400 French National Injlitute. 



{hoot any of them, or catch them in mares, they are as proud 

 as thofe who, in Europe, kill a wolf. Of ail the crocodiles 

 which I had an opportunity of fueing, cither in going up or 

 down the .Nile, 1 never obferved any more than eight or 

 ten feet in length. Profper Alpmus fpeaks of a crocodile 

 thirty ells m length : but it is proper to remark that this 

 author never was m Upper Egypt, and that he was probably 

 deceived bv falfe reports. The celebrated Norden fays he 

 faw fome fifty feet in length. I am, however, of opinion that 

 he was deceived alfo; fori never found any perfon in the 

 country who faw any fo large. 



In regard to the danger of being devoured by this animal, 

 it is much lefs than is commonly believed. The crocodile, 

 in general, feems to dread man, for it is not fond. of inhabited 

 places : the nearer, then, that one approaches to the cata- 

 racts, the more frequently they arc met with. The indiffe- 

 rence with which the inhabitants and their children amufe 

 themfelvcs in the water and walk on the banks, proves to me 

 that they are in no dread of the crocodile. 



If a favourable opportunity, however, occurs, this cunning 

 animal will feizea fheep, a goat, or an afs, and fometimes a 

 child, which it drags with it to the middle of the river, and 

 plunges to the bottom. In one place, where the women are 

 accultomed to fill their veffels with water, I faw a femi-cir- 

 cular pahfade, made of reeds, deftined to prevent the croco- 

 dile from doing mifchief. In that place, one of them feized 

 and tore off a woman's breaft at the time (he was ftooping 

 down to fill her pitcher with water. 



It is a very lingular observation, that this animal when it 

 remains out of the water is alnioft. always furrounded by va- 

 rious large birds, among which I could ahvays diftinguifh 

 the pelican. What firange relation exifts between thefe ani- 

 mals fo different > It is a well-known fact, that the white 

 heron has a lingular fympathy for the buffaloes, oxen, and 

 cows. Does there exilt a fympathy of the fame kind between 

 thefe birds, but particularly the pelican and the crocodile? 



LXVJII. Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



FRENCH NATIONAL INSTITUTE. 



Jx CCOUNT of the labours of the Clafs of the Mathema- 

 tical and Phyfical Sciences during the third quarter of the 

 year 10. — Continued from p. 300. 



C. Denieuport, afiociate, has fent to the clafs a memoir 



concerning the equilibrium of a body which balances freely 



8 on 



