distance. After what it considers a sufficient interval to effect its purpose, the
crocodile seizes the body of the drowned man and rises to the surface, when it
“calls upon the Sun, Moon, and Stars to bear witness” that it was not guilty of
the homicide—
“Bukan aku mĕmbunoh angkau,
Ayer yang mĕmbunoh angkau.”Which, being translated, means—
“It was not I who killed you,
It was water which killed you.”^290After thrice repeating this strange performance, the crocodile again dives and
proceeds to prepare the corpse for its prospective banquet. Embracing the corpse
with its “arms,” and curving the tip of its powerful tail under its own belly (until
the tail is nearly bent double), it contrives to break the backbone of the victim,
and then picking up the body once more with its teeth, dashes it violently against
a trunk or root in order to break the long bones of the limbs. When the bones are
thus so broken as to offer no obstruction, it swallows the body whole—thus
affording a remarkable parallel to the boa in its method of devouring its prey,
and recalling Darwinian ideas of their cousin-hood. Miraculous escapes have,
however, occasionally occurred. Thus Lebai ʿAli was caught by a crocodile at
Batu Burok (Kuala Selangor), one evening as the tide was ebbing, and the
crocodile, after smothering him effectually (as it thought) in the thick mud,
retired to await the end. Insensibly, however, it floated farther and farther off
with the falling tide, and Lebai ʿAli, seeing his opportunity, made a bold and
successful dash for freedom.
A similar case was that of Si Ka’, who was pushed under a bamboo root on the
river bank by the crocodile which caught him, and who, after waiting till his
formidable enemy had floated a little farther off than usual, drew himself up by
an overhanging stem and swarmed up it. At the same moment the crocodile
made a rush, and actually caught him by the great toe, which latter, however, he
willingly surrendered to his enemy as the price of his liberty.
A yet more marvellous escape, was that of the youth belonging to the
Government launch at Klang, who escaped, it is related, by the time-honoured