548 



Journal of a Voyage to the East Indies, cic. [Nov. T, 



flowly along the decks, with its lower jaw 

 cloie to them : on pieieniiuo a lljck, it 

 would liiai at, and lay hold of it very 

 readily: tj^e extent to which it would 

 open its mouth on thefe occahons, could 

 not polLbly be efl'ecied by the failing of 

 the lovvei' jaw alone, which as I laid bc- 

 it»e, it kept nearly in corilatt with the 

 deck; : — the two jaws theicfoic, in this 

 opciatioii, leeine<i to recede from each 

 other, like the blades of a pair of fciUors 

 ■when opening. 



As I conceived that this appearance 

 miglit poflibly give rile to the old n[/iiiion, 

 that the upper jaw of the crocodile was 

 aiiovable, 1 examined particularly the 

 liead of this one after death. In the firll 

 jjlace, there was no joint or motion be- 

 tween the upper jaw and the head, as 

 the Jefuits at 8iam, who dilfetted this 

 animal, have juftly remarked; but they 

 Jiave not (if I recolledt rieht) taken no- 

 tice, of any peculiarity, in the lower jaw's 

 articulation with the bones of the head ; 

 ■which is difterent from that of any other 

 annual with which T am acquainted. 



Here, inilead of the head of the under 

 jaw-bone being received into a ca\ ity in 

 the bones of the Ikull, (as I believe is ge- 

 nerally the cafej it is, on the contrary, 

 hollowed out, to receive an articulating 

 procefs from the ikull ; as if the former 

 was meant to be the hxed point, and the 

 latter the moveable. 



The fact is, that in this animal, when 

 opening his mouth to any great extent, 

 ■while the lower jaw falls, the lirong 

 mulcles on the back of the neck, draw 

 backwards the head, and raife the upper 

 jaw at the fame time; this in all proba- 

 bility, firft luggeltmg the idea of the mo- 

 bility of the crocodile's upper jaw. 



Here, as ufual, nature has artfully 

 adapted the ftructure to the peculiar func- 

 tions oi tlie aninial. The alligator, w hofc 

 leib are very lliort, and whofe jaws are 

 uncomni nly long, (perhaps one-foiuth 

 bl his whole length) would not, when on 

 flioe, be able to open his mouth to one- 

 half its natural extent, if the motion de- 

 pe;idt d on the under jaw alone : for owing 

 1 1 the lovMiefs of the animal's body and 

 head, this jaw would come in contact 

 Willi the ground before ihe mouth was 

 fiifficiently extended ; and therefore na- 

 ture has given it the po^^ er of raihng the 

 iiprier jaw occafionally, with gicat eafe. 



It is an erroneous opinion that this ani- 

 mal's back-boue is not fulliciently flexible 

 to allow of his turning Ihort when in pur- 

 fnit of his prey ; and that therefore a 

 ji.aii by taking a winding courfe, when 



purfued, might eafily elude him. I would 

 not advife any one to truft to this inau- 

 opuvre; though I believe the alligator 

 feldom attempts to I'eize any creature 

 othervvife than by i'urprize; for tliis pur- 

 pofe he frequently lies among the mud on 

 the ihores of this river, or m the creeks 

 that open into it, and when any anhnal 

 is palling near him, he is ahnoll fure of 

 fecuring him, on account of the great 

 length of his dellrurtive jaws. lie fre- 

 quently too throws himfelf acrofs the 

 boats that haul up into thefe creeks, and 

 tears the poor defencelels hlherman to 

 pieces in an inilant, or dWen to the bot- 

 tom of the river with him, where he de- 

 vours him at his leilure ! 



Dogs, efpecially of the Puria kind, and 

 jackalls tliat come down to the edge of 

 the river to drink, very often fall afacrlfire 

 to the iniidious alligator, who will lie. 

 clofe to the banks ; and at thofe times 

 very much refembles the trunk of a tree, 

 or piece of floating wreck. It is faid, 

 that when in purfiiit, (which however is 

 feldom the cafe) he generally endeavours 

 to get .ibreall of the objett, and then by 

 making a fweep, with his extenhve jaws, 

 he feldom fails to fecure his vidim. 



The teeth of this animal are terrible to 

 behold ! long, fliarp, and inter-locking 

 with each oilier, evincing hifi being li:>lely- 

 carnivorous ; Viehdes this, there are two 

 in the front of tlie lower jaw, longer than 

 the reft, and which pierce through the 

 upper jaw, coming out at two apertures 

 near the nollrils : fo that having once 

 laid hold of his prey, there is little chance 

 of its being able to extricate itfelf af- 

 terwards from fuch engines of dethuc- 

 tion. 



The banks of the river oppofite to Ked- 

 geree are inhabited by animals equally 

 mlidious, and lull more terocious than 

 tlie alligators. There are perhaps tew 

 places in the world of equal fpace with 

 the Sundcrbunds, that are fo tiiickly te- 

 nanted by wild beads : man having fel- 

 dom intruded on their haunts, but left 

 them the undiilurbed empire of the place. 



It is i'omewhat lingular, that though 

 the fierce tiger claims here the fovereigti 

 fway, and feems e\en to defy the human 

 race itfelf, yet the peaceful timorous deer 

 abounds in great plenty, under the very 

 jaws, as it were, of this mercilefs tyrant 

 of the woods, whofe fangs it is aftonilli- 

 ing he can pollibly efcape ! 



Sliips' boats arc IbinetirAcs fcnt ^iliore 



here (Saugur) with parties of people to 



cut wood ; and unlefs they are very vigi- 



lautj they will lofe fome of the men by 



4 the 



