1770. ROUND THE WORLD. 331 



who was the son of a Dutchman by a Javanese 

 woman, thought fit to acquaint his master that he 

 had seen a crocodile of the same kind, which had 

 also been seen by many others, both Dutchmen and 

 Malays : that being very young, it was but two feet 

 long, and had bracelets of gold upon its feet. There 

 is no giving credit to these stories, said Mr. Banks, 

 for I was told the other day that a crocodile had 

 ear-rings ; and you know that could not be true, 

 because crocodiles have no ears. Ah, Sir, said the 

 man, these Sudara Oran are not like other croco- 

 diles ; they have five toes upon each foot, a large 

 tongue that fills their mouth, and ears also, although 

 they are indeed very small. 



How much of what these people related they be- 

 lieved, cannot be known ; for there are no bounds 

 to the credulity of ignorance and folly. In the girl's 

 relation, however, there are some things in which 

 she could not be deceived ; and therefore must have 

 been guilty of wilful falsehood. Her father might 

 perhaps give her a charge to feed a crocodile, in 

 consequence of his believing that it was his Sudara ; 

 but its coming to her out of the river, when she 

 called it by the name of White King, and taking the 

 food she had brought it, must have been a fable of 

 her own invention ; for this being false, it was im- 

 possible that she should believe it to be true. The 

 girl's story, however, as well as that of the man, is a 

 strong proof that they both firmly believed the ex- 

 istence of crocodiles that are Sudaras to men ; and 

 the girl's fiction will be easily accounted for, if we 

 recollect, that the earnest desire which every one 

 feels to make others believe what he believes him- 

 self, is a strong temptation to support it by unjusti- 

 fiable evidence. And the averring what is known to 

 be false, in order to produce in others the belief of 

 what is thought to be true, must, upon the most 

 charitable principles, be imputed to many, otherwise 

 venerable characters, through whose hands the doc- 



