98 TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS 



his palace and grounds, we came to the cages back 

 of the jail, which contained three tigers, two black 

 and one spotted leopard. The Sultan, pointing to 

 one cage which contained a beautiful specimen of 

 tiger, young, beautifully striped, and a bright 

 golden yellow, said he wished to present that tiger 

 to the Melbourne Society as a gift, and, turning 

 to me said, "Tuan Mayer, you can get him when- 

 ever you wish," he knowing I was Mr. La Souef's 

 agent. 



Mr. La Souef was delighted and thanked the 

 Sultan in his and the Society's name, promising 

 to put his gift in a prominent place in the Melbourne 

 Garden. 



On our return to Singapore, I had quite an argu- 

 ment with Mr. La Souef regarding the flimsy, un- 

 suitable cages he was having made to suit himself, 

 and every time I ventured to point out the inad- 

 visability of certain cages being built under his 

 directions, he would invariably say, "Mr. Mayer, 

 you may be right. I also am right, and I have 

 handled animals longer than you." As the ani- 

 mals were his and he insisted on having his way, 

 I simply carried out his instructions. His idea 

 was to build large, roomy cages from the cheapest 

 of wood (siraih), having a space between the floor 

 and the cross section holding the iron bars, to clean 

 out the cages and to hand in food. 



I never would think of shipping an animal in 

 such a cage. First it is too large and roomy, giv- 



