34:8 TWO YEAKS IT^ THE JUN^GLE, 



and for a few days we did a thriving business. Two professional 

 crocodile hunters brought in a Crocodilus porosus eleven feet long, 

 and delivered it to Mr. Buck, the superintendent of police, for the 

 government reward of thirty-tive cents per foot. The reptile was alive, 

 but securely bound, and ]\Ir. Buck kindly placed it at my disposal. 

 Having just taken a goodly number of the same species at Selan- 

 gore, I decided to take the head only, and a Malay was called to 

 decapitate the animal as it lay. He drew his "parong latok," a 

 very heavy sword with an edge like a razor, and with two terrific 

 blows severed the crocodile's head from its body. 



Owing to the fact that the crocodiles which infest all the rivers of 

 Sarawak Territory are voracious man-eaters and destroy several Hves 

 annually, the government is waging a war of extermination against 

 the species, and with telUng effect. During that year (1878) 266 

 crocodiles were brought to Kuching for the reward, 153 of which 

 were caught in the Sarawak River and its branches, and 113 in the 

 Samarahan ; 53 were caught by one man, a Malay named Mau, and 

 48 by another named Bujang, both of whom follow that business 

 exclusively. Nearly all were taken with the "alir,"on the same 

 plan as that we pursued in Selangore, described in Chapter XXVI. 

 The largest crocodile taken that year measured 13 feet 10 inches, 

 and of the whole number only two others exceeded 13 feet. Two 

 were between twelve and thirteen feet, ten between eleven and 

 twelve, and eighteen between ten and eleven, while the remaining 

 two hundred and thirty-three were under ten feet, the majority 

 measuring from seven to nine feet. The amount paid out in re- 

 wai'ds was $738.28. 



Mr. Crocker gave me a huge skuU of Crocodilus porosus, which 

 was 2 feet 10 inches in length, and must have come from a speci- 

 men not less than sixteen feet long. Besides the salt-water croco- 

 dile, a true garial {Tomistoma SchlegelJii), is found growing to a 

 great size in the Sarawak Eiver and the Rejang, and perhaps, in 

 nearly all the large rivers of the territory above tidal influence. I 

 procured of jMr. A. Hart Everett, the naturalist, a very large skull 

 of this species from the Upper Sarawak, which measured 3 feet 3 

 inches in length. This species, however, is much more rare than 

 the other, and I did not succeed in securing a fresh specimen. 



The information that I received concerning the orang-utan was 

 to the effect that they inhabit the valleys of the rivers Sadong and 

 Batang Lupar, but not the Sarawak or Samarahan, and are usually 

 seen in the fruit season. But the fruit season had passed months 



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