Page:Life in Java Volume 2.djvu/51

 VENERATION FOR TIGERS. 35

of timer's flesh, believino; that more than ordi- nary strengtli is gained by eating this unnatural food.

Men who liave the reputation of being expert in tiger-traj)ping, are supposed by the natives to pos- sess some partieidar charm, inlierited from their parents, or given to them for a special purpose in this world.

A curious story conceniiiig these animals proving the peruliai' veneration in which they are held by the natives was related to us l)y a gentle- ]nan as a fact. A friend of his, he said, having l)oiight a large tract of f(rest land, had a small at- tap hut built in the middle of it for himself and the men whoin he li;id hired to fell the trees. They had nut been settled man\' da\s in their tein- porarv abode, wlieu one niiiht, as the 1 )uteh i^cntle- man was i\iiig Mwake, but with closed ex-c^, he b'lt a wai'in breath on his face, aceoiiuiaiiii'd I)\' a kind of snitHnii; soutxi. Fearing It. wms -onie reptile, lu'

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