In order to make good he sometimes has to kill a number of crocodiles,
but he keeps on until he gets the right one. This is not as difficult
as it sounds, for the big man-eaters usually have their recognized
haunts in certain deep pools in the rivers, many of them, indeed, being
known to the natives by name. The old ferryman at Bandjermasin has been
so successful in the conduct of his curious avocation that, so the
Dutch Resident assured me, he has several hundred policy holders who
pay him their premiums with punctilious regularity, thereby giving him
a very comfortable income.

The method pursued by the crocodile hunters of Borneo is as effective
as it is ingenious. Their fishing tackle consists of a hook, which is a
straight piece of hard wood, about the size of a twelve-inch ruler,
sharpened at both ends; a ten-foot leader, woven from the tough,
stringy bark of the baru tree; and a single length of rattan or cane,
fifty feet or so in length, which serves as a line. One end of the
leader is attached to a shallow notch cut in the piece of wood, the
other end is fastened to the rattan. With a few turns of cotton one end
of the stick is then lightly bound to the leader, thus bringing the two
into a straight line. Then comes the bait, which must be chosen with
discrimination. Though the body of a dog or pig will usually answer,
the morsel that most infallibly tempts a crocodile is the carcass of a
monkey. But it must not be a freshly killed monkey, mind you. A
crocodile will only swallow meat that is in an advanced stage of
decomposition, the more overpowering its stench the greater the
likelihood of the bait being taken. The bait is securely lashed to the
pointed stick, though anyone but a Malay would require a gas-mask to
perform this part of the operation.

Everything now being ready, the bait is suspended from the bough of a
tree overhanging the pool which the crocodile is known to frequent,
being so arranged that the carcass swings a foot or so above the
surface of the stream at high water level, the end of the rattan being
planted in the bank. Lured by the smell of the bait, which in that
torrid climate quickly acquires a bouquet which can be detected a mile
to leeward, the crocodile is certain sooner or later to thrust its long
snout out of the water and snap at the odoriferous bundle dangling so
temptingly overhead, the slack line offering no resistance until the
bait has been swallowed and the brute starts to m