132 



red skin (almost like the red morocco leather with which a 

 travelling bag is sometimes lined), edged with a ghastly array of 

 teeth. I raised my rifle to fire, and the dobie rising at the same 

 instant, narrowly escaped either receiving the bullet, or being 

 devoured by the crocodile. Perhaps the unusual appearance of a 

 white man with a rifle was too much for the beast, so he quickly 

 retired for strategical purposes, as did we. Afterwards, my servant 

 and myself preferred sitting on the top of the river cliff. The 

 escape of my follower was providential, I thought little of the 

 incident then, for I did not at the time realize that my servant 

 had escaped a great and real peril, but I have thanked God since. 

 The mode of attack by a crocodile is as follows : — It may be a 

 cow, a horse, a man, or a thirsty monkey that comes down to 

 drink ; the cunning reptile shows itself and then swims away, 

 diving to escape observation. Its victim may suppose that it has 

 gone for good, and in false security proceeds to the water's edge to 

 cool itself and drink, when if a ripple on the surface be not 

 immediately taken as a timely warning, there glides swiftly from 

 the parting waters a terrible and relentless foe, whose huge 

 snapping jaws close like those of a steel trap, so sudden is the 

 motion ; or, the creature may swing round its powerful tail with a 

 blow sufficient to break all the four legs of a horse, and knock it 

 stunned or disabled into the river, where it is quickly drawn 

 under water to be devoured. 



XXXII. 



COAST EROSION, AND LANDSLIPS IN THE 

 NEIGHBOURHOOD OE DOVER. 



Extract from a '■^Lecture on Cliffs and Escarpments" 



BY 



CAPTAIN McDAKIN. 



With few exceptions, the recorded landslips of the neighbour- 

 hood have taken place from the sea cliffs, but the inland cliffs, or 

 more properly escarpments, have occasionally afforded similar 

 phenomena. 



The perpendicular cliffs of the South Foreland attain an 

 altitude of 350 feet ; the Castle yard of Dover, 375 feet ; the 

 Citadel of Dover, 420 ; Folkestone Hill, 545 feet ; and still 

 farther to the westward, the extreme elevation of this part of the 

 North Downs is reached about nine miles from Dover, at Paddles- 

 worth, which is 625 feet above the sea. 



The depth of the Chalk at Dover Convict Prison was 

 ascertained (by a deep boring, for the purpose of supplying that 



