Page 28 - Malay sketches

II

THE TIGER

Yon golden terror, barred with ebon
stripes
Low-crouching horror, with the cruel
fangs
Waiting in deathly stillness for thy
spring
ANON.
idea of what Malays are in their own
SOME best be conveyed by taking the
country may
reader in imagination through some scenes of their
daily life. The tiger, for instance, is seldom delibe-
if he kills a buffalo a spring gun is
rately sought ;
set to shoot him when he returns for his afternoon
comes about a
meal, but sometimes the tiger village,
and it is necessary to get rid of so dangerous a
visitor. Let me try and put the scene before you.
But how describe an Eastern dawn ? Sight
alone will give a true impression of its strange
beauty. Out of darkness and stillness, the transi-
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