126 TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS 
show such familiarity with this new sport—assist- 
ing me, I stationed the natives on the banks with 
their boats and then I went up-stream with the 
dynamite. There was breathless silence as they 
saw me strike a match and touch it to the fuse. 
When the explosion came, they gave a shout and 
darted out in their boats to gather in the fish. After 
the excitement had subsided, and all the fish had 
been compared for size and weight, I dropped an- 
other stick. The men enjoyed the sport immensely, 
and we made a hilarious afternoon of it. The most 
sober person in the village was my coolie boy, who, 
as he went quietly about his business of arranging 
my living quarters, muttered, “Sémia gila (All 
crazy).” 
Ali, who had become a good shot, showed the 
villagers my express rifle, and demonstrated what 
an explosive bullet could do to the trunks of trees. 
The men were fascinated by that power of destruc- 
tion, and they passed their fingers reverently 
over the barrel and listened to Ali’s stories while 
he cleaned it. Ali had traveled all over the Far 
East with me and he gave marvelous interpreta- 
tions of what he had seen. He could hold an au- 
dience of natives spellbound for hours and, inci- 
dentally, he was an excellent publicity man for me. 
In his whole-hearted, childish, Malay fashion, he 
accepted me as the greatest man in the world and 
he was never contented unless others did so too. 
He was in great measure responsible for the success 
