The crocodile encounter at Kroeng Raba was an incident of the closing months of 1896 in which two young European non-commissioned officers of the garrison of the benting Lho-Nga were pursued into the Kroeng Raba river by a crocodile while bathing, and escaped by swimming. P. H. R. Beuming related it as the seventh sketch of Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh under the title Een vreeselijke ontmoeting, and it is of interest less for the incident itself than for its extended description of the landscape and the garrison life of the IV Moekims and VI Moekims coast.
The setting
Among the picturesque landscapes of Groot-Atjeh, Beuming writes, the Kroeng Raba bay, lying on the coast in the territory of the IV and VI Moekims, assuredly took first place. Surrounded by a rocky high mountain range and constantly within reach of the fresh sea wind, the climate there was delightful; at the time of writing in 1911 a gezondheidsetablissement — a sanatorium — was accordingly established there.
At the time of the events he describes there was at Kroeng Raba a permanent military garrison consisting of a company of infantry with the necessary artillery to serve the benting guns, and four brigades of marechaussée. This garrison was quartered in the benting Lho-Nga, not far from the place where the Kroeng Raba pours its water into the Indischen Oceaan between rocks and cliffs.
The fortification lay lonely there at the river mouth. The constant murmur of the sea, whose waves broke against the rocks, gave the whole something melancholy and monotonous. No warship ventured to approach that dangerous coast; only now and then were a few bold Acehnese smuggling prauws to be seen in the endless sea as small black points, rising and sinking by turns on the waves, to disappear far off on the strand in countless unknown creeks.
The quiet of late 1896
It was at the end of the year 1896. In the landscape of Kroeng Raba it was unusually quiet, which was chiefly to be ascribed to the vigorous pursuit of Toekoe Oemar — see Three-day battle in the Beradin pass (23-25 May 1896). The population, weary of the adventurer’s pressure, returned to the kampongs and resumed field labour.
Through the confidence-inspiring attitude of Toekoe Mahmoed, the chief of the surrounding kampong complex who was well disposed towards the Dutch, life at Lho-Nga could be called truly pleasant both for the soldiers and for the Acehnese. Men bewoog zich vrijer onder elkander; geen wanklank werd gehoord — men moved more freely among one another; no discordant note was heard.
Because of the peaceable attitude of the population the garrison commander eventually saw no objection to allowing the soldiers to bathe in the nearby kali. The fresh and clear mountain stream soon rejoiced in a busy attendance of bathers. Since one seldom meets a kaaiman or crocodile in the kali on Groot-Atjeh, the men were fairly easy on that point, and without fearing any such danger they swam daily to the other side.
The encounter
One afternoon two young European non-commissioned officers, both good swimmers, went as usual to the kali to take a fresh bath and crossed to the far bank. The place was picturesquely beautiful. Beuming describes an impenetrable wilderness of tropical growth: gigantic bamboo clumps moving their richly feathered crowns rhythmically to and fro; lianas whose branches hung down like countless arms; aloes with razor-sharp thorns — in a word a chaos of plants such as is found only in the tropics.
Behind this wilderness stretched a broad lagoon of standing water, and further in the background rose the majestic Glé Aron range. On the mountain slopes were extensive primeval forests; the slope fell away slowly to the sea, leaving only a narrow coastal strip between the Glé Loeda pass and the Kroeng Raba. In a footnote Beuming records the Acehnese tradition that this pass arose in a single night through a tremendous tidal wave coupled with a volcanic eruption, and that it was for that reason called by them Sprengpas.
The two non-commissioned officers sat resting under the shady leaves of a wild banana stem, enjoying the mountain landscape and letting their thoughts wander far across the ocean to their dear relations in the fatherland. They had not been sitting there long when they came to a frightful discovery. At some distance from their resting place there suddenly appeared the hideous head of a gigantic crocodile. The beast had worked its way out of the lagoon and peered greedily at the two friends with its great heavy-lidded eyes.
They looked at one another in despair, a prey to violent fear of death; their tongues were paralysed with fright and they could bring out no sound. The monster began to move slowly in their direction.
The escape
Somewhat recovered from their first fright, the two friends saw that only calm deliberation could now save them from a certain and terrible death. They were unarmed, and the other side of the kali was too far off for help to be expected from there. Fully aware of their perilous position, they trusted in these decisive moments to divine providence and to their young strong bodies.
Their plan was soon made. They seized one another firmly by the wrist and began to walk slowly backwards towards the kali bank, not heeding that their bare feet were wounded by the thorny growth and left a bloody trail. They felt no pain; only one thought possessed them, to reach the kali. If they could do that, they would have a great start on the beast.
While they thus retreated the monster did not remain passive: it followed the bloody trail of its prey. The crocodile was certainly a good two metres long and now and then opened its mighty jaws, showing two rows of great fangs; it already thought itself sure of its prey.
At last the reed growth of the kali bank was reached, hiding them for a moment from the monster’s eye. Now everything depended on speed. Turning quickly, to mislead the beast, they ran sideways across the kali strand and threw themselves into the river. With powerful strokes the two strong swimmers moved forward. Scarcely had the crocodile discovered the fugitives when it too plunged into the river; the two friends heard the splash.
They swam on like men possessed. They had a good start on the monster; but the strength of the younger visibly diminished and he began to fall behind. O God, ik kan niet meer! red gij u maar — O God, I can do no more; save yourself — he groaned. But his friend did not leave him in the lurch: with a powerful grip he seized his exhausted comrade under the armpit, and on they went again, for life and death.
At last they felt ground under their feet. A few more strokes and the bank was reached; scrambling up the sloping bank was the work of a moment. They were saved — but only just, for scarcely were they on the bank when the crocodile came up and saw its prey escape. Not venturing on the high bank, the beast disappeared again to the lagoon on the other side.
Aftermath
More dead than alive the two non-commissioned officers returned, after dressing, to the benting. After this terrible encounter, Beuming notes, bathing in the Kroeng Raba was understandably at an end for good. That the bond of friendship between the two men who had accomplished this swim for life and death became unbreakable scarcely needs mention.
See Also
- Kroeng Raba
- Kroeng Raba Bay
- Lho-Nga
- Toekoe Mahmoed
- Glé Aron
- Glé Loeda pass
- IV Moekims
- VI Moekims
- Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh (1911)
- 1896
Source
Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh, met speciaal vervaardigde kaart en toepasselijke photo’s, bewerkt door P. H. R. Beuming, oud-onderofficier van het Ned.-Indische Leger (Amsterdam, December 1911; uitgegeven ten bate van het te stichten Herstellingsoord voor Rijks-Ambtenaren). Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Br N 82-144
Acknowledgement of sources. The material in this article derives from Schetsen uit den strijd op Groot-Atjeh, met speciaal vervaardigde kaart en toepasselijke photo’s, bewerkt door P. H. R. Beuming, oud-onderofficier van het Ned.-Indische Leger (Amsterdam, December 1911). Dutch passages are quoted in the original with an English rendering.