72 TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS 
most of the food he needs, aside from his rice and 
fish. One catch of fish will supply his family for 
weeks and give him a surplus to sell to the Chinese 
traders. With the money he can buy some cloth 
and a little powder. Six or seven good-sized chick- 
ens cost one Mexican dollar; eggs cost one Mexican 
cent; yams, one or two cents each; pineapples, two 
or three cents. Why worry about the tomorrow 
that may never come? Why should a Malay gentle- 
man, who believes in Allah and whose stomach is 
full, do the labor that can be done by heathen, pig- 
eating Chinese? 
“Will you row me across the river?” I asked a 
Malay one day. 
“Tuan, I have eaten and I have had plenty,” he 
responded. “You may take my boat and row your- 
self across the river. Tomorrow, if Allah grants 
me life and if I need the boat, I will swim over for 
it.” 
That Malay trait of living for the moment has 
led many a European to murder, and more than 
once it made me feel like running dmok. It is mad- 
dening. Getting work out of Malays is a fine art, 
a science to be learned only after years of patient 
arguing and cajoling. And yet, with all their lazi- 
ness, they are lovable people. In most cases they 
are brave and willing to do anything for a person 
they like. 
Under the circumstances, sick with fever and 
worn out by the drive through the jungle, I was en- 
