i8 95 . MAMMALS OF THE MALAY PENINSULA. 91 



or scrub where he has been lying in ambush, the tiger strikes him dead 

 with one blow of the paw on the shoulder. Sometimes the body is 

 left untouched, often it is dragged to the jungle and partially devoured, 

 the thighs and throat being first eaten. It appears to be rather an 

 exception here for a tiger to return to the kill. 



Sometimes a man is watched by a tiger apparently for some days 

 before the latter can make up his mind to take him, and at times is 

 stalked from a considerable distance. The following is an instance 

 of a fairly common kind of occurrence which took place in Singapore 

 in 1890. Two Chinese coolies were returning from a gambir-field at 

 six p.m. ; one, delaying for an instant, did not overtake his companion, 

 who presently missing him, called out, but got no answer, and so went 

 on to the house. After a short time, being alarmed, he, with his 

 companions, returned to the spot with lights — for it was by this time 

 dark — and finding a pool of blood, all ran back to the house. Next 

 morning the body of the man was found in the jungle, lying on the 

 face, with the thighs eaten. The tiger must have been stalking the 

 men from the patch of jungle, and must have crept up to them through 

 the gambir-bushes for fully five hundred yards, and then struck the 

 -coolie dead noiselessly by the side of his companion. The body was 

 removed to the house, and I was informed that the tiger visited the 

 house the next night and took a fowl away, and continued to come 

 each evening till the body was taken to town for burial. Though the 

 tiger remained for at least some weeks in the same jungle, it never 

 attacked any more of the coolies. 



The Malays have many superstitions and stories about tigers. 

 Certain people are supposed to have the power of turning into tigers 

 for a short time, and resuming their human form at pleasure. The 

 transformation commences tail first, and the human tiger is so com- 

 pletely changed that not only has it all the appearance and actions of 

 ihe tiger, but on resuming its human form it is quite unconscious of 

 what it has been doing in the tiger state. A much dreaded form of 

 demon is that of a headless tiger which is supposed to be seen 

 rambling about at night. 



The black panther (Felis pardus yar.) is called " Rimau Akar " (lit. 

 tiger of the Lianas) by the Malays, probably because it lives in the 

 masses of creepers in the big trees, though I have no evidence of its 

 being arboreal. It is said to have occurred in Singapore, but this 

 appears doubtful. It is abundant in Johore, and formerly occurred 

 in Pulau Ubin between Singapore and Johore. It appears to go 

 further into the hill-woods of the interior than the tiger. Very little 

 seems to be known of its habits. It is quite harmless to man unless 

 wounded, and lives chiefly on goats, fowls, and dogs. In captivity it is 

 always very ferocious, and never appears to be at all tamable. The 

 spotted form is at any rate rare in the south of the Peninsula if it 

 occurs at all, but it appears to be fairly common in Perak and the 

 northern part of the Peninsula. The more slender form, commonly 



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