82 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



covered with itch, and he scratched himself till he 

 bled and became rough all over. Then his feet 

 began to look like a crocodile's tail ; as the change 

 crept up from his feet to his body, he called out to 

 his relatives that he was becoming a crocodile, and 

 made them swear that they would never kill any 

 crocodile. Many of the people in olden days knew 

 that Silau became a crocodile ; they saw him at 

 times and spoke to him, and his teeth and tongue 

 were always like those of a man. Many stories are 

 told of his meeting with people by the river-side. 

 On one occasion a man sat roasting a pig on the 

 river-bank, and, when he left it for a moment, Silau 

 took it and divided it among the other crocodiles, 

 who greatly enjoyed it. Silau then arranged with 

 them that he would give a sign to his human 

 relatives by which the crocodiles might always be 

 able to recognise them when travelling on the river. 

 He told his human friends that they must tie leaves 

 of the DraccBua below the bows of their boats ; 

 this they always do when they go far from home, 

 so that the crocodiles may recognise them and so 

 abstain from attacking them. 



If a man of the Long Patas is taken by a 

 crocodile, they attribute this to the fact that they 

 have intermarried to some extent with Kayans. 

 When they come upon a crocodile lying on the 

 river-bank, they say, " Be easy, grandfather, don't 

 mind us, your are one of us." Some of the 

 Klemantans will not even eat anything that has 

 been cooked in a vessel previously used for cooking 

 crocodile's flesh, and it is said that if a man should 

 do so unwittingly his body would become covered 

 with sores. 



If a crocodile is seen on their left hand by Long 

 Patas on a war expedition, that is a bad omen ; 

 but if on their right hand, that is the best possible 

 omen. 



