JUNGLE STRATAGEMS 49 



air. Then I explained my theory. The ability of a 

 snake to shed his skin might be transferred to a 

 human being if he ate snakes ; and if so, the person 

 would be able to shed his leprosy. Ong Si Chou 

 did not care for the idea at all, but I told him it was 

 worth trying and I argued that a snake is much 

 cleaner than an eel. At last he consented, and I 

 furnished him with a number of small pythons, 

 with the instructions that they were to be killed 

 and cleaned immediately before they were eaten. 

 He was to eat them raw with his rice. 



I left Singapore soon after that, and, when I 

 returned, I found that Ong Si Chou had died. Peo- 

 ple thought it was a great joke on me because my 

 patient had not survived the treatment, but I am 

 far from. being convinced that the cure will not 

 work or, at least, help to throw off leprosy. Ong 

 Si Chou was in the last stages of the disease, and 

 his case was not a fair test. 



After living eighteen months with the Malays in 

 Sumatra, I decided that I was well enough equipped 

 to leave and begin the work of collecting wherever 

 I could find the animals I wanted. I went to Singa- 

 pore and found that Ariff had been maligning me 

 to his heart's content. I called upon him to see 

 what he had to say for himself and he prophesied 

 dismal failure for all my plans. However, I engaged 

 passage on a coast steamer going northward, and 

 stopped off at Kelantan, Patani and Singgora, in 

 Lower Siam. At those places I gathered all the 



