Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

HUNTING, TRAPPING, AND FISHING i-art ii
genius. Snares are perhaps the most commonlyemployed
by them, often differing little from those in
use among the Malays— in which case it is hard to
say which way the borrowing went. An example of
this is to be seen in the Semang rat-trap, which
appears to be exactly identical with a bamboo rat-trap
commonly used by the Malays {e.g. in Selangor and
Perak). So, too, many of the bird -snares and
monkey-traps employed by the Jakun are hardly to
be distinguished from those used by the Malays,
although in a few instances, such as in their method
of catching fish by splashing or dabbling for them, and
a peculiar method of entrapping the argus pheasant,
the Langat Malays themselves informed me, probably
not without good reason, that they had picked up
these ideas from the Jakun in the same district.
I.
—
Semang.
Hunting and Trapping.
Semang" (locality unspecified). — The Semang
handle both the bow and the spear with wonderful
dexterity, and destroy even the largest and most
powerful animals (such as the elephant and rhinoceros)
by ingenious contrivances. They are also very
expert with the blowpipe, and poison their darts
with a deadly poison called Ipoh, procured from
the juice of various trees. They seldom suffer from
beasts of prey, as they are extremely sharp-sighted,
and as agile in climbing trees as the monkeys. Their
method of destroying elephants, in order to procure
their tlesh or their tusks, is both extraordinary and
ingenious. When they have perceived any elephants
ascending a hill, they lie in wait in small parties of two
or three, and as the animals descend again (which