136 TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS 



ground and planting a stick in the middle, I ex- 

 plained what we were to do and how we were to do 

 it. Then I told them how we had cut the creepers 

 and prepared the trees. 



During the next four days we avoided the loca- 

 tion as much as possible. Crews of men, bearing 

 bundles of dry grass and bushes, approached within 

 five hundred feet, dropped their bundles and re- 

 turned to the village. The grass and bushes were 

 to be used for the fire I planned to build at the base 

 of the tree, once the orang-outangs were isolated 

 there. We took care never to go near when the big 

 fellows were at home, and the other jungle crea- 

 tures grew less and less perturbed each time we 

 appeared. 



I remained at the kampong, supervising the 

 making of the nets and cages. The entire popula- 

 tion helped us, and I put some of the people to work 

 at making smaller cages and rigging snares for 

 other animals. Finally, when the nets and cages 

 were ready and the material for the fire gathered 

 and in place, I began drilling the men in their parts. 

 Thirty men were detailed to the work of pulling 

 down the trees in the circle; ten men to clearing 

 the space where the big tree was to fall; and ten 

 men to handling each side of the big net. It was 

 upon the last-named crew that the success of the 

 attack rested, for any mistake or delay in manipu- 

 lating the net would mean that the animals would 

 escape even probably with disastrous results. 



