Indian Archipelago. 2123 



when his full anger is roused, he will go forth on the errand of revenge, with as large 

 a body of companions as he can collect together. Sometimes a large wooden cage is 

 prepared, in which a dog or goat is secured as a bait. The tiger enters cautiously, and, 

 touching an ingeniously-arranged spring, brings down upon himself the weight of an 

 enormous piece of timber, which generally effectually maims him. 



Another way of catching the tiger is practised. Some daring individual tempts 

 the animal to pursue him, and manoeuvring adroitly manages to cross a broad deep 

 ditch or chasm, by means of a swinging rope : balanced half-way across the fissure in 

 the earth is placed a platform of planks, which the tiger, imagining to be the means of 

 traversing the obstacle, rushes upon, and is thus precipitated into the ditch, at the 

 bottom of which are arranged numerous sharp stakes. Instances have occurred of a 

 tiger being caught in a trap, upon whose body have appeared evident marks of the 

 partial success of the last experiment. Another means adopted is that of noosing the 

 animal's body with a lashing of rattans securely woven. 



The tigers of Sumatra have been remarked to be the strongest in the world. They 

 are said to break without difficulty the leg of a horse or a buffalo, and the largest prey 

 they kill is without difficulty dragged by them into the woods. This they usually 

 do in the second night, gratifying themselves on the first by sucking the blood only. 

 Of this circumstance the natives sometimes take advantage to prepare for the destruc- 

 tion of their ferocious enemy, by placing a tub of water, strongly impregnated with ar- 

 senic, near the carcase. The tiger, gorged with flesh, is tempted by thirst to drink, and 

 thus poisoned soon perishes in the indulgence. Their chief sustenance, however, is the 

 unfortunate monkeys, with which the woods abound. The Sumatrans say the tiger al- 

 lures the animals to their destruction by a certain fascination : the fact that the animal is 

 fascinated, though not strictly true, is still true in the abstract. When a tiger or an 

 alligator approaches a tree filled with monkeys, the latter, stupified with terror, crowd 

 near the point of the branch under which the greedy brute is waiting to devour them as 

 they drop, which terror and hasty movements render unavoidable. One superstition 

 connected with this animal is curious to the last degree, and accounts for the reluc- 

 tance of the natives to destroy them. The Sumatrans believe that the tigers are en- 

 dowed with the spirits of the departed dead. Indeed, so strong is this belief, that the 

 very mention of a tiger inspires the natives with awe. They say, that in some remote 

 unvisited parts of the island there is a beautiful spot where the king of the tigers holds 

 his court, and where a large community of the animals exists, their dwellings being- 

 huts thatched with women s hair. Thither every tiger on the island is said, at inter- 

 vals, to repair, in order to give an account of himself and his proceedings. 



Another custom which obtains in Sumatra, is to place fruit and vegetables at the 

 entrance of any village the tigers may be seen approaching, in order that the royal 

 brute may be propitiated. Whether or not his tiger highness is ever satisfied with 

 these marks of respect deponent sayeth not. 



The forests of Sumatra abound with elephants. These animals are gregarious, and, 

 traversing the country in prodigious troops, cause incredible devastation, devouring the 

 produce of the whole plantation, and leaving behind them wherever they go a broad 

 track of desolation and destruction. But their greedy habits often prove fatal to them, 

 for the native, apprised of the near approach of the elephant army, as it is called, and 

 despairing of being able to direct its course, goes out into his plantation, and, splitting 

 an immense number of the sugar-canes, inserts a venomous substance called barran- 

 gan into the clefts. Next day the elephants are found lying dead in great numbers in 



