60 The Rifle and Hound in Ceylon. 



to drink he is suddenly seized by the nose and dragged 

 beneath the water. Here he is speedily drowned and 

 consumed at leisure. 



The two lower and front teeth of a crocodile project 

 through the upper jaw, and their .white points attract 

 immediate notice as they protrude through the brown 

 scales on the upper lip. When the mouth is closed the 

 jaws are thus absolutely locked together. 



It is a common opinion that the scales on the back 

 of a crocodile will turn a ball ; this is a vulgar error. 

 The scales are very tough and hard, but a ball from a 

 common fowling-piece will pass right through the body. 

 I have even seen a hunting-knife driven at one blow deep 

 into the hardest part of the back ; and this was a croc- 

 odile of a large size, about fourteen feet long, that I 

 shot at a place called Bolgodde", twenty-two miles from 

 Colombo. 



A man had been setting nets for fish and was in the 

 act of swimming to the shore, when he was seized and 

 drowned by a crocodile. The next morning two buf- 

 faloes were dragged into the water close to the spot, 

 and it was supposed that these murders were committed 

 by the same crocodile. I was at Colombo at the time, 

 and hearing of the accident, I rode off to Bolgodde to 

 try my hand at catching him. 



Bolgodde" is a very large lake of many miles in cir- 

 cumference, abounding with crocodiles, widgeon, teal 

 and ducks. 



On arrival that evening, the moodeliar (headman) 

 pointed out the spot where the man had been destroyed 

 and where the buffaloes had been dragged in by the 

 crocodile. One buffalo had been entirely devoured, 

 but the other had merely lost his head, and his carcase 



