If a man of the Long Patas is taken by a crocodile, they attribute
this to the fact that they have intermarried to some extent with
Kayans. When they come upon a crocodile lying on the river-bank, they
say, "Be easy, grandfather, don't mind us, your are one of us." Some
of the Klemantans will not even eat anything that has been cooked in a
vessel previously used for cooking crocodile's flesh, and it is said
that if a man should do so unwittingly his body would become covered
with sores.
If a crocodile is seen on their left hand by Long Patas on a war
expedition, that is a bad omen; but if on their right hand, that is
the best possible omen.
The Orang Kaya Tumonggong tells us that in the olden times the
crocodiles used to speak to his people, warning them of danger, but
that now they never speak, and he supposes that their silence is due
to the fact that his people have intermarried with other tribes. The
Long Patas frequently carve a crocodile's head as the figurehead for
a war-canoe.
The Batu Blah people (Klemantans) on returning from the war-path make
a huge effigy of a crocodile with cooked rice, and they put fowl's
eggs in its head for eyes and bananas for teeth, and cover it with
scales made from the stem of the banana plant.
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