HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Herald, 1915-01-08, Page 3s
srz
Lea
le
do
he
he
he
r)
'ilAUNTED TREES_ . _.....
Traveler in Malay Peninsular Had Weird Adventure
. When He Defied Local Superstition
he pokuk naytii ',haulm, or haunte
tree, isle, be found•in•:'every cavi-
andseettled township, village
kamp ng of the.,.Malay penin-
ti In •e ie dense junglea, they ex-,
by thtiilsaaidis.
here .they a,ie situated in t,t:'a
ed •areas open offerings in era
o•e of jo�ste's+ticks and paper rho -
ns .by the Chinese, rice and cakee
a the Tamils, and prayer -cloths by
ii- Malays are daily laid .at their
and roots to propitiate the
rs, ent .dljin or peri, whereas, in
n.g actual jungles, they are gener-
avoided by a detour, ,or, if th
rr t practicable, passed in ellen.
e a reverent -salaam,
ei the open-minded and imparti
zs cher ,among the mystic mays
ast, some curious and puzzli
riences present themselves, an
oontinue to do so until rnoder
ce classifies them in their pr
ly
o0
ry
at
n
a
if
r-
r -
e
end Chinese verified his etatenents
as to what had happened, and 'the
absolute refusal of ,anyone to touch
the remainingtwo trees,. or,, indeed,
to ge near them.
Unable to. spend more time do the
vicinity, with great' difaculty I per -
seeded my Malay contractor to run
up the usual atap bungalow whichwe were in the habit of erecting, for
$250, and, marking out the site, I
left my man to make propitiatory
offerings 'to the hantus before com
tn-
en•eing his building.
A month later it :v,Tas completed
at without accident, and on My.next.
ee visit in the neighborhood the place
was occupied by ray' friend, and ,I
al camped there for a night on my way
of through Salak on road works.
ng A footpath led from the top of
d the hill, down the back, to a small
n well, near which a tiny bathhouse
o- had been built. On each side of this
little eighteen -meth path the blukah
(secondary jungle growth) had
sprung up with the usual rapidity
of tropical vegetation, and remain-
ed uncleared, owing, as my friend
assented, to the refusal of local
place :among occult phenomena,
a writer in the bride World
azine,
this narrative I propose to ae
r a . personal experience o
nted trees. It occurred
a
la Kangsa., Perak, in the '80s
t
f
t
, coolies to work anywhere near the
Sir Hugh Clifford incorporate
of it in one of his clever Ma-
n ,stories; but I think the ,ae-
facts, just as they happened,
e. better material for reflection.
young friend of mine, a Gor-
man,. ,full of superstitions pecu-
to Cornish miners, • had been
inted inspector' of }nines at
k, a little mining village some
t miles north of Kuala Kangsa,
hen ,capital of Perak. -
was, -district engineer at the
,. and we -were projecting the
main road from Taiping, via
, to Kuala . Lumpur, in the
boring state of Selangor. S•a-
'as then the farthermost settle -
of the Kuala Kangsa district;
d ,and around it lay
he Great. Primeval Jungle.
ew big Chinese bansale (palm
heds) were dotted round the
pite foie the Chinese coolies,
waiters were -required for the
nspector.
Haigh; Low,our resident, al-
. me $300 to piit up a small
and palm -roofed and walled
Enkg fee my friend eganywhere
nmost •suitable were my.
ctions.
Cornishman accompanied me
of to' Salak and selected a
hill, about 50 feet high, situ-
one side of the Salak vel-
d •comm•anding a fair view of
ines and buildings 'around
reed to the site, and. allowed
5 to get the top of the hill
of jungle, while I proceeded
.aid, through the forest, ex -
g the trace for the present
ad to Ipoh.
jungle on this hill eonsisted
e tall hard' o•od trees on the.
, all dead, surrounded by the
lighter growths of young
reeds, palms and creepers.
nnate was $5 apiece fo,r fe11-
large trees, and $10 to fell,
nd clear an acre of the eur-
n,; growth.
ening in a few days I found
end ---who was camped in the
orieg police-station—had got
ngle cleared, had felled one
ec, left two standing, and was
ing for his, quarters to be
noted, ,as he was not comfort -
jammed up with Sikh police -
the small and stuffy station,
ig dangerous to build a dwell-
tahe'vi•cinity of isolated trees
:11, robbed of the support of
neighbors and the inter -
1 cc:eeper,s and natural stays,
one: to blow over in the Jinni -
quells which often accompany
x
ms• zuthetr.
•0 1 ;-
C
s Ia•e
refused
sed
ny fiative building contractor
k•until the remaining two
were felled, Thereupon my
Cornish friend bega,ir to ex-
to excitedly.
k here, boss," he said.
laugh,, I know, because you
elieve in these things; but
't beenable to get a. single
to work this clearing.' They
the three trees are p.okulc
anuli—aia,vo been so fpr gen-
e and that dire evil will . be-
y one meddling with them,
, 1 got some Chinese miners
le the jo•b doubling, the
you' allowed inc out of my
eke-."
n why did you not get them
r the business whiley au were
•L V' I inquired.
%use ‘the moment the first
as. felled-. it carie down and
the Chinese' who was chop
ite" he said. "The` 11laluaes
1,
reriel YOU see, beans'
ry I can't ,get a, peel to go
e job•ecir love or inoney,"
d haunted trees. The single .:tree
which had been felled lay across this
path, forming an obstacle some
four feet high, which bad to be
clambered over, ,at much discom-
fort to bare lege 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 :out a deep notch in this tree to
let one step through in • comfort
without barking ones . shins climb
ing over ib;" I urged miry friend.
"I'll try, boss," he 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 cute, My friend reasserted
his inability to get a soul, Malay or
or Chinese, to .tackle the job, and
deluged me with stories ofthe in-
telligence of Cornishmen, in mat-
ters supernatural as coinpared
with the ignorance and stupidity of
the balance of Englishmen, while.I
laughed uproariously. .
A. week or two later Sir Hugh
Lo•w, remaarked to me :at Kuala
leangsa 'residency dinner
"1 wish you would.go, up to Salak
and bring young P— to the hospi-
tal here, whether: he wants to come.
or net. I hear he has
Dangerously Injured His Foot,
persists in doctoring himself with
rubbishy Chinese medicines ancl re-
fuses to submit himself to civilized
medical treatment. He'll come to
serious grief presently, and you
must bring him down—by force, if.
neceiss!ary."
I promised to go next day, and,
as it happened, it was not a day too
soon. Poor P— lay in a. chair
with his foot swathed in oderifer-
ous rags; he was in a. high fever.
Ile had, I discovered, a deep and
hideous out on the instep, which he
had been 'treating with boiled
leaves and ether concoctions of na-
tive Medicinal craft, and his foot
was almost in a state of putrefa.c-
tion. He had cut it with a bilking
a species of heavy chisel set like an
axe in a light handle and lashed
with rattan, This instruni•ent is
used as a hatchet by the Malays in
preference to the heavier English
tool.
"How on earth did you manage
timer I asked him. later. • . '
`!Well,- boss, you'll laugh', of
course, when.I tell you," grumbled
m
y superstitious:friend; "but any
T
ay, it's the -lith. I.t was like this
•couldn't get . a soul to cut the
ntec+h you grodsed about, so 1 de -
ermined to profit by your superior
1:uotT•led
gc and tackle it -myself. M.Y
• alays warned me against it, but 1
noted the rot foci talked about,
common sense and all that. So 1
elined the halite, got, a biliong,
nd sailed in. I straddled the tree
nd commenced to shop. I had
only given abut a dozen blows
'hen, as I was •coming down with a
hop, :somet sing seized my. arm
nd -turned, the biliong arc to my
ot, and I fell off the tree in agony,
des"—lie spoke angrily, noting'the,.
sloe+ptieal grin on my face ---"you
a
m laugh 1 •.But don't tell me I am
ntha fool that I can't drop an axe
ithin an incat or two of the samepot between widely straddled feet,
is biliong;did' not glance off. ' •I
stinetly felt thy arm gripped in
id air and forced
do
wn with the
ling in it, and relied to resist
he force. .That is on my oath, and
u may believe it or not, as you
ease."
M • sympathy ,for:. his elle , eund
as greater than my desire to argue
thingge. supernatural. , He was
ken °down the river to Kuala
ansa, and put into hospital for
I
1
noted
e
tl
a
a
c
a
fo
c
w
T1
di r
n1
yo
pl
on
Ira
proper attention,
ries Among the local Malays A week or two later, while P-- ..
t
A.
Real Canadian
Contingent
From left t, right are: Mr. W. R..Critehiey, Captain A. C. •Critchley, Captain O. A. Critchley, and
who
ter• 3', A. Critchley. '-Captain `O. A. 'Critchley is a Canadian owning a large ran
l.en all his sons to serve, Great Britain. in the war. They are' now all in Strathcena's Horsech in Albertas in campa hat
Salisbury, except Mr. W. R. Critchley; who is running a machine-gun detachment in an infantry at -
talion, All are six feet or over, the father being six feet three inches, Captain A. C. and Mr. J. A.
Critchley are in the Canadian regulars,. and bave played in their regimental team -:Strathoona's Horse
for some time past, and this team at present holds the Western Canadian polo championship, and has
done so for the past` two years. The father and other brother are also fine players, and the family in com-
bination make up a most formidable team.
y
et Salisbury Plain.
was still under treatment, I had to
pass through Salak again, and with
his permission made my camp at
his quarters for thenight. Malay
jungle servants respectfully die -
cussed the question of•han.tus with
me,; particularly. in regard to P.'s
mishap, and politelybut: firmly iin-
silted upon 13....:..
The Reality of the Glenne.
1, just as politely; denied their ex-
istence, outside coincidence; till' it
grew time to go to 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
my light swag while I was at my
bath. Proceeding a few paces down
the path to the bathhouse. I glanc-
ed 'up to find the sun was higher in
the heavens, than I thought, and
hesitating for .a moment or two, I
wavered as to whether I should go
on .without my helmet, ,and risk the
early morning :emu. on the back of
my neck and shoulders, or whether
I should walk back to the house to
get it. Very fortunately, as it hap-
pen•ed,, I went back, ,and presently
came out again With my sola topee
on.
Passing my. men at the door, L
overheard them still discussing the
hantu question as they glanced up
at the two ominous trees, still rear-
ing their gaunt dead trunks and
dried limbs above as.
Seizing the moment as opportune
to impress thein with the superior
knowledge of the white mean; I
struck` an attiude, and shaking my
fist at the two trees, Challenged the.
hantus, in any most vituperative
Malay, to come down and measure
strength with the unbelieving and
scoffinf orang putoh (white ruin),
I made aii impressiic pause to allow
them full opportunity.
As they failed to avail themselves
of •:the. challenge, I laughed trium-
phantly at my startled orderlies,
and vaulting over the fallen ti:unk,
came crashing to the greund with a
blow on the head which drove ray
helmet down to my Chin, reined a
shower of sparks before my eyes,
and left ale for a few seconds lying
stunned on the ground, wondering
confusedly not only why my men
had taken: such vindictive 'steps :to
punish' my mockery, but also how
they lied': managed it so suddenly
and with sihch terrific force. •
Rising stupidly to my feet, and
wrenching my helmet, with no little
discomfort to _ my skinned nose and
fact
e
I beheld m
> orderli t;--� �a -
e st nd
ing where I had left them, by the
house door --glancing with bulging
eyes al ernately at me : and the
h�auinted trees. Then my startled'
gaze fell upon , ,
AJingo Dead Branch
which.lay, across the path at my
-r
feet,eels.. •. It had fallen- Prem one of the
Had I not fortunately turned back
acid donned. my rturr'f pifh helmet,
my skull' would have been crushed
like an ;eggshell.
Proceeding thoughtfully down to
any bath, I returned—with one eye
on the trees—and, with such dig-
nity as I oo.uld assume with a nearly
dislocated neck and sprained sthoul-
der, bads niiv wren roll up my -swag
acid foJli;w,.while I started ,sti$3y.on
my day's, tramp.
suppose you think the hantus
lief
thatr I inquired of the order-
lies an 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 matter 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 .particular
trees
"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,
• 5_....
Appropriate.
A wealthy but miserly baronet
was celebrated for having a magni-
ficently decorated dining -room,
while his viands were very few. A
celebrated wit was invited to dine
on a. certain occasion, and the host
asked him if he didn't thick the
room elegant.
"Yes,'' was the reply, "but it is
not quite to my' taste."
"And ,what change would you.
make?"
a ked the h .
USE.
"Well.,"
answered the. wit,. "if
this were my house, you know, I
would have," looking at the ceil-
ing, ''less gilding and," here he
glanced .furtively at the table,
"more carving."
His Initial,
Blee,eribitally examined the gold
sleeve links, which were set before
her and then requested the .clerk to
show her another line. She decided
on a pair murmuring to herself.:
Yes, I'm sure he'll like these."
"Do you care for elle initials,
Miser queried the clerk.
"Oh, yes, I forgot," said she, "I.
think I'll use his first initial this
iriie.
You t o
u may engrave the lr,tter
'11' en' them!'
"U," fepealed the clerk, as he
wrote the instructions down. "May
Enquire the name; miss, i.f ib is
TJriaii or Ulysses ys s 2 $anzes coal.-
mending with Jr are so very, rare,')
"Eugene," replied the young wo•
elan; proudly.
Thera may be ,germs i kisses, but
every girl thinks she is mmnad,
NERVOUS CHILDREN
The Trouble is Often Really St
Vitus Dance -Do Not Neglect It
Many a child has been called
awkward, chits been punished s in
scliooI for net, keeping. still. or '.,for
dropping things, when the trouble
was really St. Vitus dance. This
disease m1.ay appear at any age, but
is most Common between the ages
of six and fourteen years. I5 is
caused by thin blood which falls to
carry sufficient nourishment to the
nerves, and the child becomes rest-
less and twitching of the muscles
and jerking of the limbs and
body follow. In severe cases
the child is unable to hold
anything or feed itself.. St.
Vitus dance is cured bysbuilding up
the blood. The uios+t suocessful
treatment is to remove the child
from add mental excitement, stop
school work and give Dr. Williams'
Pink Pills. These Pills renew the
bloodsupply, strengthen the
nerves, and restore the child to
perfect health. Here is proof of
their power to cure. Mrs. Geo. A.
MacDonald, • Harrington, N. S., 1
says : "Illy son was attacked by St. P
t
3611
UT �.
1'ILl GERMANS ARE NO2
ONS I)b g T•re
Soldier NVritee ,o.f �f;Giil1:�eie na rsY;•
$Iuss• laraye Tribute to Asia.
.,Sheff'idld is hearing from -tier sons
art the: front.
PaivaSe ' ,..; GoQdex�hatx, *ho 15'ir4
the 2nd Yorkshire iteg'iment, a,nd ;
lives in Sli'efftelcl, England,: vz rtes
home to his another that be .has been,:,:•
waund.ed in the hand.
"The ;fighting i1 going,on.'all 'the -
time," he '•a,cle s, ."and there is hot
much, chance to rest. We dost' our
cQlodnellust •and that upset, all the bat-
talion as he' was a real'good fellow.
We lie in the trenches and if we get
nip -'-
get in
all,the t
,make y
cart in.see the
and th
pi,aces,
they fi�
the gro
is Maki
Er
"Ththous�a
receive
be nigh
pot at
lots of
and m
have s
and w
for nee
mercy,
when t
give th
A son of J: Wilson, 76 Brooeo
Bank, was with the London Scot-
tish in their celebrated charge, and
says:
"We had about a day a,nd a night
of it with rather heavy losses. The
majority, I am pleased to say, were
not very heavily wounded. I was
glad to get away from the German
.artillery fire, which was very warm
stuff. We are now away from itand having a good rest ; plenty of
grub and a comparatively good
tune."
"Cannot Be a Long'War."
Alfred Lucas has received nn in-
teresting letter from R. Hammond,
who joined the artillery on the,out-
break of the war. Be w rit.eis
"We have been in the thick of
the :.fighting "along the, Yser lately.
Several of my• lot; myself included,
who are artillery.. -men, are:., at:
taohed to the R.I+.A., and we had a .hot time' of it. The enemy made
determined efforts to silence our
guns, but without success, and al-
though we lost heavily ourselves,
my battery especially, the sl•aughtez
of the Germans was awful. Only
those who have witnessed the terra
ble effects of modern warfare ca1�
imagine the horrible slaughter and
suffering which it entails; it was like.
some horrifying nightmare. Dante'e
Inferno at its worst is a, mere noth-
ing compared to it. We have now
comedown to the base to recuper-
ate for a, day or so, and we welcome
the rest. The Germans are not all
alike ; iu their attack upon us they
advanced with great bravery and
rushed to certain death unflincliing-
y. We learn very little here of the
rogress of the allies generally, as
Tye have had no newspapers for . a
ong time, •'but I venture the opinion
hat in view of the enormous ex-
penditure and slaughter that is go-
ing on daily it cannot be a long
war.''
°ok round the
Vitus dance ; at the outset his
Muscles would twitch and his step
was weak and jerky. We called iu
a doctor wino treated him, bat not-
withstanding he continued to grow
worse and at last grew so bad that
he could not hold -a, cup in his
hand, while Inc head coiistantly
twitched, and bis speech became 2
rather indlict:iaet, At flies juncture 1.i
I saw, in e piper the cure of a irny I C
from similar .trouble through the h
use of. DT. Williams' Pitrk:Piths, We. r
at o.
ace sent for a
t orbn
.supply, �r
1 and in T
a
1p,•
few Tvecks after he began -disci •use. G
hussars' Hot Time.
Fred C.'o:cking, a. trumpeter of the
nd Dragoon Guards, whose home
s: at Matlock, Smites to bis par,
nts:-•-"The 1ltli Hussars .caught it
et to -day. We don't knots- how
nano have gone
under, r as they ,
3
are
fried in their own trenches The
ermans got the range with their
big guns and dropped shells right
into the trenches. They belong to
our brigade and have been very'
lucky until `to -day. Our airmen
have been doing fine work lately.
They take More chances than any-
body by flying right over the Ger-
man trenches, and direct our artil-
lery fire by dropping differently-col;-
ored lights.• My Woad! Talk about
being under fire: They . et it ung
der, over and all around, but an
aeroplane on the move tikes some'
hitting, HIf people want to know
what it, is like out here ket them
join the ,army and try it. It might
swe rise a few. Helt on earth isn'
in it. There has been one Conti n.u`
roar
of artillery
rifle and
y fit,
e
ei,_I
last, night and to -day, ', ,and it la sti;:;�,
on, Recently we had another blas
day, losing 14 killed, inoltiding out
0,0,, Major Browning, and another
officer, 4Dwounded and %t'wo sn
We had`.34 ,Casualties In oturr
squadron,
"
there was - considerable impr;,ve-
ment, and it was not long after
this before he was completely
cured, and has never had a symp-
tom of the trouble since; I am con-
vinced that, there is no medicine
like ])r. Williams'. Pink Pills for
the cure of St. Vitus dance:
If your dealer does not 'keep Dr.
Williams' Pink Pills you canget
them by mail .at 50 cents a box or -
Six boxes for $2,50 by writing the
Dr, Tilliains' Medicine Co.,
Brockville, Ont.
What Dog..
A barrister once opened his tress-
examination of a handwriting ex-
pert by asking, "Where is the
dog ?" "What dog 4" Sitid the as-
tonished witness, "The dog," re-
plied his tormentor, "which the
judge at, the last Assizes said he
would; riot hang on your evidence,"
Anal Sit n.Lor&'',
The allies will do it if they can.
What l
Whir, sit on the Ottomen.
Gasoline is more dangerous thin
powder and more explosive dais
gin -cotton.