Tigermen of Anai

Written by Ton Schilling, this book presents stories of the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) told to him by an elderly man referred to only as ‘Old Heer JG v d L' and told in the first person. It was first published in 1952, in Dutch, and later in 1958 in English, so we can assume the stories occurred from around the turn of the century, or a little later, as he is referred to as a young man in the narrative.

The narrator worked for the Public Works Department (of the Dutch East Indies) and as such journeyed through the islands of Indonesia, taking control of public works projects such as roads. Often in the wilds, he spent a lot of time with the local people, but never with out Hasim, an older man who acted as his guide, and was very experienced at tracking and hunting.

Each chapter in the book reads as a somewhat self-contained story, as they deal with an isolated event or matter, but they read well as an overall narrative. The translation must be high quality as it reads seamlessly in English.

The stories take us from Sumatra to Java, Borneo (Kalimantan, the Indonesian part), and as far afield as Komodo. The chapter titles provide an insight into the stories (my additions in brackets)- The Elephants' Graveyard; Wild Life in the Forest; The Murderer (a tiger); Tigermen; The Cow-killer (another tiger); Adjaks (wild dogs); Scars (how the narrator got his); Dragons of Komodo; Panthers; Tigermen of Anai.

So as you can see, it has a tiger focus, with the two chapters related to ‘tigermen' related to the Indonesian myth that there are men who can change into tigers. Much of the text has to do with hunting, but as a Public Works Department supervisor it was often to him that the natives came with problems of wild animals near their villages - elephants, tigers, panthers (which are actually leopards, but always referred to as panthers in Indonesia). There is also much hunting of deer and pigs, almost always as food.

This was a well written and enjoyable read.
4 stars.