CIRCUS DAYS 27 
paid the commission and costs. The result of the 
suit was that I gained a number of friends and 
established a reputation. 
For the time being, all deals with Mahommed 
Ariff were off, of course, and so I had to look else- 
where for business. I induced a Malay hadji, who 
had made a pilgrimage to Mecca, to take me to his 
home at Palembang, in the island of Sumatra. He 
was a buyer of animals from the people of his dis- 
trict and, as he did much of his selling through 
Mahommed Ariff, he hesitated at taking me with 
him. But I pointed out the advisability of having a 
European agent—all white men were considered 
Europeans. The vision of securing more business, 
without being robbed constantly by Mahommed 
Ariff, brought him around to my proposition, and 
we went together to the Dutch General in Singa- 
pore. I told the Consul General my plans, and, 
after I had presented references from the bank, he 
gave me a passport and a personal letter to the 
Dutch Resident at Palembang. Then the old hadji 
and I started off for Sumatra. 
This was really my start in the business of ani- 
mal collecting. At Singapore I had seen enough 
to know that the work I wanted to do was not sim- 
ply to sell the animals at a port, but to capture them 
in the jungle. My main object in going to Suma- 
tra was to live with the natives and learn their 
methods and language, so that, being at the source 
of the supply of animals, I could capture and sell 
