HomeMy WebLinkAboutExeter Advocate, 1915-1-7, Page 2tissLpNitp.
TREES
rally neck ,and shoulders, or whether
I 'should walk back to they house to
get it. Very fortunately, as it hap-
pened, I went bade, and presently
A Traveler in Ma/ay 'eninaular Had 'Weird Adventure carne gut again with fray sola topee
When He Dehed Local Super titiaxf Passing me mien, at the door; I
overheard theta .still diseassing the
haute- question .as they glaatced 'ftp
The poltuk hayn banal, or haunt
ed tree, is to be found in everyeivi
lized and settled township, village
and kaanpung of the Malay penin
sola, In the dente jungles they ex
est by thons,eeee.
Where- they are situated in th
settled areas open offerings in the
Shape of jos stzeks an paper mo
ney by the .Chinese, nee and •cakes
by the Tamils, and prayer -cloths by
the Malays are dairy laid at their
feet and roots to propitiate the
resident djin or peri,. » herea;s, in
the actual jungles, they are gener-
ally avoided by a detour, or, if that
is not practicable, passed in silence
with a reverent salaam.
To the open-minded al partial
searcher among the neystie Mays of
the east, some curious and puzzling
experrenees present themselves, and
holt.will continue to do so until Feeder -
seien z elavelfies them in their pro-
per Wet* among occult phenomena,
Bays a writer an the Wide World
Magazine.
In this narrative I propose to set
•lwn A personal expertenee of
stinted trees. It occurred at
leiter••I;rangsa, Perak. in the '80s,
and Sir Hugh Clifford incorporated
part of it in can: et his eleven Ma-
layan stories: but I think the ,ac-
tual facts, just :as they happened,
make better nuterial for reflection.
1 young friend of mine, .a Cor -
Melo -nazi, n..h a
mn fell
, t of set .eratiti e'u-
p cusp t
liar to Cornish trainers, had been
appointed inspector of mines at
Salak, a little mining village some
4 i ht miles north of Kuala Isangsa,
the then eaj:ital of Perak.
I teas dietriet en ineer at the
, times. and we were projecting the
great mein road from Taiping. via
i •:a
to Kuall a
in the
PLumpur.
zits:ghht ring state of Belanger. Sa-
le; was than the fatthertnaa.t settle -
:a• set tel' the Knell. Iia n a district;
l ere; a xi ar�.,u�d it, lay
The Great Primeval Jungle.
°. fpr big C lone e bait=urs (palm
leaf shed,: were dotted round the
tail• p:t, far the Chinese coolies,
bet qt alters a°ere required for the
uev ire -pe :tor.
Sir laugh Low, our resident, al -
leered raze 5300 to put up a small
tisa,,xt toed palm -roofed and walled
istiildi:rs for my- friend—"anywhere
you think most suitable" were my
inr•truetiuns.
The Cornishman accompanied me
on iota to Salak and selected a
small hill. about 50 feet high, situ-
atee at, one side of the Salak val-
la;: and commanding .a fair view of
i1�F mines and buildings around
them.
I agreed to the site, and allowed
hint 835 t=) get the top of the hill
e,e.ired of jungle, while I proceeded
northward, through the forest, ex-
ami°tin_ the trace for the present
eart-read to Ipoh.
The jungle on this hill emeeiseed
of -avec tall hardwood trees. on 'the
summit, all dead, surrounded by the
useal lighter growths of young
trees reeds, palms and creepers.
M; estimate was $5 apiece for fell-
ing the large trees, and fi10 to fell,
burn and dehr-an acre of the sur-
e; : riding growth.
Ileturning in a few days I found
at; friend—who was 'camped in the
g
n€1_•tb
urEnpollee-station—had
�-
fot
his jungle 'cleared, had felled one
tale tree,' left two etanding, and was
clamoring- for his quarters to be
commenced, as he was not comfort. -
able,
j�ernmed up with Sikh police-
men it the small and stuffy station,
It being dangerous to build a dwell-
ing m t'ie vicinity of isolated trees
—wh-eh. robbed of the support of
their neighbors and , the inter-
weaved 'creepers and natural stays;
are prone to blow over in the hurri-
cane. squalls which often accompany
rainstorms in the•tropics—I refused
to ,set my native building ,contra,etor�
to work until the remaining two
trees were felled. Thereupon my
young C'orn_sa friend began to ex-.
postulate excitedly.
-Look here, boss; he saict.
"You'll laugh, I know, because you
don't believe in these things;
haven't been able to a but
get .a single
Malay to work this clearing. They
declare the three trees are pokuk
-nada hantu--,have been so for gen-
erations, and that dire evil will be-
fall. any one meddlingwith them.
Finally, I got some Chinese• miners
to tackle the job doublin • the
amount you allowed me out of
own poe.ket '• my,
"Then why 1.;1 you
3 z c ;aJ.at get. thein
to finish the bu.einess while von Wer
•O
about it 2': I inquired..-
'Because the moment. the' first
tree was felled it: carne down and
killed thea Chinese ' who -',r: e
a.s onof�•;
ping at it;" he said., °`mite •Mala •:e;
y
ted i �''+a d
'There l You Sec Tuan,'
and now 1 •can't ret �a so �"
t b soul to go
r near the ,fob for lore or 'looney."
inquiries am on the.Malays�
g aT '
and Chinese verified his tate�inents„
as to what had happened, and the
a,hsolute, refusal of anyone to`taueh:
the remaining two': trees •:or indeed
i t 3
to g•ci near ithen.
'Unable to. spend more time .in the
vicinity, with great difficulty I ,per=
suade.d my Malay contractor to run
un
up the u -steal ata, bungalow. which
we•
giver
e
in
thehabitpp
o;
f e,reottng, for=
$netii and, 'marking out the site I
left 'my elan to mal eopztietnl• -•
offerings to thee
Ens h t t
axe t s 'e o
g�, f r.. •d�oara�
maiming'hie building, e
A month later it was completed
without accident, and on my next
visit in the neighborhood the place
WAS oea~upied by xray friend, and I
camped there for a night on any way
through Salak on road works.
e A footpath led from the top of
the. hill, down the beak, to a• small
- well, near which a tiny bathhouse
had been built. On each side of this
little eighteen-ineh path the blukah
(secondary jungle growth) had
sprung up with the usual rapidity.
of tropical vegetation, and remain-
ed uncleared, owing, ,1s my friend
asserted, to the refusal of local
coolies to work anywhere near the
haunted trees. The single tree
which had been felled lay across this
path, forming an obstacle some
four feet high, which ;had to be
clambered over, at much discom-
fort to bare legs and sarong, when
negotiating the path for the early.
morning bath, which is A necessity
in these tropical lands.
-For goodness' sake get some one
to eut a deep notoh in this tree to
let one step through. in comfort
t without barking one's shins climb
ing over it," I urged any friend.
`I'll try, buss, be mumbled in
reply.
I spent another night in the house
on my return ,from the jungle and.
found that the suggested notch had
not been cut. My friend reasserted
ins
t ts
o ge a soul, Malay o
or Chinese, to taekle the job, and
deluged me with stories of the in-
telligence of C'ornishtnen, in mat-
ters supernatural, as compared.
with the ignorance and stupidity of
the'balanee of Englishmen, while I
laughed uproariously.
A week or two later Sir Hugh
Low remarked ems l.ed to me at a Koala
ltangsa residency dinner :
"I wish you would go up to Salak
and bring young P— to the hospi-
tal here,. whether he wants to come
or not. I hear he has
Dangerously Injured His root,
persists in doctoring himself with
rubbishy Chinese medicines and re-
fuses to submit himself to civilized
medical treatment. He'll conic to
serious grief presently, and you
must bring him down—by force, If
necessary."
I promised to go next day, and,
as ithappened, it was nota day too
soon. Poor P— lay in a chair.
with his foot swathed in oderifer-
ous rags; he was in a high fever.
Se had., I discovered, a deep and
hideous cut on the instep, which he
had been treating with boiled
leaves and other concoctions of na-
tive medicinal craft, and his foot
was almost in a state of putrefac-
tion. He had eut it with a. biliong,
a species of heavy 'chisel set like an
axe in a light handle and lashed
with rattan. This instrument is
fused as a hatchet by the Malays. in
preference to the heavier English
tool.
"How on earth did you manage
! that I asked him later.
"Well, boss, you'll laugh, of
course, when I tell .you ,"grumbled
my superstitious friend; "but any-
way, it's the truth. It was like this
I couldn't get a soul to cut the
notch you groused about, so I de-
termined
e
t r i'
e mn to
edprofitb
your superior
s for
p
knowledge and tackle it'my, aif. My
Malays warned me .against it, but I
quoted the rot you talked about,
common ;sense sand all' that. So I
defined the Bantu, got a biliong,
and sailed in. I straddled the tree
and commenced to• shop. I had
only given about a dozen blows
when, as I was coming down with a
*hop, something seized my. arm
and turned the biliong on to my
foot, and I fell. off the tree in agony..
Yes" he spoke angrily, noting the
skeptical grin on my face -"you
can laugh ! But, don't tell me I am
such a. fool that I can't drop. an axe..
within an inch. or two of the same`
spot between widely straddled feet.
The biliong did not glance off. I
distinctly felt my arm gripped' in
mid air,andsforced down with the
biliong in' it, and I tried to resist.
the force. That is on my oath,'and
you may believe it or not, as you -
please.,,
My sympathy for his ugly 'w t
I3 Y gy ofnd
was greater than my desire to argue
on things supernatural. Hb was
taken down the river to Kuala, ,.s
X.angea ,and: put into hospital for
proper attention.
A week or' two later, while P—
was still under' treatmnt I had to
pass through' Salak again, and with
his, permission made � ' at
p my tamp at
his quarters forthe night. Malay
jungle se•rv�anfs respectfully adis
en seed,. the que�stion of hantus «•i ,h
me,Marti 7
particularly in regard d `t� I . s
mishap, and politely but firmly in-
sisted upon
at the two omnoxts trees, still rear-
1 ing their.gaunt dead 'trunks nand
dried limbs above us. '
Seizing the moment as. opportune
to impress thein with the superior.
knr,wledge of the white man, I
struck an attiude, and �sliakiug my
list .at the two trees, challenged the
booths, in my- moat vituperative.
Malay. to .coxne.dcawn and measure
strength with. the unbelieving and
scoffing orang puteh (white ,man).
I made an impressive pause to allow
them fall opportunity,
As they failed to avail themselves
of the 'hallenge, I laughed trium-
phantly •at my startled orderlies,
andevaulting over the fallen trunk,
came crashing to the ,ground with a
blow on the head which drove my
helmet down to my chin, rained a
shower of parka `before my eyes,
and left uie for 'a few seconds lysing
stunned on the ground, wondering
confusedly not only why my men
had taken such vindictive steps to
punish my noekorv, but Also Trow
they had manage it so suddenly
and with such terrific force.
Rising stupidly to my feet, and
wrenching my helmet, with no little
discomfort to my skinned nose and
face, I beheld ray orderlies—stand-
ing where I had left them, by the
house door ---glancing with bulging
eyes alternately at me and the.
haunted trees. Then my startled
gaze full upon
A huge Deatt Wawa::
which lay across the path at my
feet. It had fallen from tate of the
trees.
Had I not .fortunately turned back
and donned any stout pith helmet,
my skull would have been crushed
like an eggshell,
Proceeding edn thoughtfully r0
!a down t
my bath, I returned --with one eye
on the trees --and, with such dig-
nity as. I could assume with a nearly
dislocated neck and sprained shoul-
der, bade my men roll up my swag
and fallow, while I started.stifliy tan
my day's tramp.
dialI suppose you think the • hanttts
that 1 I inquired of. the order-
lies ext hour or two later.
"Whatever the :Tuan thinks must
be right," they replied, with the
sometimes aggravating politeness
that is always on the.Malay's lip,
no natter what lies in his heart. ,
"Of course you'll swear it was co-
incidence," growled P. when I nar-
rated the incident to him later;
adding, "Don't you think there
have been one or two coincidences
too many over those particul:etr
trees f" »;
"When you have lived in these.
countries as many years as I have,"
'said Sir Hugh Low afterwards,
"you'll find some very queer
things happen, in connection with
the hantu trees --things that are not
yet dreamt of in your philosophy."
And I certainly did.
rer
T13A.VF,LIl1''G FORTS."
Now Being Used in the Field of
War in Western Europe.
Although an engine new to war-
fare, the armored motor. ear has
proved extremely useful, especially
for outpost n
of scoutingad
dot
p
.last
y
silent, and mobile, it covers a vast
amount of ground on the splendid
roads that crisscross the Geld of
war in western Europe. Most of
the ears are incased in a light frame
of tough steel plate that ranges, in
thickness from three sixteenths of
an inch to a quarter of an�ineh, and
that is impervious to rifle and ma-
chine -gen are. All the eulttera,bie
parts of tide .motor, sueli as the ra-
diator and steering gear, and in
some of the, newest :cars. the wheels
are protected by'the .steel covering.
The wheels, both wood and wire,
are said to withstand the roughest.
sort of usage. Accidents to the
'tires. are much less common than`.
anyone would expect. The -cars
carry a Light armament-one•br two
machine-guns so mounted that they
can be swung •through a complete
circle—and a large supply of am-
munition. The ,crew,. which may
number from four to eight or more
men, are armed with rifles and re-
volvers. Some of the cars have a
teel superstructure that rises from
the :chassis frame high enough to
enable „the crew. to stand upright,
and that,is capped with a domed
roof, from which. bullets and•shrap-
nel usually fly off 'at -a sharp: angle'.
without even denting the steel.
The Reality of the Geniis.
I just as politely, . 3 p y, denied their'ex-
istence, outside coincidence, • till it
grew time to, oito bed.
Early the next morning
„ I was up
and making for my bath. My Ma-
lays stood ready for ;the road by
the back door; waiting to roll:up
tp
my light swag; while I was at my
bath. Proceeding a few paces down
the path to the bathhouse. I: glanc-
ed u• to•find the !
Psun, was higher in
the heavens than I thought,, and
hesitating for a moment or two, •I"
wavered .gas to whether I should o
g
Keeping Her•,at 'Home.
• Wife -'Don't , you think you
might manage to keep hoiise alone
for a week, while. 1 go on a visit ?
Husband—"T guess so ; yes, , of
course.''
"But: >ou • won't be lonely
miserable ?"
"Noe bit:"
"Huh: Then I wont go."
U
1V -hat . e
1 i)o.
A -barrister once opened his
.p .TOSN--
xamina;tion .of a handwriting ex-
ert by asking, `';Where is the:
foga" "What dog ?'' said the as-
onisheel witness. "The dog," re-
lied his tormentor, "vrhicit the
ud e at the last Assizes.
g said he'
xould not hang on your evidence.".
e
c
1
o : aathoti�t my .helmet, land. risk the j
early- mune ieeg elm on . the back of ^•
The Museum o
A. Wall of Ypres Museum.
rpres has been entirely destroyed. One of the walls of the famous struetur+
what the bombardment did.
5110W
Media elheeleetetereareareleale
H
esecareeek
With the Goose.
Roust Goose.. Roast goose is not
worth much in a family which knows
nothing hnn
about tit carving, The shrink-
age in cooking is great, but this
can be in large part prevented by
skinning it and using the skin and
fat for gansegrieben--•the crack-
lings from tried out fat,
grows black almost as soon as cut,
therefore it must be prepared as
follows: Cut off the leaves, and if
they are fresh and green save them,.
as they are nice for salad or to eat
with salt. Scrape the root from
the crown down and when it is clean
commence to slice from the small
end, dropping the slices in water
acidulated with lemon juice. Do
not waste the crown, which you can
peel if it is too ridgy to scrape. Put
on to cook in bailing salted water
if fur soup. If for vegetable you
can use neidulated'water to keep it
white. Boil gently about three-
' fourths of an hour so that not all
e the' water will boil away. One
hunch ofesalsify slices will make
t about two cops and a. Sial). Cook
this amount in four eups of salted
water and add a pint of milk and a
small piece of butter. Before add-
ing the milk take out a few of the
slices and butter them and finally
add to soup. They suggest oyster.
Put the rest, cooked up with the
milk, through a. sieve and serve in
eups in which you have dropped a
little piece of butter and perhaps a
tablespoon of cream. If then you
add a heaping tablespoon of freshly"
rolled tracker to each the resemb-
lance to oyster stew is ohne. The
'milk may curdle, but after it is 'put
through the sieve the soup will look
all right.
Goose Soup (Left -over). -_The
framework of a nicely roasted and
seasoned goose may be broken up
and covered with two or three
quarts of water and cooked for sev-
eral hours, with no addition but
salt, and the result will be a fine
broth. A pale)pale)bunch may be add -
eel, or the whole may be extended
with vegetable stock.,
The cleaning of a'goose is a nic
task, Some people wash and- scrub
it with soap suds, but that eanno
be done if it has already been
drawn. Singe, rub, wash, and then
scrape the surface with a small and
not too sharp knife. Then if you
are going to skin it remove the
wings and cut the neck close to the
body. Cut along the breast bone
down to the lean meat and then
carefully draw off the skin and the
fat attached to it. If you know how
to draw a bird you will save some
work by drawing your goose at
yeeine, because you will not have as
much work in cleaning out all the
bits of lung, etc., from around the
ridgy spine, Wash the inside again
and again until the water is clean,
but do it' quickly;: then wipe dry
and- the goose is ready to season
and stuff, if you will, and to truss
up for roasting,
No stuffing made with bread
should be u'ed, but' the goose is
sometimes stuffed with sage and
onions, mashed potatoes or apples,
etc. If you cook the goose without
stuffing and wish it well seasoned,
put into it several small onions,
'some stalks of celery, and even
some apple. If you have taken off
the skin sewthe the
over breast h
skin of the neck after rubbing in
pepper and salt, and put to roast
with some flour rubbed in at the
start and a very little , hot water.
Baste every ten or fifteen minutes
until done and serve with apple
sauce which has been but slightly
sweetened and put through a sieve.
Pour off most of the grease in the
pan, add hot water and thickening
for gravy. Chopped dry mush-
rooms and other seasonings may be
added. ,
• Goose Pat.—Cut the skin and the
fat attached up into squares,
sprinkle with salt, and leave over
night; rinse with _fresh water in the
morning and pub on to cook gently
in three or four cups of told water.
Cook for , about two :hours •'and
strain or kook until the water has
,all cooked out. If the cracklings
:get too brown before the water is
;cooked out, drain,, and dry in the
•oven... The fat of .the •intestines
should be in 'salted water ` over
night and cooked in the same way,
g
but: sepaeately. Its fia*or may .,not
be aceeptwble. A quick way to cook
the fat ekin. is to fry it witho u t .rra-
'ter, but the cracklings are not ,as
good, but may be acceptable in a
cream sauce. -
Goose Stew.—If: great economy•
,must be practised, use the neck,
the gizzard, ,the heart, the wings,
and the drumstick, or first joint,
for a stew. These are seasoned with
salt and pepper overnight and cook-
ed like any step.. ai'ith "seasonings of
different vegetables:
Mock Oyster Soup.--Saisif i' , - ee
the: oyster plant, is one of the most:
delicious vegetables if well'eooked,
but it is not as well known as ib
ought to be. A soup,daybe made
of itwhich eau hardly be told from
,oyster stew, aid dietetically it :is a
Y
more wholesome. and dainty ,Y sou p
r 'a , •oose dinner the con-
sorafome .
Saki)g' sults almost asan uithckl as
y q y
.nervi:ca•rrots. so if you have no good
place to keep it in, ;as soon as it
'comesinto the house wash ib and
put it into 'a wet newspaper. It
Household Hints.
Mixe m cheese a c eese with chili sauce
and serve on lettuce salad for a
relish.
Alcohol softens most fruit stains,
especially if it is warmed over hot
water.
When putting away silk waists
take out shields, as they are apt to
crack the silk.
When mashing potatoes or other
vegetables, never use, cold milk, but
hot, then. they ;will be light .and
fluffy.
it a teaspoonful of borax is put
into the last rinsing water when
washing, clothes, they will be very
mach whiter:
If boiled frosting becomes rough
and crumbly, beat a lump of butter
into it. The frosting will become
smooth . and creamy again.
Mice will not re -open a hole which
has been filled with any mixture
containing lye. Flour and lye make
a good paste .for the purpose.
Blouses of net or chiffon do not
need to,.be dried out of doors. Roll
in a, towel after rinsing, or wave,
through the air and iron with • a
cool iron.
Before roasting apples, try mak-
ing a small slit all the way around
eachapple with a knife: This will
prevent their splitting when roast-
ing:.
Never use..a liniment near an '
open flame, fora liniment usually
contains some combustible element.
Always'r,u,b a liiti'•tn,ent •into the skin
until it is nearly-clry.
13efore heating g milk in a saucepan
always rinse the pan with water. It
prevents the milk from scorching
and the pan is easier to clean after,
ward. '
if • -fru wish the a
y h n ts' Of
saucepan to boil quickly do not al-
low a metal spoon to remain in the,
pan, because a spoon carries off a
great deal of the heat.
To fast the hawhicha •
err ndles have
become loose •on cuplooarde, doors
or bureau drawers, warm ,:some
powdered alum in an old iron spoon
and', apply it to the handles, press-
ing them iii firmly.
A pieceof fiankymeat can be etuff-
s
ed with eraeker erusnbs, chopped
pork, an egg', savory herbs and sea
soiling,
then rolled a light on a
cloth
and boiledfour hour.
Cool and
press before cutting.
A simple method to satin bard
water is to boil it for a quarter of
an hour, pour it into au earthen
jug, add a quarter of an ounee of
cummin soda to each two gallons,
stir, and when eold carefully pour
off the clear water from the sedi-
ment..
WOLVES ON 'FIELDS OF DEAD.
Russian OMc er. Tells How ..Ie Was
Spared Front Theta.
The presence of the wolf as a,
new terror en the battlefields of
East 'Prussia and Poland is des.
cribed in a letter sent by a Russian
officer to a Riga newspaper.
Wounded in an engagement which
had driven the Germans from their
trenches, he found himself later to
be the only living soul left on the
field of dead. Pulling himself to-
gether and leaning on his sword he
walked as hest he could toward the
supposed shelter of his comrades in
the wouds.
"Jost as I reached the edge of
the woods," he says, "I stopped in
terror. From the distanee there
came the howling of a, wolf. It
sounded unutterably melancholy.
and dreadful in the ,still autumn'
night. Another wolf answered, in
the same long -drawn, dismal note.'
The howling drew nearer; present-
ly I heard it all around me, with-•
out: pause, growing 'launder and
more exultant every* moment,
"1 era no coward. 1 am a sports-
man and have killed many wolves
in hunts, but what I heard that
night I can never forget. The chao-
tic howling which inclosed me like a
chain kept coming closer and closer,'
g
dr win
a to the f the
centre '
o circle
where I was standing.
"I saw clearly there was no
chance of saving myself when the'
circle had closed finally upon me.'
I went running:: how I managed it
I don't know—toward some bushes
a hundred yards away. I reached
them and dropped to the ground. I
was resolved to fight as long as I
could. I had ray loaded -revolver
and my word. •
"The wolves came nearer, and
their howling filledthe night. Now
they were at the border of the
wood. In the darkness I could Gee
dim shadows moving slowly between
the trees. -
"As they came out of the wood
from different directions they drew
togetber into one great, dark herd,
and stood thus for some minutes.
Then • ;another wolf • howled—from
somewhere out on the ` battlefield,.
and all at •once the pack began to
move:, Without haste,_in a Iittle de-
liberate trot they went 'past me,
past the very clump of butshes where.
I: was .vatting with drawn revolver.
Not one turned toward me. ` I<
watched each one as be went by,
expecting that he would spring at
me. I don't know ltow many there
were, but there were very many --
all trotting no quietly to the field
where the dead were lying.
"I was mercifully allowed to
lapse into m consciousne:ss soon af-
ter. At sunrise I was picket up,
still unconscious by a Cossack a+cls pa-
trol."
Try It, ..Brothers..
Two men were talking of the hard
times. "Does roux wife ever grieve
because she threw over 'a wealthy
man in order to marry You?" quer-
ied Hall. "WeI1 she s.t d
, acted to
once," was the reply. "but'I cured
her of ib without delay:." '`I wish
you would tellme how " said Hall.
"I started right - r
in grieving g � 11,E _ .with
her,", replied the other, "and T
grieved•=harder and longer than
did !'
Gasoline is more d,angeroiis than
powder and more explosive than
gun -cotton,