Sept. 2, 1901.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
165 
the value of which I afterwards appreciated. When 
we arrived all was ready, the coolies having, at my 
friend's dictation, arranged some very effective 
bait, consisting of two dead dogs, cut open and 
secured to the ground by stakes about twenty yards 
apart. When ic was dark, and just before the 
moon rose, we crept down to within a few yards of 
our baits, and, talcing the best cover we could find, 
waited for whatever might turn up. After a little 
time our friends began to show themselves— and 
ugly betjgars they looked in the moonlight, slowly 
crawling out of the water, with that hideous, jerky 
motion peculiar to the saurian. It was not long 
before our dainty offerings, which were about 
fifteen yards from the water's edge, were dis- 
covered. One, and then another, approached 
the bait opposite me, and • as the creeping 
monsters drew nearer 1 became conscious 
of a feeling of nausea I had never felt 
before. But the excitement of the moment soon 
overcame any other emotion, and, picking out 
the longest reptile, I covered him and waited 
for the signal from my companion. That 
wait must have made my hand unsteady, for 
when the signal came and we both fired, I saw 
my gentleman turn and make for the water as 
hard as he could shuffle. I was using a Colt 44 
repeater, and gave him two more before he splashed 
into the vvater after the others. My companion 
had done better, having placed a 450 bullet slap 
in fhe brain of his beast which was a fine one. 
We left the coolies to skin him and anchor hi? 
carcass in a suitable spot as an enticement to his 
canriibal brethren to return, and, launching the 
canoe, started off for another place, where we were 
pretty sure of a find. JBi;t the moon clouded over, 
and we had to give it up and turn in, which I did 
in anything but a good mood. However, next 
morning I had the satisfaction of finding my croco- 
dile belly upwards at the bottom of the water a 
few yards out. He was fished up, and had been 
hit twice— in the jaw, and bj' a lucky fluke also 
in the spine, which was broken. 
Before it was time to start in the canoe to pot 
baskers, I took my rifle and wandered along the 
reedy banks, intent on killing something. Ji here 
were birds galore, but nothing for a rifle could I 
find till I came upon a mound of rotten leaves, 
the sight of which sent my heart into my mouth. 
It was the first crocodile's nest I had ever seen, 
and I knew the owner was not far off, lyipg in 
watch for intruders. I pitched stones about in 
every direction, but did not move in the thick 
leeds, having no fancy to be taken by the leg. 
At last, a slight movement in the rushes at my 
side betrayed the presence of the lady. There 
she was, a few yards of!', with one wicked eye 
fixed unfearingly on me. I moved quietly round 
till I could see the other ; then, taking careful aim 
between them, relieved her of her brains. 
That morning we had good sport. Paddling 
quietly along the banks we came across some 
monsters. Though numerous, they were very 
wary, and, while apparently asleep, at the slightest 
sound glided into the water and disappeared. 
However, we got some good shots, the best being 
at one that was crawling out of the water on to a 
bank, and which I shot through the head as he 
was half in and half out, and just as he spotted us. 
In shooting on tidal waters it is essential to 
kill dead, as otherwise the beast will scramble 
into the water, sink, then be carried away and 
lost. A dead crocodile rises to the surface after 
Qibout fifteen to tweoty hours, but by thait time 
is not a pleasant object to approach. Speaking of 
the keeping propensities of the tribe reminds me 
of a young subaltern, newly quartered in Cohombo, 
who was very anxious to shoot his first crocodile. 
He returned one day in a state of high excitement, 
with a reptile in a state of still higher condition. 
It had been shot ten hours before, and he could 
get nobody to take it to the local taxidermist, one 
Lazarus. Ultimately, by the help of the all- 
powerful rupee, a man was induced to take it in 
his rickshaw, which he did, with its tail tied to its 
head like a whiting. What the good Lazarus said 
when it arrived I never heard, but he skinned and 
set it up, and, after all, our young friend had not 
yet shot his first crocodile — it was a harmless 
iguana ! — Shooting Times and British Sports- 
man, June 15. 
BLACK PEPPER (PIPER NIGRUM.) 
This does not get the attention in Assam and its sub- 
districts of Cachar and Sylhet as it ought to. I don't 
know what amount of this spice is annually imported 
into|AssarQ, bat it must be enormous. Everybody usea 
it, from the highest to the lowest. Assam u£«3 to be 
in former years, a very large producer and now it is 
only found in banis here and there up and down 
the country. We have a variety of it growing in 
South Sylhet, but it must be the Bengal variety, as 
it does not compare in either pungency or flavour with 
the true Assam plant. So much is this the case that I 
am inclined to think that it is an entirelj different 
species. The Bengal species has got into Upper 
Assam too and the real old original Assam Black Pepper 
plant is exceedingly rare, and anyone who has once used 
it will never think of using any other that the writer is 
acquainted with. This plant should not only be better 
known commercially, but from a botanical point of view 
ic is well worthy of the closest attention. I don't know 
whether the pepper growtra of Malabar or Sumatra are 
aware that Piper Nigrum is a dioecious plant, but i^ars- 
den never mentions it being so in his " History of 
Sumatra," and it does not appear to have been gene- 
rally known in Koxburgh's time. But there is every 
reason to think that this plant, like many thousands 
more, is in its transitory stage, and little if any 
perceptible change in such a plant will take place 
in the comparatively short period of one hundred 
years. So we may conclude that the plant occurs 
in some instances in a complete dio»,;ious state, some- 
times in the monoecious and probably most olten in 
the hermaphrodite condition. When these circum- 
stances are taken into consideration the intending 
planter of Black Pepper will do well to bear in mind 
that he has more chance of. having a good well deve- 
loped crop of corns when he plants his vines three 
or four together round their supporting tree. Oofiee 
and pepper are eminently adapted for growing with 
each other, because the shade trees can be utilised 
for the vines. Such I believe is the common prac- 
tice in .Southern India. I tried Vanilla upon our 
shade trees, but it would not answer owing to the 
difficulty in fertilising them. The pepper of course 
presents no such difficulty, as it is capable of fer- 
tilising itself. We have no less than tliree species 
which we are going to try and cross fertilise in order 
to get a bigger corn, at the same time retaining 
the far-famed Assam flavoui- and pungency. — Soutli 
Sylhet Notes, June 22. 
FISHING IN NEW GUINEA. 
BY CHARLES FROTHEROti. 
The methods of fishing in different parts of the 
South Sea Islands are manifold, and some of them 
would surprise the disciples of Izaak Walton. 
One of the most ingenious may be laid claim to 
by the natives of a portion of British New 
Uuinea, namely, Dawson Straits. Here, the >veb 
