CROCODILE CATCHING. 85 



On another occasion B. and I set some lines in an 

 abandoned mine - hole near a big mine where some 

 twelve or fourteen hundred Chinese coolies were 

 working. A crocodile was hooked, and when the 

 coolies saw us playing it at the water's edge, they 

 flocked round us to satisfy their curiosity, and so 

 thickly and so closely did they press upon us that 

 we were nearly pushed into the water on top of the 

 struggling animal. It was only by threatening them 

 with the spear that I was able to keep the barest 

 space around us. Another time S. and I set two lines 

 in an abandoned mine at Kamunting, and when we 

 returned the next morning could find no sign of 

 them. We paddled round the water's edge and 

 examined every inch most carefully; then we in- 

 spected a little creek that flowed into the hole, and 

 followed it for half a mile or so. Not a sign of 

 any rattan. We followed the creek where it led 

 out of the pool, and went down it for about a mile. 

 Again not a sign anywhere, and coming to the con- 

 clusion that some rascal of a Chinaman had seen 

 the rattans and had stolen them, we returned home 

 in disgust. About a week later a note was brought 

 to me from the police-station to say that a Malay 

 had come there with a crocodile, which he said he 

 thought belonged to me. I went over at once to 

 the police-station, and there saw one of my missing 

 lines, and attached to it a young crocodile. The 

 Malay's story was that he was cutting firewood in 

 the forest about a mile from the pool in which I 

 had set my lines, and had seen the rattan lying on 

 the ground. He naturally picked it up, and was 



