1770 TWIN CROCODILES 4ir 
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 Radja 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 
