MALAY SKETCHES
and Kasim Kěchil—that is Kâsim Major and Kâsim Minor.
Kâsim Major was a quiet, reserved, silent man of about twenty-five, and I afterwards realised that he had a somewhat violent temper when roused. Kâsim Minor, on the contrary, was a smiling, talkative, happy, and pleasant-looking young fellow of about twenty. They were not related to each other in any way.
I used often to be away on the coast and up river, and on my return from one of these expedi- tions I noticed the men teasing Kâsim Minor, and saw at once that he was lâtah. I questioned the inspector, and he told me that during my absence he had one day been away on duty for some hours, and when he returned, about 4 P.M., he saw Kâsim Minor up a coco-nut tree just outside the stockade, On asking him what he was doing there, he replied he could not come down because there was a snake at the bottom of the tree. In reality there was a bit of rattan tied round the tree, and, this being removed, Kâsim came down.
Now, it is no easy matter to climb a coco-nut tree ; it requires a special training to do it at all, and Kâsim did not possess it. But the inspector
ascertained that the other police had found out by
70
