278 CONFESSIONS OF A BEACHCOMBER 



The crocodile is poked out of secluded nooks beside the 

 bank and from under submerged logs, never being allowed 

 a moment's peace. When it is thoroughly cowed (and it 

 is an undoubted fact that crocodiles may be frightened into 

 passiveness), a rope of lawyer vine is passed round a 

 convenient tree and held by half a dozen boys, while a 

 running noose is made on the other end. A daring black 

 dives into the water, and cautiously approaching the be- 

 wildered creature, slips the noose over its head and backs 

 away. Should he turn his face, the blacks say the crocodile 

 would immediately seize him. The party on the bank 

 hauls on the line, and in spite of protests and struggling 

 the game is landed, to be chopped and beaten to death 

 with tomahawks and nulla-nullas. Then follows a feast, 

 the inevitable surfeit, and the dire conclusion that crocodile 

 as " tucker " is no good. The flesh is said to be " All a 

 same turtle. Little more hard fella ! " My investigations 

 lead to the opinion that a crocodile was once caught in 

 the manner described, and that upon a single instance the 

 proud feat has been multiplied by the score. 



SUICIDE BY CROCODILE 



It has been said that Australian blacks never commit 

 suicide. An instance which goes in proof of the contrary 

 occurred not many months ago. All the creeks and rivers 

 flowing from the coastal range to the sea are more or less 

 infested with crocodiles. In crossing creeks, blacks take 

 every precaution against surprise, rafts of buoyant logs 

 strapped together with lawyer vine being used. These rafts 

 are continually drifting across to the island, proving how 

 general is their use. Maria Creek (about a dozen miles or 

 so up the coast) is well known to be a popular resort of the 

 crocodile, and at the mouth, where the blacks wade at 

 low-water, an unusually big fellow had his headquarters. 

 A member of the Clump Point tribe, painfully afflicted with 



