Note 292 — Chapter V · Magic Rites connected with the Several Departments of Nature (continued 2)

“A small piece of hard wood, about 6 in. or 8 in. long, and about three-quarters of an inch thick, is sharpened at both ends, and to the middle of this the end of a yard of twine is firmly fastened, the twine having about a dozen strands just held together by say a couple of knots, so as to prevent the crocodile from biting it through, as the strands simply get between his teeth; to the other end of this twine is fastened a single uncut rattan, at least 20 feet long, which can be only a quarter of an inch in diameter, but may with advantage be a little bigger; a small stick affixed to the end of the line, to act as a visible float, completes this part of the gear. Probably a crocodile will eat anything, but he is certainly partial to chicken—at least that bait is always successful in the Sepang river—so, having killed some sort of fowl, the body is cut right through the breast lengthways from head to tail, and the small piece of pointed hard wood inserted, and the bird bound up again with string. Next, two pieces of light wood are nailed together, forming a small floating platform about a foot square, and on this the fowl is placed, raised on miniature trestles. The small platform thus furnished is placed in a likely spot near the bank, and the rattan line is hitched over a small branch or a stake, so that the bait platform may not be carried away by the tide. By the next morning the rattan line, bait and platform may all have disappeared, which probably means that the crocodile, having swallowed the fowl, has gone off with the rattan in tow, a tug being sufficient to set it free, whilst the platform, thus released, has drifted away. A crocodile will try the aggressive sometimes, so, when going in pursuit, it is better to have a boat than a sampan,292 but Malay paddles are the most convenient in either case. It is also advisable to have a second man with a rifle. The crocodile has probably a favourite place up-stream, so the boatmen paddle up on the look-out for the rattan (which always floats), finding it at length close to the mangrove roots bordering on the river, perhaps. The boat-hook picks up the floating-stick end of the line, and, with a couple of boatmen on to this and a crocodile at the other end, with the small pointed hard wood stick across his throat, the excitement begins. The crocodile plunges about amidst the mangrove roots under the water, and then makes a rush; the rattan is paid out again and the boat follows; then he rushes under the boat, perhaps at the boat, whilst the line is steadily pulled in. This sort of thing may last some time, but the only thing to be afraid of is the rattan’s getting twisted round a bakau293 root under water, which might prevent a capture; otherwise, after a good deal of playing of a rather violent nature, the continual pulling of the rattan-holders in the boat, or his own aggressiveness, induces him to show his head above the surface, whereat the rifles crack, and the crocodile dies, though often not till four or five bullets have been put into different parts of his body.”294