It is the capture of the deer which makes the greatest demands on the Negrito's skill. Doubtless his first efforts in this direction were to lie in wait by a run and endeavor to get a shot at a passing animal. But this required an infinite amount of patience, for the deer has a keen nose, and two or three days might elapse before the hunter could get even a glimpse of the animal. So he bethought himself of a means to entrap the deer while he rested at home. At first he made a simple noose of bejuco so placed in the run that the deer's head would go through it and it would close on his neck like a lasso. But this was not very effective. In the first place it was necessary that the run be of the right width with underbrush on either side, because if the noose were too large the deer might jump through it and if too small he might brush it to one side. The results of this method were so uncertain that the practice has fallen into disuse. Recourse is now had to the deadly "belatic." I do not believe that this trap, which is common nearly all over the Philippines, is original with the Negrito. It is probably the product of the Malayan brain. A trap almost identical with this and called "belantay" is described by Mr. Abraham Hale [18] as belonging to the Sakai of the Malay Peninsula, whom the Philippine Negrito resembles in many ways. The similarity between the two words "belatic" and "belantay" is apparent. In Ilokano and Pampanga this trap is called "balantic," accented, like the Sakai term, on the last syllable. In Tagalog and Bisayan the letter "n" is dropped and the word is pronounced "be-lat'-ic." Mr. Hale does not state whether the word is Sakai or is borrowed from the Malay. But according to Clifford and Swettenham's Malay Dictionary the pure Malay term is "belante," which, as it is even more similar to the terms in use in the Philippines, puts an end to the doubt concerning the origin of the word. The belatic consists of a long arrow or spear, which is driven, with all the force of a drawn bough or other piece of springy wood, across the path of the animal which strikes the cord, releasing the spring. (See fig. 1.) When the string C is struck it pulls the movable ring G, releasing K, which immediately flies up, releasing the string I and hence the spring F. The spear, which is usually tied to the end of the spring, though it may simply rest against it, immediately bounds forward, impaling the animal. The spring is either driven into the ground or is firmly held between the two uprights L. This trap is almost invariably successful.