so the home of several trees
and plants from which gutta-percha is obtained. Railroads to connect the
forest belts to the coast are the one thing needed to make Sumatra a
lumber-producing country.

For some reason or other many of the wild animals that crossed the
shallow water between the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra did not cross the
Sunda Strait to Java. There are many more kinds of animals in Sumatra
than in Java; indeed, nearly all the larger species of wild animals of
southern Asia are found in Sumatra, and only a few are in Java. There
are many elephants in the uplands; the rhinoceros lives in the lowlands;
the tiger lives in the jungle, as in India. The flying "fox" is one of
the curiosities of Sumatra. So much for a name, however, for the animal
is not a fox but a very large bat. Its wings are membranes that connect
the limbs corresponding to one's fingers. Like other bats, it hangs from
the limb of a tree, head down, in the daytime, and goes to business at
night. Its body is not much larger than that of a hare, but when in
flight it is four or five feet from tip to tip.

[Illustration: Natives in the jungle, Sumatra]

The flying "cat" is likewise a misnamed animal that bears no
relationship to pussy, but is a kind of lemur. The wild dog, however, is
very much dog and nuisance at the same time--as much of a nuisance as
the coyote of the western United States, and far more numerous. The
"coffee" rat is likewise a great nuisance wherever found; unfortunately
it is found almost everywhere. Monkeys are also numerous.

The natives of Sumatra, like those of Java, are Malays. Unlike them,
however, they are difficult to govern; some of the interior tribes are
fierce and warlike. Near the coast, and in places controlled by the
Dutch, the native ruler is subject to an "elder brother" or Dutch
commissioner. Most of the tribes of the interior are Muhammadans; they
believe that they will be blessed if they are killed in war, and,
therefore, they take every opportunity to make war. The natives of
Acheen, a province in the northwestern part of the island, have always
given the Dutch a great deal of trouble, and they are not fully
conquered, even after a hundred years of warfare.

One of the interior tribes, it is thought, came from India several
hundred years ago, for their religion and customs are much the same as
those of the Hindus. Although they are surrounded by savage tribes, and
far removed from the civilization, b