i8o TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS 



give to be known as the best and fastest net-makers 

 in the whole of Kelantan. The tiger hunt was off, 

 and the net-making and round-up was on. 



At daybreak the following morning, the whole 

 kampong gathered at the Tungku's, and, after eat- 

 ing the breakfast of rice and dried fish, started off 

 for the jungle to cut, collect and wash the rattan. 



One who has never seen rattan in its natural state 

 would be quite deceived by its appearance ; it is not 

 the smooth, shining, pointed cane one sees in the 

 market ; it grows as a vine, sometimes one hundred 

 feet and over, up and down trees or along the 

 ground, twisting in and out; it is covered by an 

 outer shell or skin, and at each joint a circle of 

 thorns an inch in length. The outer skin and thorns 

 are scraped away, washed and cut in lengths of 

 sixteen feet, one hundred lengths to a bundle, and 

 the rattan is ready for the market. They grow in 

 various thickness. The Malacca cane is the thick- 

 est grown. 



Everybody went down to the stream where they 

 would strip the thorns and peel off the outer skin, 

 wash, split and cut in lengths; the crews kept cut- 

 ing like mad. I do not believe there ever was so 

 much rattan cut, stripped, washed and cut in lengths 

 in the state of Kelantan, or in any other state, in 

 one day as those twelve men did. 



On the morning of the third day, the whole dis- 

 trict was in holiday attire and all on edge to see 

 and encourage their friends to be the first. The rat- 



