72 TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS 



most of the food he needs, aside from his rice and 

 fish. One catch of fish will supply his family for 

 weeks and give him a surplus to sell to the Chinese 

 traders. With the money he can buy some cloth 

 and a little powder. Six or seven good-sized chick- 

 ens cost one Mexican dollar ; eggs cost one Mexican 

 cent; yams, one or two cents each; pineapples, two 

 or three cents. Why worry about the tomorrow 

 that may never come ? Why should a Malay gentle- 

 man, who believes in Allah and whose stomach is 

 full, do the labor that can be done by heathen, pig- 

 eating Chinese? 



"Will you row me across the river?" I asked a 

 Malay one day. 



"Tuan, I have eaten and I have had plenty," he 

 responded. "You may take my boat and row your- 

 self across the river. Tomorrow, if Allah grants 

 me life and if I need the boat, I will swim over for 

 it." 



That Malay trait of living for the moment has 

 led many a European to murder, and more than 

 once it made me feel like running amok. It is mad- 

 dening. Getting work out of Malays is a fine art, 

 a science to be learned only after years of patient 

 arguing and cajoling. And yet, with all their lazi- 

 ness, they are lovable people. In most cases they 

 are brave and willing to do anything for a person 

 they like. 



Under the circumstances, sick with fever and 

 worn out by the drive through the jungle, I was en- 



