68 TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS 



rage the elephants. If the beasts suddenly took 

 it into their heads to charge the wall in a body, 

 some of the posts might give way. I could hear 

 them milling around inside the trap, bellowing and 

 tearing up the jungle in an effort to find a way out. 

 Through the remainder of the night the natives 

 danced, ate and drank. Then, when dawn was 

 beginning to light up the sky, I climbed to the plat- 

 form again and looked down into the trap. There 

 were sixty elephants! 



The men, armed with long, spiked poles, mounted 

 to the running platform on the top of the posts, 

 and the celebration was renewed. I stood there, 

 breathless, wondering how many of them, in their 

 excitement, would fall off the platform into the 

 trap. But none did fall, and they fended off the 

 charges of the elephants by sticking them in the 

 heads and bodies with their spikes. 



Omar immediately sent a messenger to the Sultan 

 with the good news, and the word passed from vil- 

 lage to village. Natives poured in to inspect the 

 catch, and the messenger returned with the news 

 that the Sultan was on his way. It was a historic 

 occasion in Trengganu. The Sultan had never been 

 in the interior of his own country before, and never 

 had there been such an elephant hunt in the state. 

 Omar busied himself with the details of the royal 

 reception while I cared for the catch. 



We cut holes in the rattan webbing between the 

 posts and enticed the small elephants to come out. 



