now THE NATIVES KILL TIGERS. 109 



piece of iron hoop is of value, and a foot of it will 

 procure for the possessor a day's regalement. Their 

 creeses, one of which each male carries, are short 

 swords, from eighteen inches to two feet in length, 

 irregularly shaped, and made of an unpolished soft 

 metal ; they are carried in neat wooden sheaths ; the 

 handles are of ivorj-, beautifully carved and orna- 

 mented. This is not the work of the Malay, but of 

 the Chinese ; and the fact explains the eagerness with 

 which they purchase whale's teeth — their hardness, 

 and the superior whiteness of the ivory, rendering 

 them peculiarly applicable for this purpose. These 

 weapons are used by them in their encounters with 

 wild beasts, more particularly the tiger, which infests 

 these islands. Usually, when the tiger seizes his prey, 

 they told us, he catches his victim by the calico 

 which encircles the waist, thus leaving his arms free ; 

 then the Malay, feeling for the shoulder-blade, inserts 

 his creese, and, piercing the beast's heart, relieves 

 himself from his cruel enemy. Their descriptions 

 of their encounters with the tiger I am inclined to 

 think are, to a great extent, bombast ; as from ob- 

 servation, I have little faith in their confidence in 

 themselves or weapons — one of the boatsteerers 

 belonging to the James Allen, when under the in- 

 fluence of their abominable toddy, driving a score 

 of them before him with a good sized cudgel. 

 Beside their creeses, each carries in his girdle a box 

 containing the beetle-nut, of which he takes a large 

 piece enveloped in a green leaf, belonging to I kiiow 

 not what plant, and swallows it with great gusto. 

 This practice, wliich is to them as much of a neces- 

 sity as tobacco is to a sailor, blackens their teeth to 

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