182 IN THE SWAMPS 



found this method in Brazil more sport than riding 

 after them behind dogs in Mexico or in Texas, but 

 it was much better still in Malay, where the pigs 

 are larger and the cover dense and variously occu- 

 pied. Indeed a fascinating feature of pig-hunting 

 in Malay entirely peculiar to the Peninsula is the 

 uncertainty of what kind of animal may burst 

 from the jungle ahead of the beaters. It may be 

 anything from a mouse deer to a tiger. 



Pig-sticking would be impossible in Malay. 

 Primeval forest of great, smooth tree trunks rise 

 straight into the air fifty or sixty feet before 

 sending out their canopy tops that scarcely permit 

 sunlight to sift through. Far below grows a tan- 

 gled mass of palms, ferns and small trees bound 

 together by rattan, cane and climbing vines of such 

 strength and profusion that the adventurer may 

 advance only by frequent use of the knife. Water- 

 soaked by the shoulder-high, dripping, coarse 

 grass and torn by multitudinous thorn-armed 

 bushes, he cuts his way slowly, even painfully. 

 Needless to say such country is not ridable. 

 Where agriculture has made its demand this jun- 

 gle has been cleared, and tapioca, coffee, rice, pine- 

 apples and every tropical thing flourishes in luxu- 

 riant abundance ; and when, as happens, land has 

 been abandoned, a secondary growth of shrubs and 

 small trees, and high coarse grass, lalang, speedily 



