A DEER-DRIVE. 51 



the strongest, are perhaps the most merciful, for I 

 have never heard of a death being laid to their door. 

 With such dangerous enemies to combat, the old 

 pawang has no light task, for on him falls all the 

 responsibility for any accident or mischance, unless 

 he can shift the blame on to the injured party. This, 

 however, let it be said to his credit, he can generally 

 do satisfactorily. 



The old man is working out with lines and crosses 

 a calculation, based principally upon the day of the 

 month, which will show from which direction danger 

 may be expected. Beside him lies a sidin, known as 

 " the head of the sidins." It is supposed to have a 

 peculiar efficacy, and may be distinguished from the 

 others by its being ornamented with the skull of 

 some such bird as a kingfisher or a woodpecker, 

 and with a bit of some curiously twisted root or 

 creeper. 



By the time that the sun is above the horizon two 

 men, who had been told off overnight to examine the 

 rice-fields for fresh deer tracks, return and report 

 that the deer have fed again in the crops, and that, 

 as on the preceding days, they have entered the patch 

 of secondary forest, where they almost certainly now 

 are. The headman comes down from his house, and 

 there is a general discussion as to the direction of 

 the intended drive. The arguments show that the 

 ground in which the deer are supposed to be is of 

 considerable extent, and that it is bounded on one 

 side by the rice-fields and on the opposite side by a 

 deep swamp. On the south it runs into a narrow 

 neck, which connects it with a limitless expanse of 



