354
1770- other crocodiles, but much handfomer; that his body was
p.cemb.r. ^ and his nofe red; that he had bracelets of gold upon
his feet, and earrings of the fame metal in his ears. Mr.
Banks heard this tale of ridiculous falfehood patiently to the
end, and then difmilTed the girl, without reminding her, that
a crocodile with ears was as ftrange a monfter as a dog with
a cloven foot. Some time after this a fervant whom Mr.
Banks had hired at Batavia, and who was the fon of a Dutchman
by a Javanefe woman, thought fit to acquaint his maf-
ter that he had feen a crocodile of thé fame kind, which
had alfo been feen 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 thel'e dories, faid Mr. Banks, for I was told the other
day that a crocodile had earrings ; and you know that could
not be true, becaufe crocodiles have no ears. Ah Sir, faid
the man, thefe Sudara Oran are not like other crocodiles ;
they have five toes upon each foot, a large tongue that fills
their mouth, and ears alfo, although they are indeed very
fmall.
How much of what thefe 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 fome things in which fhe could not be deceived; and
therefore mull have been guilty of wilful falfehood. Her
father might perhaps give her a charge to feed a crocodile,
in confequence of his believing that it was his Sudara ; but
its coming to her out of the river, when fhe called it by the
name of White King, and taking the food lhe had brought
it, mull have been a fable of her own invention; for this
being falfe, it was impollible that fhe fhould believe it to be
true. The girl’s ftory, however, as well as that of the man,
is a ftrong proof that they both firmly believed the exift-
6 ence
ence of crocodiles that are Sudaras to men; and the girl’s '77°-
December;
fiction will be eafily accounted} for, if we recollect* that the „— -
earned delire which every one. feels to make others believe1
what he believes himfelf, is a ftrong temptation tofupport
it by unjuftifiable evidence. And the averring what is
known to be falfe, in order to produce in others the belief- o f
what is thought to be true, mull, upon the mod charitable
principles, be imputed to many, otherwifé venerable characters,
through whofe hands the doétrines o f Ghridianity paded
for many ages in their way to us, as the fource of all the
filly fables related of the Romifh faints, many of them not-
lefs extravagant and abfurd than this ftory of the White
King, and all of them the invention of the firft relater.
The Bougis, Macafiars, and Boetons, are fo firmly per-
fuaded that they have relations of the crocodile fpecies in
the rivers of their own country, that they perform a periodical
ceremony in remembrance of them. Large parties o f
them go out in a boat, furnifhed with great plenty of provisions,
and all kinds of mufic, and row backwards and forwards,
in places where crocodiles and allegators are mod
common, finging and weeping by turns; each invoking his
kindred, till a crocodile appears, when the mufic inftantly
ftops, and provifions, betele, and tobacco are thrown into the
water. By this civility to the fpecies, they hope to recommend
themfelves to their relations at home ; and that it will
be accepted inftead of offerings immediately to themfelves
which it is not in their power to pay.
In the next rank to the Indians ftand the Chinefe, who in
this place are numerous, but poflefs very little property;
many of them live within- the walls, and keep fhops. The
fruit-fellers of Paflar Piflang have been mentioned already;
but others have a rich Show of European and Chinefe goods:
SSÎESi