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 bakau^293
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
I will now proceed to describe the religious ceremonies which accompany this
performance.
The following outline of the ceremonies used in catching a crocodile who is
known to be a man-eater, was taken down by me from the mouth of a noted
crocodile-wizard on the Langat river. First, you take strips of bark of a river-side
bush or tree called baru-baru (which must be cut down at a single stroke), and
fasten them together at each end only, so that they form a rope with divided
(unravelled) strands. This will form that part of your tackle which corresponds to
the gut (pĕrambut) of a fishing line, (i.e. the part just above the hook), and the
advantage of it is that the loose strands get between the crocodile’s teeth, and
prevent it from being bitten through as a rope would certainly be.
Next, you take a piece of the bottommost rung of a house-ladder (anak tangga
bongsu), and sharpen it to a point at both ends, so as to form a cross-piece
(palang) such as will be likely to stick in the crocodile’s throat. Having fastened
one end of the “gut” round the middle of the cross-piece, and the other to your
rattan line, the length of which may be from ten to fifteen fathoms or so,
according to the depth of the river at the spot where the crocodile is supposed to
lie, you must next cut down a young tree to serve as the pole (chanchang) to
which the floating platform and bait may be subsequently attached. This pole