216 IN MALAY FORESTS. 



chanted aloud some verses of the Koran, conclud- 

 ing 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 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 denseness 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 



