26 TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS 
no longer do business with him—he had cheated 
them once too often—and he saw in me a means 
of resuming trade. We had no written agreement 
and no understanding as to my commission, but I 
was content to start work on that basis because it 
meant experience. 
It was customary for the members of the crew 
of a boat to buy animals, splitting the risk between 
them, and sell them when they reached European 
or American ports. Soon after I had reached the 
agreement with Mahommed Ariff, a German boat 
came into port and I went out to interview the cap- 
tain. I found that he had had previous dealings with 
the Malay and that he had sworn never to buy an- 
other animal from him. Finally, he agreed to make 
some purchases, but he took care to draw up a 
paper in which he said that he was buying on my 
representation. 
I reported the deal to Mahommed Ariff, but when 
I went the next morning to deliver the animals, I 
found that he had sent them to the boat during the 
night and had collected the money for them. He 
refused to give me my commission because, he said, 
the captain was an old customer of his. The boat 
was about to sail and there was no time to get the 
captain ashore and settle the dispute. However, I 
had the written statement signed by him, that the 
animals had been bought from me, and I surprised 
Mahommed Ariff by suing him. He was a surprised 
Malay when I produced the paper in court, and he 
