We had been guests of the State for the past two weeks. Its ruler, among other
kind attentions to us, had suggested a visit to his out province Maur and a
crocodile hunt along the banks of the broad river that wound about the foot of
Mount Ophir.
Fifteen hours’ steam in his beautiful yacht along the picturesque shores of Johore
brought us to the realization of a long-cherished dream,—the seeing for
ourselves the mountain whose exact location had been a subject of conjecture for
so many centuries. Were I a scholar and explorer and not a sportsman, I might
again and more explicitly set forth facts which I consider indubitable proof that
the Mount Ophir of Asia and not the Mount Ophir of Africa is, as I have already
claimed, the Mount Ophir of the Bible. But here, I wish only to narrate the
record of a few pleasant days spent at its foot.
The Maur River, at its mouth, is a mile across; it is so deep that one can run
close up to its muddy banks and peer in under the labyrinth of mangrove roots
that stand like a rustic scaffold beneath its trunks, protecting them from the
highest flood-tides.
It was some time before I could pick out a crocodile as he lay sleeping in his
muddy bath, showing nothing above the slime except the serrated line of his
great back, which was so incrusted that, but for its regularity, it might pass for
the limb of a tree or some fantastically shaped root.
“There you are!” said the Chief Justice, pointing at the bank almost before we
had reached the opposite side. I strained my eyes and raised the hammer of my
“50 x 110” Winchester; for I was to have a shot at my first live crocodile.
We drew nearer and nearer the shore and yet I failed to see anything that
resembled an animal of any sort. The little launch slowed down and the crew all
pointed toward the bank. I cannot now imagine what I expected then to see, but
something must have been in my mind’s eye that blinded my bodily sight; for
there, right before me, was a little fellow not over three feet long.
He had just come up from the river, and his hide was clean and almost a dark
birch color. His head was raised and he was regarding us suspiciously from his
small green eyes.