Evening star., 1921-05-15
tratagems and Spos Trapping Wild Animals in the Jungle

ONAASAO
, sent the boy on ahead to buy food for
US and to get information about the
tigers. Then we engaged one of the
local natives to act as guide and
guard. l was exhausted by the trip
and soon after supper l went to sleep.
A FEW hours after dark was
awakened by the most unearthly
yell / have ever heard. l jumped up
and called the boy 1 had brought
from Calcutta. He was trembling
with fright and he said that he didn't
know what the noise meant. Remem-
berng all the tales I had heard about
the people Of this district. 1 ordered
! the boy to bar the doors and windows
and to lay out my guns. 1 was well
armed with automatics and revolvers
| and I prepared for battle. Present.
| ly there came another yell, answered
| on all sides of us. With my guns
| loaded and ready, sat there waiting.
Every few minutes the yell was re-
peated. and it seemed to be getting
closer and closer. At last, however.
4
| exhausted.
/ I was awakened in the morning by
the cook bringing my breakfast and
the jingling of the ankle bells Of a
, mail runner, who was passing the
house on his fifteen mile run. After
| l had finished eating the cook re-
turned with the native who had been
hired to guard us. The native
salaamed and spoke to the boy. who
acted as Interpreter
What is he saying?" / asked the
boy.
He says that he is the head watch
man and he wants to know il you
slept well with him watching over
you" The yells that had kept me up
most of the night were the "Alfs
Well of the watchmen. Much to the
| amaZement of the cook and the guard
who had come to Inquire after my
nights rest, / burst out laughing. I
laughed SO hard that l sat down on
the floor and put my head against my
! knees-I howled.
| The guard was given few rupees
and told to keep his watchmen far
| ther away from the house the next
| night. To this day. when ] think of
myself sitting up all night, dead tired
| and hghting off mosquitoes while my
| guards became imaginary thieves
| about to attack me, | laugh.
The headman of the village arrived
with several natives and 1 went with
| them to inspect the tigers-two beau
| tifully marked animals. l closed the
bargain Immediately and made ar
| rangements to recage the tigers and
! haul them by OK teams to Calcutta.
| At Perth the directors of the New
/ Gardens were pleased with the
! tigers that they sent me a good bonus
| for my trouble in securing them. And
my story about the thieves of Hazari-
! bagh was the joke of the year.
| There came a dearth of good ami
! mails at Singapore, and so l deter
\ mined to go into the state of Treng-
ganu to see what luck / should have
at collecting. Trengganu was at that
/ time an independent state and had
never been thoroughly explored. The
sultan who ruled over it was unwill-
| ing to have white men in the country
| because he feared that his state
might become a protectorate of one
/ of the larger powers. HE was wiss
enough to realize that IL a white man
entered and committed some such in
| discretion as interfering with one OF
1 the native women the white man
would be found with a kris stuck into
| him. And the result would probably
| be that the white mans government
would send soldiers to depose tho
sultan and take over the government.
J He wanted nothing more than to be
left alone with his country, and SO he
made it law that foreigners were
not allowed.
! A Singapore one heard many tales
Of the wealth of animals in
Trengganu, but it was generally con.
! ceded that it was impossible for o
white man to enter the country. For
my part, though l had no idea how to
win the sultan to my way of thinking.
hot ha
easy as getting permit to go into
lower Siam. That would have re-
quired interviewing H. H. Prince
Damerong, brother of the King of
Siam and minister of the interior,
which was no easy matter for so
obscure a person as /.
Meanwhile the rumor reached US
that an immense herd of elephants
was crossing from the state of
Pahang into Trengganu. and I made
up my mind to act instantly. A
roaming herd of elephants is so seri-
Gus a menace to rice crops that
thought the sultan might not object
to having the assistance Of for
eigner in capturing them. In any
event, the chance was worth taking.
With the German captain of a small
coast steamer that called at Treng-
ganu every three weeks, / made ar
rangements to drop me there. He
protested that it was a senseless un-
dertaking; that I wouldn't be allowed
to land: that, if l was allowed to
land, the sultan would refuse to see
me; that if the sultan granted me
an interview, he would surely refuse
to let me go inland: and that. If he
allowed me to go inland, I would be
killed by the natives. All the way
up the coast, listened to his argu-
ments and. when he asked me If
had changed my mind, 1 answered,
You just put me down on the beach,
blow your whistle and go along"
Weeks later, when he returned and
asked about me, the natives replied,
"Sir. the master is in the jungle
catching elephants"
I was on the biggest and most ex-
citing elephant hunt Of my life.
Copyright, 1921. by Asia.