the villages, by which they pass, make haste to push the
raft out again into mid-stream, should it in its passage adhere to bank
or bathing hut, and on no account is the animal suffered to land. To any
one who thinks about it, this long and lingering death is infinitely
more cruel than one caused by a blow from an axe, but the Malays do not
trouble to consider such a detail, and would care little if they did.

In spite of the stupid callousness with regard to pain inflicted on
animals, of which this is an instance, the Malays are not as a race
cruel in the sports wherein animals take a part, and, on the East Coast
especially, little objection can be raised, save by the most
strait-laced and sentimental, to the manner in which both cock and
bull-fights are conducted. Many, of course, hold that it is morally
wrong to cause any animals to do battle one with another, and this is
also the teaching of the Muhammadan religion. The Malays, however, have
not yet learned to breathe the rarefied atmosphere, which can only be
inhaled in comfort, by the frequenters of Exeter Hall, and, seeing that
Allah has implanted an instinct of combat in many animals, the Malays
take no shame in deriving amusement from the fact.

In the Archipelago, and on the West Coast of the Peninsula, cock-fights
are conducted in the manner known to the Malays as _ber-taji_, the birds
being armed with long artificial spurs, sharp as razors, and curved like
a Malay woman's eyebrow. These weapons make cruel wounds, and cause the
death of one or another of the combatants, almost before the sport has
well begun. To the Malay of the East Coast, this form of cock-fighting
is regarded as stupid and unsportsmanlike, an opinion which I fully
share. It is the marvellous pluck and endurance of the birds, that lend
an interest to a cock-fight,--qualities which are in no way required, if
the birds are armed with weapons, other than those with which they are
furnished by nature.

A cock-fight between two well-known birds is a serious affair in Pahang.
The rival qualities of the combatants have furnished food for endless
discussion for weeks, or even months before, and every one of standing
has visited and examined the cocks, and has made a book upon the event.
On the day fixed for the fight, a crowd collects before the palace, and
some of the King's youths set up the cock-pit, which is a ring, about
three feet in diameter, enclosed by canvas walls, supported on stakes
d