caught So-and-so?”^301 And if he wishes to reply in the affirmative he will
bellow loudly. When he does so, say, “Wind yourself up” (”lilit”), and he will
wind the line round his muzzle. And when you want to kill him, chop across the
root of his tail with a cutlass; this will kill him at once.
I may add that it is not generally wise to keep a captured crocodile alive
overnight, as he happens to be one of the clientèle of a certain powerful hantu
(spirit) named Langsuir^302 who comes to the assistance of his follower at night
and endows him with supernatural strength, thus enabling him, if he is not very
sufficiently tied up, to get loose, which might be awkward. You should also
never bring one into the house, on account of an understanding, prejudicial to
yourself, which exists between him and the common house-lizard (chichak).
Of the folklore which is concerned with other classes of “reptilia” that which
deals with Snakes is the most important.
“The gall-bladder of the python, uler sawah, is in great request among native
practitioners. This serpent is supposed to have two of these organs, one of which
is called lampedu idup, or the live gall-bladder. It is believed that if a python is
killed and this organ is cut out and kept, it will develop into a serpent of just
twice the size of that from which it was taken. The natives positively assert that
the python attains a length of sixty to seventy feet, and that it has been known to
have killed and eaten a rhinoceros.
“One of the pit vipers is exceedingly sluggish in its movements, and will remain
in the same place for days together. One individual that was watched, lay coiled
up on the branch of a tree for five days, and probably would have remained
much longer, but at the end of that time it was caught and preserved. The Malays
call it ular kapak daun, and they say that it is fed three times a day by birds, who
bring it insects to eat. One man went so far as to say that he had actually once
seen some birds engaged in feeding one of these beautiful bright-green
snakes.”^303
In Selangor, as in Perak, the “live gall-bladder” of the python will (it is
believed), if kept in a jar, develop into a serpent; when dried it is in great request
as a remedy for small-pox. The story that Mr. Wray tells of the pit viper (ular
kapak daun) is in Selangor told of a snake called chintamani. Selangor Malays
say that it was once upon a time a Raja of the country, and that the birds which