then donned a suit of white duck, stepped
into a river launch in company with Inchi Mohamed, the Chief Justice,
and steamed out into the broad waters of the Maur.

The southernmost kingdom of the great continent of Asia is the little
Sultanate of Johore, ruled over by one of the most enlightened Princes
of the East. Fourteen miles from Singapore, just across the notorious
old Straits of Malacca, is his capital and the palace of the Sultan.

We had been guests of the State for the past two weeks. Its ruler,
among other kind attentions to us, had suggested a visit to his out
province Maur and a crocodile hunt along the banks of the broad river
that wound about the foot of Mount Ophir.

Fifteen hours' steam in his beautiful yacht along the picturesque
shores of Johore brought us to the realization of a long-cherished
dream,--the seeing for ourselves the mountain whose exact location
had been a subject of conjecture for so many centuries. Were I a
scholar and explorer and not a sportsman, I might again and more
explicitly set forth facts which I consider indubitable proof that
the Mount Ophir of Asia and not the Mount Ophir of Africa is, as I
have already claimed, the Mount Ophir of the Bible. But here, I wish
only to narrate the record of a few pleasant days spent at its foot.

The Maur River, at its mouth, is a mile across; it is so deep that one
can run close up to its muddy banks and peer in under the labyrinth of
mangrove roots that stand like a rustic scaffold beneath its trunks,
protecting them from the highest flood-tides.

It was some time before I could pick out a crocodile as he lay
sleeping in his muddy bath, showing nothing above the slime except
the serrated line of his great back, which was so incrusted that,
but for its regularity, it might pass for the limb of a tree or some
fantastically shaped root.

"There you are!" said the Chief Justice, pointing at the bank almost
before we had reached the opposite side. I strained my eyes and raised
the hammer of my "50 x 110" Winchester; for I was to have a shot at
my first live crocodile.

We drew nearer and nearer the shore and yet I failed to see anything
that resembled an animal of any sort. The little launch slowed down
and the crew all pointed toward the bank. I cannot now imagine what
I expected then to see, but something must have been in my mind's
eye that blinded my bodily sight; for there, right before me, was a
little fellow not over three feet