152 TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS 



becomes so tangled that it cannot move an inch. 

 Its cries bring the men who have been posted as 

 lookouts, and they carry it back to the kampong 

 on poles. 



Contrary to the general idea, cat animals, such 

 as tigers and leopards, are the easiest to catch in 

 traps as well as nets. The work is as simple as 

 baiting a rat-trap and it requires little sagacity. A 

 box-trap with a spring-door will make a catch time 

 after time, with no more trouble than transferring 

 the animal to a transportation cage and rebaiting 

 the trap with a chicken or a small goat. It is wise 

 to allow a fairly long runway between door and 

 bait so that the captive will not be injured when 

 the door springs shut. After recovering from the 

 surprise of finding itself trapped, the animal eats 

 the bait, which supplies it with food until the natives 

 come along on their regular tours of inspection. It 

 is just routine work, involving but little excitement. 



Among the animals we captured while working 

 from Omar's kampong were three gibbons, or wah- 

 wahs. These are also known as flying gibbons, be- 

 cause they make such long leaps from tree to tree. 

 They are a tailless breed of monkey, rather rare 

 and extremely difficult to catch. Once captured, 

 they become affectionate pets and they command a 

 good price for that reason. They have soft, downy, 

 light brown, silver-gray or yellow hair, black faces 

 and large, round, expressive eyes. 



The work of trapping and snaring went along 



