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To Catch a Crocodile
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
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About the author
Peter Pinney
18 books1 followerPeter Pinney (1922-1992) exemplified the idea of the traveler who carries little, gets by on wits alone, and is willing to forage into the unknown despite all odds. He wrote a series of books based on his diaries, the most famous being Dust On My Shoes, detailing his odysseys around the globe.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 27, 2019
I'm a big fan of Peter Pinney, and it is no surprise I give this book five stars.
It isn't like the other books of his I have read (fiction and non-fiction). This is more of a biography of a man called George Craig. Pinney himself doesn't really feature - he is almost an uninvolved observer, spending time with Craig and his crew on a crocodile hunting & trading expedition on the Fly and Strickland Rivers in Papua New Guinea.
Crocodile hunting is an occupation for the brave, the adventure seeker and for young men. I have read another crocodile hunting book - Crocodile Country, by Barry Crump about Northern Queensland croc hunting, which was equally exciting.
In this case George Craig is dealing with the natives far upriver who also hunt crocodiles with the purpose of selling to traders such as Craig. The book touches on some interesting and awkward relationships between these natives and the white traders. As they have no concept of profit or financial return for effort, they can't understand why a croc skin is worth more at Daru (the provincial capital at the mouth of the fly) than at their village in the interior. Similarly, they know rice is a certain price at Daru, and they think the traders are trying to rip them off when they charge more. Practically none of the villagers they deal with have ever been more than partway downriver towards Daru.
They capture some big crocs, they kill and skin plenty. They take a sort side trip into Indonesian West Irian (and risk being imprisoned if caught), they survive a massive forest fire - likely a native burnoff to capture some wild animals. They trade, they temporarily lose their ship. We also learn more about George Craig and his crew (but not much about Pinney).
The writing is rich in description, is well paced with peaks of excitement and is backed up with cultural details and historical information. It is a short but excellent read.
Short example of Pinney's writing:
P127
The Asur River was a place of spirits, and beset by demons; it was also probably enchanted. People had once lived there, before the border assumed the beginnings of political importance. Abandoned by men in recent years, the area was now avoided by them. The river snaked west through swamps and jungled ridges, moving ever deeper into Indonesia's Irian... a tabu place, shunned by black men who has fled the troubles there, and forbidden to white men by the white man's law.
P48 - explaining why perhaps crocodiles are bad tempered:
The spines of the catfish crocs eat often lodge in the stomach wall, causing great, stinking ulcers to develop. Rolls of undigested pig bristle form large hairballs, growing steadily in size until the host can no longer ingest food, and dies of malnutrition. Marsh flies swarm to the attack as soon as a crocodile leaves the water, infesting the soft eyelids: in time the strip such tender places to raw flesh.
"A shark can extrude his stomach our of his own mouth, and get rid of accumulated garbage; but the croc never learned how. All those tortoise shell and cassowary claws and pig tusks he swallows, he can't get rid of; his stomach gets to look like a knacker's nightmare."
An older crocodile usually develops nests of parasitic worms inside his mouth, between the teeth and the cheeks; and as his tongue is a fixture, he has no way of getting rid of them.
"Everything in the river hates him," George ruminated. "Even his own species. How he ever gets to mate, I'll never know."
It isn't like the other books of his I have read (fiction and non-fiction). This is more of a biography of a man called George Craig. Pinney himself doesn't really feature - he is almost an uninvolved observer, spending time with Craig and his crew on a crocodile hunting & trading expedition on the Fly and Strickland Rivers in Papua New Guinea.
Crocodile hunting is an occupation for the brave, the adventure seeker and for young men. I have read another crocodile hunting book - Crocodile Country, by Barry Crump about Northern Queensland croc hunting, which was equally exciting.
In this case George Craig is dealing with the natives far upriver who also hunt crocodiles with the purpose of selling to traders such as Craig. The book touches on some interesting and awkward relationships between these natives and the white traders. As they have no concept of profit or financial return for effort, they can't understand why a croc skin is worth more at Daru (the provincial capital at the mouth of the fly) than at their village in the interior. Similarly, they know rice is a certain price at Daru, and they think the traders are trying to rip them off when they charge more. Practically none of the villagers they deal with have ever been more than partway downriver towards Daru.
They capture some big crocs, they kill and skin plenty. They take a sort side trip into Indonesian West Irian (and risk being imprisoned if caught), they survive a massive forest fire - likely a native burnoff to capture some wild animals. They trade, they temporarily lose their ship. We also learn more about George Craig and his crew (but not much about Pinney).
The writing is rich in description, is well paced with peaks of excitement and is backed up with cultural details and historical information. It is a short but excellent read.
Short example of Pinney's writing:
P127
The Asur River was a place of spirits, and beset by demons; it was also probably enchanted. People had once lived there, before the border assumed the beginnings of political importance. Abandoned by men in recent years, the area was now avoided by them. The river snaked west through swamps and jungled ridges, moving ever deeper into Indonesia's Irian... a tabu place, shunned by black men who has fled the troubles there, and forbidden to white men by the white man's law.
P48 - explaining why perhaps crocodiles are bad tempered:
The spines of the catfish crocs eat often lodge in the stomach wall, causing great, stinking ulcers to develop. Rolls of undigested pig bristle form large hairballs, growing steadily in size until the host can no longer ingest food, and dies of malnutrition. Marsh flies swarm to the attack as soon as a crocodile leaves the water, infesting the soft eyelids: in time the strip such tender places to raw flesh.
"A shark can extrude his stomach our of his own mouth, and get rid of accumulated garbage; but the croc never learned how. All those tortoise shell and cassowary claws and pig tusks he swallows, he can't get rid of; his stomach gets to look like a knacker's nightmare."
An older crocodile usually develops nests of parasitic worms inside his mouth, between the teeth and the cheeks; and as his tongue is a fixture, he has no way of getting rid of them.
"Everything in the river hates him," George ruminated. "Even his own species. How he ever gets to mate, I'll never know."
October 6, 2009
Thoroughly enjoyed this well written book.
Excerpt:
"With the white man's government introducing peace, medicine and trade,
conditions in many areas improved out of all recognition; but perhaps
the Aiambaks, and isolated groups like them were unluckier than most.
Persuaded by the white man's gifts, they sold the only things of value
which they had: their artifacts, the trappings of their beliefs. They
sold their gope boards, their skull-racks and their skulls...they traded
their cultural heritage, and their spiritual strength, for kook and cloth
and metal. They made the mistake of trading these priceless attributes
too early, before they gained a little sophistication, or borrowed some
Christian strength, or mere amoral toughness: and they found themselves
left without a shield."
Excerpt:
"With the white man's government introducing peace, medicine and trade,
conditions in many areas improved out of all recognition; but perhaps
the Aiambaks, and isolated groups like them were unluckier than most.
Persuaded by the white man's gifts, they sold the only things of value
which they had: their artifacts, the trappings of their beliefs. They
sold their gope boards, their skull-racks and their skulls...they traded
their cultural heritage, and their spiritual strength, for kook and cloth
and metal. They made the mistake of trading these priceless attributes
too early, before they gained a little sophistication, or borrowed some
Christian strength, or mere amoral toughness: and they found themselves
left without a shield."
August 17, 2013
This book was handed on to me by George Craig, the man whose adventures the book follows. This book is a great introduction to the areas in and around Paupa New Guinea. I expected it to be more about crocodiles, but really it was more of a character sketch of George Craig and his comrades as they moved down the often inhospitable Fly River. the style that the story is written in is poetuc and old and really goes well with the content of the book. This book is a real window into time past and a very interesting read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews