THE CROCODILE. 435 



water-hens vie with the duck tribe in numbers and gaudi- 

 ness of plumage. During a hurried journey up the Teoge, 

 I procured, in a short time, herons of upward of ten distinct 

 species, besides several different kinds of storks, cranes, &c. 



The Lake and its rivers swarm with crocodiles. Durincc 

 the cold time of the year they resort to deep water, where 

 they remain in a state of comparative inactivity ; but on the 

 approach of the hot season they again come forward, and 

 may be seen lying in great numbers along the banks, basking 

 in the noonday sun, and looking exactly like so many logs of 

 wood. I have often surprised them in this position ; and, 

 if not too close, they have invariably feigned to be asleep. 

 The instant, however, that I have raised my gun, or even 

 merely pointed toward them, they have plunged into the deep 

 like a shot. 



They are said occasionally to attain a gigantic size, but 

 no authenticated instance has come to my knowledge of any 

 specimen being killed which measured above fifteen or sixteen 

 feet, though I have heard it asserted that they sometimes 

 reach double that length. 



The crocodile chiefly lives on quadrupeds, which he lies in 

 wait for, and destroys when coming to drink ; but he is said 

 never to devour his prey before the flesh has arrived at a state 

 of putrefaction. 



When in its native element, the power of this animal must 

 be enormous ; for if the testimony of the inhabitants is to be 

 relied on, he not unfrequently succeeds in destroying the buf- 

 falo, which they say he accomplishes by seizing the beast by 

 the muzzle and dragging him into deep water, where he suf- 

 focates him. This being done, he hauls his victim back to 

 the shore, and, pushing the carcass above water-mark, watch- 

 es over it until it has become nicehj tainted, when he com- 

 mences his feast. 



From the moist and swampy nature of the ground about 

 the Lake and the rivers, snakes, as may well be supposed, aro^ 



