216 IN MALAY FORESTS. 



the men chanted aloud some verses of the Koran, 

 concluding by shouting at the top of his voice the 

 words of the creed of Islam : " La' ila'hu ilia' llahu ; 

 wa Muhammadu'r rasulu' llahi" (There is no God 

 but Allah, and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah). 

 And from every voice in the long array that was 

 hidden up and down the forest came the roar of 

 the response of the final Allah. Apart from its 

 religious aspect, the use of the "selawat" is to 

 enable the men to know whereabouts in the dense- 

 ness and tangle of the forest undergrowth the 

 animal is hidden. If a tiger is suddenly disturbed 

 when lying up beside an animal that it has killed, 

 or has cubs, or is wounded, or is for any other reason 

 savage, it often gives utterance to an answering 

 challenge which it not infrequently follows up by 

 charging forthwith upon the men. I have more 

 than once heard a sudden vibrating roar in reply 

 to a cry of "selawat" that has made the blood of 

 the listeners run warm; and more than one Malay 

 has been struck down with the expression of his 

 faith upon his lips. 



On this occasion there was no reply to the long- 

 drawn Allah, and after a pause, during which each 

 man assured himself of his position with regard to his 

 neighbours, the array of beaters slowly and carefully 

 moved forward. At intervals the piercing war-cry of 

 the Malays rose and rang up and down the line. 

 Occasionally an order was shouted to close in on the 

 right or to move up faster on the left, but other- 

 wise the advance was made in greater silence than 

 might have been expected. The men worked out the 



