size and strength of the species which prevails on
this island are prodigious. They are said to break with a stroke of their
forepaw the leg of a horse or a buffalo; and the largest prey they kill
is without difficulty dragged by them into the woods. This they usually
perform on the second night, being supposed, on the first, to gratify
themselves with sucking the blood only. Time is by this delay afforded to
prepare for their destruction; and to the methods already enumerated,
beside shooting them, I should add that of placing a vessel of water,
strongly impregnated with arsenic, near the carcase, which is fastened to
a tree to prevent its being carried off: The tiger having satiated
himself with the flesh, is prompted to assuage his thirst with the
tempting liquor at hand, and perishes in the indulgence. Their chief
subsistence is most probably the unfortunate monkeys with which the woods
abound. They are described as alluring them to their fate, by a
fascinating power, similar to what has been supposed of the snake, and I
am not incredulous enough to treat the idea with contempt, having myself
observed that when an alligator, in a river, comes under an overhanging
bough of a tree, the monkeys, in a state of alarm and distraction, crowd
to the extremity, and, chattering and trembling, approach nearer and
nearer to the amphibious monster that waits to devour them as they drop,
which their fright and number renders almost unavoidable. These
alligators likewise occasion the loss of many inhabitants, frequently
destroying the people as they bathe in the river, according to their
regular custom, and which the perpetual evidence of the risk attending it
cannot deter them from. A superstitious idea of their sanctity also (or,
perhaps, of consanguinity, as related in the journal of the Endeavour's
voyage) preserves these destructive animals from molestation, although,
with a hook of sufficient strength, they may be taken without much
difficulty. A musket-ball appears to have no effect upon their
impenetrable hides.

FISHING.

Besides the common methods of taking fish, of which the seas that wash
the coasts of Sumatra afford an extraordinary variety and abundance, the
natives employ a mode, unpractised, I apprehend, in any part of Europe.
They steep the root of a certain climbing plant, called tuba, of strong
narcotic qualities, in the water where the fish are observed, which
produces such an effect that they become intoxica