people of 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 bĕr-tâji, 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 driven into the ground. Presently the Juâra, or cock-
fighters, appear, each carrying his bird under his left arm. They enter the cock-
pit, squat down, and begin pulling at, and shampooing the legs and wings of
their birds, in the manner which Malays believe loosen the muscles, and get the