A young female slave, who was born and bred up among the English at Bencoolen, and had learnt a little of the language, told Mr Banks, that her father, when he was dying, acquainted her that he had a crocodile for his sudara, and solemnly charged her to give him meat when he should be dead, telling her in what part of the river he was to be found, and by what name he was to be called up: That in pursuance of her father's instructions and command, she went to the river, and standing upon the bank, called out, Radja Pouti, white king, upon which a crocodile came to her out of the water, and eat from her hand the provisions that she had brought him. When she was desired to describe this paternal uncle, who in so strange a shape had taken up his dwelling in the water, she said, that he was not like other crocodiles, but much handsomer; that his body was spotted, and his nose red; that he had bracelets of gold upon his feet, and ear-rings of the same metal in his ears. Mr Banks heard this tale of ridiculous falsehood patiently to the end, and then dismissed the girl, without reminding her that a crocodile with ears was as strange a monster as a dog with a cloven foot. Some time after this, a servant whom Mr Banks had hired at Batavia, and who was the son of a Dutchman by a Javanese woman, thought fit to acquaint his master that he had seen a crocodile of the same kind, which had also been seen by many others, both Dutchmen and Malays: That being very young, it was but two feet long, and had bracelets of gold upon its feet. There is no giving credit to these stories, said Mr Banks, for I was told the other day that a crocodile had ear-rings, and you know that could not be true, because crocodiles have no ears. Ah, sir, said the man, these sudara oran are not like other crocodiles; they have five toes upon each foot, a large tongue that fills their mouth, and ears also, although they are indeed very small.
How much of what these people related, they believed, cannot be known; for there are no bounds to the credulity of ignorance and folly. In the girl's relation, however, there are some things in which she could not be deceived; and therefore must have been guilty of wilful falsehood. Her father might perhaps give her a charge to feed a crocodile, in consequence of his believing that it was his sudara; but its coming to her out of the river when she called it by the name of white king, and taking the food she had brought it, must have been a fable of her own invention; for this being false, it was impossible that she should believe it to be true. The girl's story, however, as well as that of the man, is a strong proof that they both firmly believed the existence of crocodiles that are sudaras to men; and the girl's fiction will be easily accounted for, if we recollect that the earnest desire which every one feels to make others believe what he believes himself, is a strong temptation to support it by unjustifiable evidence. And the averring what is known to be false, in order to produce in others the belief of what is thought to be true, must, upon the most charitable principles, be imputed to many, otherwise venerable characters, through whose hands the doctrines of Christianity passed for many ages in their way to us, as the source of all the silly fables related of the Romish saints, many of them not less extravagant and absurd than this story of the white king, and all of them the invention of the first relater.[154]
[Footnote 154: It is no doubt very true, that many of the pious frauds, as they have been called, are as absurd as the story alluded to; but really there does not seem to be any occasion whatever for lugging them in here, in order to shew a sort of malicious contempt of those who framed them. Dr Hawkesworth, it is very clear, kept himself much on the look-out for subjects capable of serving as baits for the greedy scoffers of his day. Few people have candour or patience enough to discriminate betwixt truth and its counterpart, when religion is to be investigated; and nothing is more common among the witlings, than a sneer at the bullion, because of its being occasionally blended with dross. But such behaviour has much stronger indications of spite than claims to the merit of ability or good sense.--E.]
The Bougis, Macassars, and Boetons, are so firmly persuaded that they have relations of the crocodile species in the rivers of their own country, that they perform a periodical ceremony in remembrance of them. Large parties of them go out in a boat, furnished with great plenty of provisions, and all kinds of music, and row backwards and forwards, in places where crocodiles and alligators are most common, singing and weeping by turns, each invoking his kindred, till a crocodile appears, when the music instantly stops, and provisions, betel, and tobacco are thrown into the water. By this civility to the species, they hope to recommend themselves to their relations at home, and that it will be accepted instead of offerings immediately to themselves, which it is not in their power to pay.
In the next rank to the Indians stand the Chinese, who in this place are numerous, but possess very little property; many of then live within the walls, and keep shops. The fruit-sellers of Passar-Pissang have been mentioned already; but others have a rich show of European and Chinese goods: The far greater part, however, live in a quarter by themselves, without the walls, called Campang China. Many of them are carpenters, joiners, smiths, tailors, slipper-makers, dyers of cotton, and embroiderers, maintaining the character of industry that is universally given of them; and some are scattered about the country, where they cultivate gardens, sow rice and sugar, and keep cattle and buffaloes, whose milk they bring daily to town.[155]
[Footnote 155: The Chinese who carry on any trade or profession, i.e. almost all of them, pay a monthly tax to the government. In Stavorinus's time, this was about six shillings sterling a-piece.--E.]
There is nothing clean or dirty, honest or dishonest, provided there is not too much danger of a halter, that the Chinese will not readily do for money. But though they work with great diligence, and patiently undergo any degree of labour, yet no sooner have they laid down their tools than they begin to game, either at cards or dice, or some other play among the multitude that they have invented, which are altogether unknown in Europe: To this they apply with such eagerness as scarcely to allow time for the necessary refreshments of food and sleep; so that it is as rare to see a Chinese idle, as it is to see a Dutchman or an Indian employed.
In manners they are always civil, or rather obsequious; and in dress they are remarkably neat and clean, to whatever rank of life they belong.[156] I shall not attempt a description either of their persons or habits, for the better kind of China paper, which is now common in England, exhibits a perfect representation of both, though perhaps with some slight exaggerations approaching towards the caricatura.
[Footnote 156: Whatever may be their personal cleanliness in appearance, their moral impurity, according to all accounts, is most gross and detestable. We shall not pollute our page by the slightest mention of the abominable gratifications in which they are said to indulge, contrary to the most palpable enactments of nature.--E.]
In eating, they are easily satisfied, though the few that are rich have many savory dishes. Rice, with a small proportion of flesh or fish, is the food of the poor; and they have greatly the advantage of the Mahometan Indians, whose religion forbids them to eat of many things which they could most easily procure. The Chinese, on the contrary, being under no restraint, eat, besides pork, dogs, cats, frogs, lizards, serpents of many kinds, and a great variety of sea-animals, which the other inhabitants of this country do not consider as food: They also eat many vegetables, which an European, except he was perishing with hunger, would never touch.[157]