having swallowed the fowl, has gone off with the rattan in tow, a tug being sufficient to set it free, whilst the platform, thus released, has drifted away. A crocodile will try the aggressive sometimes, so, when going in pursuit, it is better to have a boat than a sampan, [501] but Malay paddles are the most convenient in either case. It is also advisable to have a second man with a rifle. The crocodile has probably a favourite place up-stream, so the boatmen paddle up on the look-out for the rattan (which always floats), finding it at length close to the mangrove roots bordering on the river, perhaps. The boat-hook picks up the floating-stick end of the line, and, with a couple of boatmen on to this and a crocodile at the other end, with the small pointed hard wood stick across his throat, the excitement begins. The crocodile plunges about amidst the mangrove roots under the water, and then makes a rush; the rattan is paid out again and the boat follows; then he rushes under the boat, perhaps at the boat, whilst the line is steadily pulled in. This sort of thing may last some time, but the only thing to be afraid of is the rattan's getting twisted round a bakau [502] root under water, which might prevent a capture; otherwise, after a good deal of playing of a rather violent nature, the continual pulling of the rattan-holders in the boat, or his own aggressiveness, induces him to show his head above the surface, whereat the rifles crack, and the crocodile dies, though often not till four or five bullets have been put into different parts of his body." [503] I will now proceed to describe the religious ceremonies which accompany this performance. The following outline of the ceremonies used in catching a crocodile who is known to be a man-eater, was taken down by me from the mouth of a noted crocodile-wizard on the Langat river. First, you take strips of bark of a river-side bush or tree called baru-baru (which must be cut down at a single stroke), and fasten them together at each end only, so that they form a rope with divided (unravelled) strands. This will form that part of your tackle which corresponds to the gut (perambut) of a fishing line, (i.e. the part just above the hook), and the advantage of it is that the loose strands get between the crocodile's teeth, and prevent it from being bitten through as a rope would certainly be.