i io TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS 



paper on which to write out the agreement, and so, 

 since I didn't want him to change his mind, I paid 

 him $30 for one month, writing the receipt in my 

 pith helmet. He signed in my hat; then we pasted 

 a stamp in it and canceled the stamp by writing the 

 date across it. 



While AH and my coolie boy were getting the 

 merry-go-round unloaded, I collected a gang of 

 laborers and an engineer. All that day we worked 

 at uncrating the merry-go-round and putting it 

 together. The natives stood around, watching us 

 and speculating as to what this strange new thing 

 could possibly be. The merry-go-round ran on 

 wheels on a track and the horses were connected 

 with eccentrics, which worked them up and down; 

 a good loud organ was connected by a belt with one 

 of the wheels. The merry-go-round carried fifty- 

 six people. 



I began business on the Chinese New Year's Day. 

 The merry-go-round was the sensation of Penang. 

 The crowds flocked to see it, and the natives lined 

 up for several hundred yards, each with his dime in 

 his hand, waiting for his turn. We were so busy 

 that I could not even go to the hotel for a meal; 

 the brassy organ of the merry-go-round shrieked 

 from early in the morning until late at night. In 

 two days, I took in $1,500 Mexican. 



On the third day the merchant from whom I had 

 rented the lot announced that he was going to build 

 a fence around it and charge two cents for the priv- 



