Describe the Malay mancatcher.

Readers don't get too much detail about the Malay mancatcher. In fact, it isn't described in any kind of detail prior to the trap going off. We are told that Rainsford saw a huge dead tree, and he quickly set to work with all of his energy. We have no idea what he is building, and Rainsford hides a few hundred feet away after completing his project. General Zaroff eventually comes into the area, and he is very intent on stalking Rainsford. He is so intent, in fact, that he doesn't see the trap's trigger mechanism.

So intent was the Cossack on his stalking that he was upon the thing Rainsford had made before he saw it. His foot touched the protruding bough that was the trigger.

Unfortunately for Rainsford, Zaroff has a danger sense as good as Spider Man's "spidey sense." Zaroff jumps back just as the delicately balanced dead tree falls down from the living tree. Basically, a Malay mancatcher is a trap that is designed to smash a person underneath a large, falling dead tree.

But he was not quite quick enough; the dead tree, delicately adjusted to rest on the cut living one, crashed down and struck the general a glancing blow on the shoulder as it fell; but for his alertness, he must have been smashed beneath it.

The general receives a glancing blow, and he then calls out a congratulations to Rainsford.

"Rainsford," called the general, "if you are within sound of my voice, as I suppose you are, let me congratulate you. Not many men know how to make a Malay mancatcher. Luckily for me I, too, have hunted in Malacca."

After General Zaroff narrowly discovers Rainsford hiding in a tree, the general walks away, and Rainsford climbs down. About three hundred yards from his hiding place, Rainsford finds a huge dead tree leaning against a smaller living tree. Rainford immediately throws off his sack of food and begins making a Malay mancatcher. The massive dead tree is delicately balanced on the living tree, and there is a "protruding bough" that acts as the trigger. Rainsford watches from a distance as General Zaroff accidentally steps on the trigger, which sends the massive dead tree falling down. The general narrowly escapes being crushed by the dead tree but injures his shoulder when it glances off of him. Despite his injury, General Zaroff is impressed with Rainsford's ingenuity and recognizes that the trap was a Malay mancatcher. General Zaroff then congratulates Rainford for setting the dangerous trap and walks back to his chateau to dress his wounds.