Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-04-13

Of a tree that seems solid in every
part, but, since it is half sawed IN
two, 1t will break beneath him."
"And he will fall to the ground on
four good legs, according to his habit,
and take himself OFF,
mo, no. Before he falls, lured by
the smell of live chickens, he will
have sprung into a net that lies mouth
open along the branch over the cash
in the limb"
'Then net and beast will fall to the
ground together
NO, once more. In and out. round
the mouth Of the net, is laced rope
The end Of this is tied to strong
branch above When the lower limb
breaks and falls, the mouth Of the net
is drawn together by the rope. pull
ing against the weight of the beast
He will hang from the upper branch
until 1 come with my men and cut
him down." -.
A FrER the morning meal next day
the making of the trial net began
The hadji selected two rapid rattan
workers. An audience gathered to
watch them, and their fingers lew.
The net, when finished. was long
enough to hold a large leopard and
had a round opening three feet In di-
ameter A twisted rattan rope with
a long, free end was laced around it
BY the time everything was ready
for the 'try-out'' my fame had spread
to the farthest corner of the Malay
quarter, and we had an audience of a
hundred or more trailing after us
when we went out to select tree. 80.
A suitable tree was found just
outside the kampong. It had two
strong branches, one above the other.
A man was sent up to saw half
through the lower branch, and the
net was so placed along 1t that this
cash came at about the middle Of
its length. The body and mouth OF
the net were held open by slender
strips of rattan tied to twigs. The
end Of the draw rope was attached
to the upper branch
The man now sat straddling the
limb just before the open mouth Of
the net, and a stone weighing about
twenty pounds was hoisted up to him
He held it poised in his hand for a
moment, then heaved it into the rat
tan bag There was a crash. Down
went the end of the limb, the net
and stone with it. The men below
sprang away, but the net did not
touch the earth. With the mouth
drawn closely together, it swung
free, suspended from the upper
branch
So far. my invention worked. The
hadji explained to the bewildered
audience that this was dress re-
hearsal and the stone would later be
a leopard trying to get a chicken. 1t
az they caught the idea "Betul,"
they said. Over and over. "Betul!
Betul."-slowly nodding their heads
1t was a lucky. thing for me that
among the onlookers there was a
traveller from the southwest, Abdul
Rahman, who had come down the
river Must from a place six days
journey away. He had come down
on a raft Of bamboo poles and had
brought crude rubber to sell and the
very best quality Of rattan. The raft
itself was to be broken up and the
and his men would go back in the
boat they had brought down as a
trailer. That was his original plan.
but, being a man Of resource, he de-
cided to change it and take me back
with him. He had fallen In love with
my swinging bag. Abdul Rahman
was a man of importance in the dis
trict from which he came. He was
the peng- hulu (headman) over three
kampongs.
No monarch could have invited me
to his kingdom with greater dignity
than Abdul Rahman, as he ask ed me
to come to his kampong. There are
boasts in the jungle there" he said,
many, many, like grains of sand.
and their skins shine like level water
in the sun"
I talked the matter over with the
He assured me that the man spoke
truth
\ *
TT was Abdurs bamboo raft and the
evident ease with which he had
come down the river that finally de-
cided me. The finest animal in the
world is no good to a collector If
there is no easy means of transpor-
tation at hand.
The hadji picked out the boats I
was to take. The one in which I
was to travel was fully forty feet
long and the one that was to carry
my supplies was thirty-five feet.
The supply boat was capable of
- <NAH