Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

HUNTING, TRAPPING, AND FISHING i'art ii
and therefore highly elastic, sapling, placed hori-
zontally, and measuring about fifteen feet in length
and two to two and a half inches in breadth. The
other extremity was fastened to a strong stake driven
into the ground, and within a few feet of this another
stake was placed (in such a direction that when the
sapling was forcibly bent back against it for two or
three feet it was perpendicular to the fence). The
method by which it was retained so retracted was
equally simple and effective. A rough pole secured
by two stakes was placed parallel to one of the poles
of the fence (on the side where the spear and its other
apparatus were), but at a level a little below that of
the spear. A stick measuring a few feet long was
then bound firmly to one extremity of the sapling so
as to be parallel to, and on the same level as, the
spear, while the other extremity, w^ell smoothed, was
made to pass under another stick which was fixed at
right angles to it, the ends of which passed under
the two poles. The sticks retained their position by
their mutual pressure. To this cross-stick a black and
thin, but very strong, string was fastened. The other
end of the string was attached to the further side of
the opening, and the portion passing across it was
made to hang loosely. When an animal entered the
opening the pressure of its body on this part of the
string pulled the cross-stick forwards. An advance of
less than an inch released it, and the instant the stick
which kept the sapling bent was thus freed in its turn,
the latter sprang forward with immense force to its
natural position, and the spear was driven into the
body of the animal, indeed in many cases probably
right through it. The slightness of the pressure
required to release the spring, and the rapidity and