1140 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIII. 
particular craft, expert rowers or perhaps I should say boatmen, and possess the 
special privilege of ro\ving from Thripunathura the boat of His Highness the 
Maha Raja for his installation at the Cochin Palace, when the Aravan “(or Aravar, 
the headman of their caste who is appointed by thitturam or writ issued by bis 
Highness the Maha Raja) ” with sword in hand, has to stand in front of him in 
the boat. However I am transgressing and to return to the method of capture 
I witnessed, I will explain it briefly as follows. Each man is provided with a long 
bamboo pole, at one end of which is fastened some 30' of rope, the pole itself is 
generally about 5 to 6' long, at the other end of which a 1' iron rod is sphced at 
the end of which is a 3 to 4" barb, and this weapon although not too well-balanced 
can be thro\vn with great force and accuracy up to 15 to 20'. Each individual is 
also provided with a “ one man ” tiny canoe, which can only be steadied by the 
paddle, or one end of the bamboo pole referred to, an axe is also carried and one 
then proceeds gingerly to the hunting ground, in the case of the European with 
as few clothes on as possible. I have to admit my boat bemg towed, as the diffi- 
culty for any European to balance one of these egg-shells alone and propel 
it for any distance without tremendous strain and considerable anxiety would 
no doubt be difficult for those who have not experienced it to understand, and 
is a feat that cannot be accomplished without considerable practice. However 
having arrived at our destination off the Vembanad lake in a small lagoon (the 
water here being slightly brackish) one of the Valans informed me there was 
a crocodile in the middle of the expanse of water in front of us, the water there 
eventually turning out to be about 6' deep. I cannot say I had noticed or could 
see anything, but he told me he had seen the ripple on the surface when it sank ; 
we proceeded carefully to the spot, 3 boats in a line about 15' apart and one of us 
in each. I had the embarrassing post of honour in the centre. The 
man on my right eventually stopped his boat and pointing into the water 
on his right said in a solemn imdertone, “ he is down there.” I am afraid I felt 
rather inclined to say “he is quite safe, leave him alone” especially as we had been 
told he was a twenty footer and swallowed cows whole! The boat on my left circled 
round to the other side of where he was said to be, and I was instructed to close 
up but assured them I felt sure I must be in the line of flight, whereupon I was 
left alone and felt able to breathe once more. However my respite was short, as 
one man kneehng in his boat gently lowered his pole into the water until onlj 
about a foot of the top was visible, then suddenly drove it down with all his 
might : the result was rather sudden and did not give one much time to think. A 
large crocodile shot up to the surface with a tremendous commotion between these 
two boats, one was capsized and its occupant made remarkable time for the bank 
holding on to his len^h of rope, his harpoon being firmly embedded, the other 
man had also driven his in as soon as the crocodile appeared and he also made 
tracks in his boat, for the bank which was only some 50 yards away. In the 
meantime the south-west monsoon appeared to have burst to my starboard and 
waves appeared to be running mountains high, however with my pole I managed 
to find bottom and there I held on as I should have been capsized in a second if 
I had let go. After some 5 minutes the crocodile went to earth about 15 yards 
from the bank, and I lost no time in getting ashore; the animal was then again 
stirred up and with the help of some 12 more men we got him up high and dry 
in about a quarter of an hour. The axe was not necessary as his brain had been 
pierced by one of the barbs. He was 9' 11" long, very fat and in fine condition. 
The men assured me they had often had much worse trouble. 
T. H, CAIVIERON, F.Z.S., 
Asst. Commissioner. 
White House, Peermade, 
Travancore, S.I., 
\Wh June. 1922. 
