipe Of green bamboo through
which they shoot a small poisoned
arrow. They hunt monkeys with this,
and the poison makes no difference,
for as soon as monkey tumbles the
hunter scoops out tie flesh near the
wound with sharp stone, They nave
some crude steel knives among
them, but they use an axe that is
made of a sharp stone around which
rattan is bound for a handle
Il was surprised at the scarcity OF
reptiles in the Jungle | saw few
cobras, but only one boa constructor
He was sleeping after having just
swallowed a tawn. He was twenty
feet long. l cut him in half and
brought him home with the heads
OF the seladangs.
II came out of the country by go
Ing up JuG lIlhuu IlNCl W q Pit'NS
which is on the new railway that is
building between Singapore and
Bangkok and rode down on ballast
train. did not get the fever in the
Jungle, but all my men did, including
the prisoner | sat up three nights
with that man. He could not take
quinine and it was blackwater fever,
so had to give it to him with a
hypodermic syringe.
cone thing that struck me in that
Jungle was the extraordinary num-
ber of wild chickens, which are
smaller but whose habits and appear
ance are the same as our barnyald
fowl. The natives call them ayamou-
tangs. Then the woods are full of pink
monkeys, which they call white wops
or waups. Wild peacocks are numer
GUS. | got the tail of one that meas
ures feet inches. The peacocks
make good eating"