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THE PINJIH RHINO. 



AN old rhinoceros, that made its abode in the Pinjih 

 valley in the Kinta district, was for many years 

 the most famous animal in the native State of 

 Perak. 



In the first place, it was kramat : that is to say, the 

 Malays credited it with supernatural powers, and 

 imagined it to be protected against all danger by a 

 guardian spirit. It often happens that an animal 

 which attaches itself to one locality and establishes 

 a reputation for daring or cunning, and which is 

 fortunate enough to escape a few ill-directed bullets, 

 comes in a few years to be considered kramat, and is 

 in many cases imagined to be a reincarnation of a 

 deceased celebrity. It is generally recognised that 

 animals under the protection of another world will 

 treat the human inhabitants of the district honoured 

 by their presence with a benign consideration border- 

 ing on condescension ; thus a kramat elephant will 

 walk by the rice-fields leaving the crops untouched, 

 and a child might drive away a kramat tiger that 

 strayed too near the cattle-folds. 



But this rhinoceros was extraordinarily savage; 

 and it was this combination of kramat power and 



