A TRAP FOR TIGERS. 491 



lowed along the Bencoolen River, having the sharp- 

 ly-pointed Sugar-Loaf Mountain on our right, until 

 we came to a second pointed hill belonging to the 

 same eruptive formation. In one place we saw the 

 recent tracks of an elephant, and the natives, who 

 are good judges, think they were probably made yes- 

 terday. Soon after, a spot was pointed out to me 

 where, not long before, were found fragments of the 

 clothing, and a part of the body of a native, who, 

 while travelling along this, the most frequented road 

 in this region, had been torn to pieces by the tigers. 

 Near by is a rude trap for these destructive beasts. 

 It consists of a small place, enclosed by a paling, 

 with two large trees placed horizontally, the one 

 above the other, so that when the tiger puts his head 

 between them to seize the kid within the paling, the 

 upper beam falls on him and holds him fast by its 

 great weight. The natives then, hearing his roaring, 

 come up and quickly dispatch him with their lances. 

 When eighteen paals (about seventeen miles) from 

 Bencoolen, we left the main road, which is well 

 built, and followed a narrow footpath for six paals 

 over a succession of small ridges that jut out from 

 the main coast-chains. They were so near together 

 that we were continually either scrambling down a 

 steep declivity to the bottom of a little valley, or 

 climbing up the opposite side. The soil is a red 

 clay, like that noticed in the cliffs at Ujang Padang, 

 and has been formed by the decomposition of the vol- 

 canic rocks which it covers. Heavy showers have 

 occurred in this vicinity to-day, and descending or 

 ascending these declivities is very difficult. It would 



