TRAPS FOR DEER AND PIGS. 235 



capture. The most common for the purpose of catching 

 the larger game is called by them ' peti :' it is a strong 

 spear of bamboo, laid in a horizontal direction above 

 the ground, about the height of the body of a pig or 

 deer. A sapling, bent for the purpose, forms the spring 

 by being held back ; a string crosses the path of the 

 animal, the least touch on which pulls the trigger by 

 which the sapling is retained, and which, springing 

 forward, forces the bamboo in a straight line across the 

 path, and consequently through the body of any 

 animal that may happen to be passing. As these traps 

 are so placed as to be with difficulty discovered in the 

 jungle, the traveller has to be careful, as to be trans- 

 fixed with one of these spears set for deer, would 

 occasion death. The Dyaks themselves, though very 

 careful, have frequently met with such accidents. 



A few weeks before leaving the country one of my 

 men, who was bringing to the hut where we were stay- 

 ing, with his companions, a deer which had been shot 

 for our dinner, missed the path in the dark, and struck 

 his foot against a trap of this nature, which had been 

 set for pigs ; the spear transfixed his thigh, making a 

 large and ragged wound, from which, however, he fortu- 

 nately recovered ; had it been a deer-trap instead of a 

 pig-trap, the spear would have passed through his 

 waist, and have certainly killed him. Pigs are also 

 caught in pit-falls ; ranjows, or sharp bamboos, being 

 placed at the bottom, on which they fall. Ranjows are 

 also planted on the steep sides of mountains, so that 



