“This reptile, say the Pêrak Malays, was first created in the following manner:—
“There was once upon a time a woman called Putri Padang Gerinsing, whose petitions found great favour and acceptance with the Almighty.
“She it was who had the care of Siti Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet. One day she took some clay and fashioned it into the likeness of what is now the crocodile. The material on which she moulded the clay was a sheet of upih (the sheath of the betel-nut palm). This became the covering of the crocodile’s under-surface. When she attempted to make the mass breathe it broke in pieces. This happened twice. Now it chanced that the Tuan Putri had just been eating sugar-cane, so she arranged a number of sugar-cane joints to serve as a backbone, and the peelings of the rind she utilised as ribs. On its head she placed a sharp stone, and she made eyes out of bits of saffron (kuniet); the tail was made of the mid-rib and leaves of a betel-nut frond. She prayed to God Almighty that the creature might have life, and it at once commenced to breathe and move. For a long time it was a plaything of the Prophet’s daughter, Siti Fatima; but it at length became treacherous and faithless to Tuan Putri Padang Gerinsing, who had grown old and feeble. Then Fatima cursed it, saying, ‘Thou shalt be the crocodile of the sea, no enjoyment shall be thine, and thou shalt not know lust or desire.’ She then deprived it of its teeth and tongue, and drove nails into its jaws to close them. It is these nails which serve the crocodile as teeth to this day. Malay Pawangs in Pêrak observe the following methods of proceeding when it is desired to hook a crocodile:—To commence with, a white fowl must be slain in the orthodox way, by cutting its throat, and some of its blood must be rubbed on the line (usually formed of rattan) to which the fowl itself is attached as bait. The dying struggles of the fowl in the water are closely watched, and conclusions are drawn from them as to the probable behaviour of the crocodile when hooked. If the fowl goes to a considerable distance the crocodile will most likely endeavour to make off; but it will be otherwise if the fowl moves a little way only up and down or across the stream.
“When the line is set the following spell must be repeated: ‘Aur Dangsari kamala sari, sambut kirim Tuan Putri Padang Gerinsing; tidak di-sambut mata angkau chabut’ (‘O Dangsari, lotus-flower, receive what is sent thee by the Lady Princess Padang Gerinsing; if thou receivest it not, may thy eyes be torn out’). As the bait is thrown into the water the operator must blow on it three times, stroke it three times, and thrice repeat the following sentence, with his teeth closed and without drawing breath: ‘Kun kata Allah sapaya kun kata Muhammad tab paku,’ (‘Kun saith God, so kun saith Muhammad; nail be fixed.’) Other formulas are used during other stages of the proceedings.”[284]
The rarer story, to which allusion has been made, was the following:—
“There was a woman who had a child which had just learnt to sit up (tahu dudok), and to which she gave the name of ‘Sarilang.’ One day she took the child to the river-side in order to bathe it, but during the latter operation it slipped from her grasp and fell into the river. The mother shrieked and wept, but as she did not know how to dive she had to return home without her child. That night she dreamed a dream, in which her child appeared and said, ‘Weep no more, mother, I have turned into a crocodile, and am now called ‘Grandsire Sarilang’ (’Toh Sarilang): if you would meet me, come to-morrow to the spot where you lost me.’ Next morning, therefore, the mother repaired to the river and called upon the name of her child, whereupon her child rose to the surface, and she saw that from the waist downwards he had already turned into a crocodile, though he was still human down to the waist. Now the child said, ‘Come back again after fourteen days, and remember to bring an egg and a plantain (banana).’ She therefore went again at the time appointed, and having called upon him by his new name (’Toh Sarilang), he again came to the surface, when she saw that from the waist upwards he had also now turned into a crocodile. So she gave him the egg and the plantain, and he devoured them, and when he had done so he said, ‘Whenever the crocodiles get ferocious (ganas), and commence to attack human beings, take a plantain, an egg, and a handful of parched rice, and after scattering the rice on the river, leave the egg and the plantain on the bank, calling upon my name (’Toh Sarilang)[285] as you do so, and their ferocity will immediately cease.’”
The notes on crocodile folklore which will now be given were reprinted in the Selangor Journal from the “Perak Museum Notes” of Mr. Wray.
“When the eggs of a crocodile are hatching out, the mother watches; the little ones that take to their native element she does not molest, but she eats up all those which run away from the water, but should any escape her and get away on to the land they will change into tigers. Some of these reptiles are said to have tongues, and when possessed of that organ they are very much more vicious and dangerous than the ordinarily formed ones. When a crocodile enters a river it swallows a pebble, so that on opening the stomach of one it is only necessary to count the stones in it to tell how many rivers it has been into during its life. The Malays call these stones kira-kira dia,[286] on this account. The Indians on the banks of the Orinoco, on the other hand, assert that the alligator swallows stones to add weight to its body to aid it in diving and dragging its prey under water. Crocodiles inhabiting a river are said to resent the intrusion of strangers from other waters, and fights often take place in consequence. According to the Malays they are gifted with two pairs of eyes. The upper ones they use when above water, and the under pair when beneath the surface. This latter pair is situated half-way between the muzzle and the angle of the mouth, on the under surface of the lower jaw. These are in reality not eyes, but inward folds of skin connected by a duct with a scent gland, which secretes an unctuous substance of a dark gray colour, with a strong musky odour. Medicinal properties are attributed to the flesh of the males, which are believed to be of very rare occurrence, and to be quite unable to leave the water by reason of their peculiar conformation. The fact is that the sexes are almost undistinguishable, except on dissection, and therefore the natives class all that are caught as females. While on this subject, it may be worth mentioning that at Port Weld there used to be a tame crocodile which would come when called. The Malays fed it regularly, and said it was not vicious, and would not do any harm. It was repeatedly seen by the yearly visitants to Port Weld, or Sapetang, as the place was then called, and was a fine big animal, with a bunch of seaweed growing on its head. Some one had it called, and then fired at the poor thing; whether it was wounded or only frightened is uncertain, but it never came again.”[287]
The following notes upon the same subject were collected by me in Selangor:—
The female crocodile commonly builds her nest, with or without the aid of the male, among the thorny clumps of lĕmpiei (or dĕmpiei) trees just above high-water mark, using the fallen leaves to form the nest, and breaking up the twigs with her mouth. The season for laying is said, in the north of the Peninsula, to coincide with the time “when the rice-stalks swell with the grain,” i.e. the end of the wet season.