152 SAUEIANS. 



caused on the surface of tlie water. An Antelope which is being 

 hunted and takes to the water, in the lagunes of the Barotse valley, 

 a Man or a Dog who goes there to seek for game, will scarcely fail 

 to be seized by a Crocodile, of whose presence he has not the 

 slightest suspicion. It often happens that, after having danced in 

 the moonlight, the young natives of the river's bank will often 

 plunge into the water in order to refresh themselves, when, being 

 seized by an Alligator, they perish." 



[This mode of attack (striking with the tail) is also one of the 

 methods adopted by the Alligator of America for disabling its 

 prey. A friend, on whose veracity I have much dependence, while 

 shooting wild fowl on one of the tributaries of the Lower Missis- 

 sippi, had the fortune to witness a fight between a Bear and an 

 Alligator. He was called to the scene of the struggle by the 

 noise made by the combatants, in the dry cane, that yielded to 

 their pressure as they fought in each other's embrace. Several 

 times both ceased only to recover breath and fresh energy; at 

 length the Alligator missed striking the foe with its tail, Bruin 

 seized the opportunity, and with all his efforts succeeded in turning 

 the amphibian on its back, where he held him for some minutes, at 

 the same time gnawing one of the fore- shoulders. A final 

 struggle of the now worsted Alligator hurled both into the water, 

 where they disappeared, the disturbed surface telling of the 

 dreadful contest that was being prolonged beneath ; after the lapse 

 of over a minute the Bear came up, evidently much fatigued, and 

 swam ashore, my friend forbearing to wound, or possibly kill, the 

 gallant conqueror.] 



Crocodiles, it is said, which have never eaten human flesh, are 

 much less dangerous than those that have acquired a taste for 

 it. Mr. Combes states that he was assured by an inhabitant of 

 Khartoum, who had reached the town with the Egyptian troops — 

 that is to say, before the horrors committed by the Desterdar, acting 

 with Mehemet Bey, who had been Governor of the Soudan some 

 time before Mr. Combes' s voyage — that the Crocodiles aj)peared to 

 be quite indifferent to human flesh ; but after the many executions 

 by drowning ordered by Mehemet Bey, as he was told by a native 

 whom he interrogated — " since the Nile has been loaded with the 

 carcasses of my brethren " — the monsters which inhabit it have 



