47 



A DEER-DRIVE. 



IN the corner of many Malay houses one may often 

 see a curious bundle of rattan. It is coiled into great 

 loops in the manner that a sailor coils a rope, and the 

 inquirer is told that it is a sidin. If he inquires 

 further, he will be told that it is used in deer-drives ; 

 and if he is still curious, it may be exhibited for his 

 inspection. The great ring of rattan opens out into 

 a straight line some twenty-five or thirty yards long. 

 The main line is of plaited and twisted rattans, and 

 is about an inch thick, and from this line hangs a 

 series of nooses. Each noose is made of three fine 

 rattans plaited together, and forms, when spread, a 

 circle about three and a half feet in diameter. They 

 hang from the main line at intervals of eighteen 

 inches, and therefore overlap considerably ; the catch 

 is the ordinary running knot. In a deer-drive the 

 sidins are stretched in a long line in some favourably 

 situated part of the forest, and the deer are driven in 

 that direction. The number of sidins used depends, 

 of course, upon the locality. Ten are generally 

 enough, for they form, when tied end to end, a line 

 nearly 300 yards long, with 600 nooses ; but some- 

 times twenty, or even thirty, are used. 



