66 



CROCODILE CATCHING. 



WE were in the back verandah of my bungalow, and 

 in front of me a Malay squatted on the floor, and 

 beside him were weird implements some gigantic 

 hooks, four or five coils of rattan, a basket full of 

 odds and ends, and four dead fowls. 



Manap was his name, Abdulmanap bin Muham- 

 mad Arsad, to give him his full ceremonial name, and 

 Manap Rimau or Tiger Manap, to give him his dis- 

 tinguishing name. He was a professional crocodile 

 catcher, making his living out of the reward offered 

 by the Government for the extermination of these 

 animals. His skill and extraordinary daring in shoot- 

 ing tigers, also of course for the Government reward, 

 had earned him his sobriquet. He lived near the 

 sea, close to the mangrove swamps where his work lay, 

 and had come up to Taiping in answer to a letter 

 from me. As he sat on the floor amid his parapher- 

 nalia we talked of indifferent subjects for the period 

 prescribed by etiquette, and then I asked him to show 

 me the lines he had brought with him. 



" It is cooler in the house than by the lake," he said, 

 picking up the basket ; " shall I bait the hooks here ? " 

 He pulled out a knife, with a cutting edge some 



