THE TRAIL OF THE TIGER 299 



reluctance— for the disciple of Mohammed holds 

 no intercourse with pigs. Now although the Malay 

 is not a hunter, some of them are quite devoted to 

 running deer with dogs, and a few of the better 

 class keep packs for the purpose, with a huntsman, 

 who is a kind of witch doctor called " pawang," 

 with many fields of activity. I found pawangs 

 that looked after crops, pawangs that spirited 

 away sickness, and pawangs that insured success- 

 ful deer hunting. As a rule only the sultans or 

 rajahs afford pawangs; but Din, though neither 

 sultan nor rajah, was a native of influence and 

 wealth, and there was not much doing in the Malay 

 Peninsula that he was not into, from deer chasing 

 up to horse racing. He was very proud of his pack 

 which was in fact famous in the neighborhood. 



When we reached the cover where the dogs were 

 to be turned in for deer, we halted, while the pa- 

 wang delivered himself of an incantation to assure 

 success, and when a deer was killed the carcass 

 remained untouched until the pawang again fell 

 into fanatical frenzy as the hunters gathered 

 around. Aboo explained the final ceremony as 

 necessary to deliver the spirit of the deer into 

 Mohammed's safe keeping; otherwise it would for- 

 ever haunt and afflict the man who had killed it. 

 Several days we successfully snap-shot deer, as 

 they raced across more or less open stretches from 



