1770 TWIN CROCODILES 411 



west again as far as Java and Sumatra ; on which islands, 

 however, such instances are very scarce among the natives. 

 To show how firmly this prejudice has laid hold of the 

 minds of ignorant people, I shall repeat one story out of 

 the multitude I have heard, confirming it from ocular 

 demonstration. 



A slave girl who was born and bred up among the 

 English at Bencoulen on the island of Sumatra, by which 

 means she had learnt a little English, told me that her 

 father when on his deathbed told her that he had a crocodile 

 for his sudara, and charged her to give him meat, etc., after 

 he was gone, telling her in what part of the river he was to 

 be found. She went, she said, constantly, and calling him 

 by his name Eadja pouti (White King), he came out of the 

 water to her, and ate what she brought. He was, she said, 

 not like other crocodiles, but handsomer, his body being 

 spotted, and his nose red ; moreover, he had bracelets of gold 

 on his feet, and earrings of the same metal in his ears. I 

 heard her out patiently, without finding fault with the 

 absurdity of her giving ears to a crocodile. While I am 

 writing this, my servant, whom I hired at Batavia, and is a 

 mongrel, between a Dutchman and a Java woman, tells me 

 that he has seen at Batavia a crocodile of this kind : it was 

 about two feet long, being very young. Many, both Malays 

 and Dutch, saw it at the same time ; it had gold bracelets on. 

 " Ah ! " said I, " why such a one at Batavia told me of one 

 which had earrings likewise, and you know that a crocodile 

 has no ears." " Ah ! but," said he, " these sudara are different 

 from other crocodiles, they have five toes on each foot, and 

 a large tongue which fills the mouth, and they have ears 

 also, but they are very small." So far will a popular error 

 deceive people unused to examine into the truth of what 

 they are told. The Bougis, Macassars, and Boutons, many 

 of whom have such relations left behind in their own 

 country, make a kind of ceremonial feast in memory of 

 them : a large party go in a boat furnished with plenty of 

 provisions of all kinds and music, and row about in places 

 where crocodiles or alligators are most common, singing and 



