ON REPTILES. 113 



sold to Lord Adolphus Fitzclarence. It is a 

 curious fact, for the animal must have made its 

 way through some hundred miles of sea. 



The largest reptiles are the crocodile and the 

 alligator; and, luckily for sea-bathers, not 

 known in this country. Their history is, how- 

 ever, curious, and their habits worth noticing. I 

 will begin with the crocodile. This reptile some* 

 times attains the length of twenty-five feet, and 

 is by many supposed to be the leviathan of Job, 

 as mentioned in the 41st chapter, and also in the 

 Psalms. It swims rapidly, is very dangerous, 

 and constantly seizes and feeds on human beings. 

 When the British had a detachment of soldiers 

 and some artillery on the banks of the mouth 

 of the river Indus, in the East Indies, a large 

 old crocodile carried off two or three natives, 

 one of them being a woman. Its skin was so 

 thick that no ball penetrated it, so some young 

 artillery Officers formed the following plan for 

 destroying it: They killed a sheep, and in its 

 body placed a bag filled with gunpowder and 

 some other combustible matter, to which a long 

 wire was attached, with detonating powder at 

 the end. Presently the crocodile saw the prey 

 and seized it, and carried it to a hole which he 



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