PITS FOR THE RHINOCEROS. 495 



miles east of the lake of Sinkara. All the coal in the 

 vicinity of Suban is near the surface, sometimes only- 

 covered with four or five feet of red clay. Any pri- 

 vate company who would like to work this mine 

 would receive every assistance from the general and 

 local governments. 



On our return fi*om Agar Sumpur we noticed the 

 tracks of a rhinoceros, tiger, and deer, which had 

 all passed along that way last night. In the path, 

 from place to place, the natives had made pits eight 

 or ten feet long, and about three wide and five or six 

 deep. Each was covered over with sticks, on which 

 dirt was laid, and dry leaves were scattered over the 

 whole so as to perfectly conceal all appearance of 

 danger. It is so nearly of the proportions of the rhi- 

 noceros, for whom it is made, and so deep, and the clay 

 in which it is made is so slippery, that he generally 

 fails to extricate himself, and the natives then dis- 

 patch him with their spears. The Resident tells me 

 that the natives have also killed elephants by watch- 

 ing near a place where they come often to feed, and 

 when one is walking and partly sliding dovni a steep 

 declivity they spring up behind him and give a heavy 

 blow with a cleaver on the after-part of the hind- 

 legs, six or eight inches above the foot, but that this 

 dangerous feat is very rarely attempted. 



Reaching the main road, we soon arrived at 

 Taba Pananjong. All the kampongs in this re- 

 gion are small, frequently consisting of only eight 

 or ten houses, Ijut they are all very neat and 

 regularly arranged in one row on each side of the 

 road, which is usually bordered with a line of cocoa- 



