82 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



[Crocodiubs. 



a variety of the Spectacled Caiman, accordinfj to 

 M. Bibron ; termed by Schneider, Crocodilus Tngo- 

 natus. 



J n Fisj. 2125, a renresents the Skeleton of the Pike- 

 nosed Caiman, and well illustrates its structure, 

 especially the peculiarity of the cervical vertebrte, 

 with their lateral appendages, which limit the extent 

 of motion in the head from side to side ; b, the ster- 

 num, with the cartilages of the ribs attached to it, 

 and the additional slender ribs supporting the abdo- 

 minal parietes. 



Like the rest of its genus, the piked-nosed caiman 

 inhabits exclusively fresh waters, seldom appearing 

 in the brackish mouths of rivers, much less venturing 

 to cross straits of the sea from island to island, as do 

 the crocodiles. This species, which is said to attain 

 to upwards of twenty feet in length, is very exten- 

 sively spread in North America. It is found in the 

 Mississippi, in the lakes and rivers of Louisiana and 

 of Carolina, and specimens have been brought from 

 Savannah and New Orleans. According to Bartram 

 these formidable reptiles may be seen in troops, in 

 creeks and bays of the river where fish abound ; and 

 he states that he saw in Florida vast numbers of 

 alligators as well as fish, in a mineral spring near 

 the Musquito river, though the water at its exit from 

 the earth was nearly at the boiling point and strongly 

 impregnated with copper and vitriol. Of all the 

 alligators this, if we are to credit what Bartram 

 says, is the most dangerous : it attacks both quad- 

 rupeds and men, while bathing or ciossinsr the 

 rivers, and is even said to prefer the flesh of the 

 negro to all other food. W e do not suppose that 

 such diet is often obtained. It is during the nieht 

 that the alligator is most active, this being the chief 

 time in which it pursues its prey. Assembled 

 numbers beset the mouth of some secluded creek, 

 into which they have driven shoals of fishes, and 

 their bellowing, not unlike that of a bull, may be 

 heard at the distance of a mile. In order to seize 

 the fish, they dive under the shoal, and, having 

 snapped up a victim, rise to the surface, toss it into 

 the air to get rid of the water, which has filled the 

 mouth, catch it as it falls, bolt it, and renew the 

 chase. When they happen to seize upon any 

 animal, as a pig or dog, too large to be swallowed 

 at once, they conceal the carcase in some hole under 

 the bank till it begins to putrify, when they drag it 

 forth, carry it on shore amidst the concealment of 

 luxuriant herbage, and devour it at leisure. 



When about to lay, the female excavates a deep 

 hole in the sandy or soft bank of the river, and 

 deposits her eggs in layers, separating each layer by 

 means of an intervenmg bed of leaves, dry grass, 

 and mud ; the number is fifty or sixty : over these 

 she watches with care till the young are hatched, 

 and for some months afterwards leads them about, 

 takes care of them, and defends them from enemies. 

 Birds and beasts of prey, however, are on the watch, 

 and seldom more than half the brood reach the 

 water; there they are subject to the attacks of large 

 fishes, and even the grown males of the same 

 «pecies. 



During the warmth of summer, these animals may 

 be seen, indolently basking on the bank, during the 

 middle of the day, luxuriating in the rays of the 

 sun, or floating on the surface of the still water, with 

 their large flat heads surrounded by the leaves of 

 water-lilies and other aquatic plants : one perhaps 

 every now and then will dart forwards with a roar, 

 lashing at the same time violently with his tail, and 

 leaving a long wake in his track. On the setting 

 in of winter, these reptiles bury themselves in 

 swamps and marshes under the mud, and as the 

 cold increases sink into a lethargic slumber so pro- 

 found that the severest wounds fail to rouse them 

 to animation. They are never frozen, and the par- 

 tial return of warmth for a few hours is sufficient to 

 bring about a temporary revival. 



The flesh of this and the other species is musky, 

 notwithstanding which it is eaten by the Indians. 



The true Crocodiles are tenants of Africa, India, 

 and also of the hotter regions of America, and the 

 islands. The muzzle is much more acute than in 

 the alligators ; the teeth are unequal, and the front 

 teeth of the lower jaw, at a certain age, pierce the 

 upper jaw; the fourth on each side is the longest, 

 and is not received into a hollow of the upper jaw 

 when the mouth is shut, but a lateral notch makes 

 room for it. The hind-limbs have a dentelated 

 crest on their external border ; the three outer toes 

 are entirely webbed. "Nothing," observe MM. 

 Dumfril and Bibron, " belter distinguishes the cro- 

 codiles from the alligators than the narrowness of the 

 muzzle behind the nostrils ; a narrowness which 

 is produced by the deep notch on each side of the 

 upper mandible, serving for the passage of the fourth 

 lower tooth." "The cranial holes are larger than 

 in the caimans. The nasal aperture is oval, or sub- 

 circular. There is a very small bony plate in the 

 substance of the upper eyelid ." Fig. 2 126 represents 

 comparative views of the Skull of the common 

 Crocodile, and of the Pike-nosed Caiman ; a, the 



Skull of the Common Crocodile, seen from above ; 

 b, the Skull of the Pike-nosed Caiman, in the same 

 view ; c. the Skull of the Crocodile, in profile ; d, 

 the Skull of the Caiman, in the same view. Fig. 

 I 2127 represents the Cervical Plates of the Common 

 Crocodile. 



2128, 2129, 2130.— Thk Common Crocodile 

 {Crocodilut vulgaris). There is perhaps no genus 

 of Reptiles, the species of which are so difficult to 

 be distinguished from each other, as those of the 

 present: we find, indeed, that M. Bibron distin- 

 guishes four varieties of the common crocodile ; and 

 others, described as distinct species, are to be re- 

 garded as doubtful. If the four varieties, notwith- 

 standing their differences, be identical, the range of 

 the common crocodile is very extensive. It is found 

 in the Nile, the Senegal, and other African rivers ; 

 the Ganges, and the lagoons of various parts of India, 

 and the Seychelles Islands. 



The crocodile, which is by most writers regarded 

 as the leviathan of the book of Job, was by some of 

 the Egyptians regarded as sacred, but not, as it 

 would appear from the statement of Herodotus, by 

 all. His words are, " Among some of the Egyptians 

 the crocodile is sacred, while others pursue him as 

 an enemy. The inhabitants of the Thebais and the 

 shores of the Lake Moeris regard him with venera- 

 tion. Each person has a tame crocodile ; he puts 

 pendants of glass and gold in its ear-lids, and gives 

 it a regular allowance of food daily. When it dies 

 it is embalmed, and placed in the sacred repository. 

 But the inhabitants of the territory of Elephantine 

 eat the crocodile, not at all regarding it as sacred. 

 This animal is not called in Egypt crocodile (kpok6- 

 SeiKos), but champsa ; for the former appellation 

 was originally applied to it by the lonians, on ac- 

 count of its resemblance to a lizard so called, which 

 they find in their hedges." 



With respect to the word champsa (x^mW. it 

 differs but little from the modern appellation for 

 the crocodile in Egypt. In Coptic, it is amsah, or 

 hamsa, which, as we learn, with the feminine article 

 prefixed, has made the Arabic word timsah, or 

 temsah, now in common use on the banks of 

 the Nile. According to Strabo, a sacred crocodile 

 was in his time kept in a tank, in the city called 

 Crocodinopolis, afterwards termed Arsinoii, and at- 

 tended by priests. The animal was tame, and went 

 under the name of Suclius, or Suchis (SoSxos or 

 SoDxis), a word,* as it would appear, applicable 

 only to this distinguished individual. The poor 

 beast was fed most unnaturally. " Our host," says 

 Strabo, " who was a person of importance, and our 

 guide to all the sacred things, went with us to the 

 tank, taking with him from table a small cake, some 

 roasted meat, and a small cup of mulled wine. We 

 found the crocodile lying on the margin. The 

 priests immediately went up to him, and while some 

 of them opened his mouth, another put in the cake, 

 crammed down the flesh, and finished by pouring 

 down the wine. The crocodile then jumped into 

 the pond, and swam to the opposite side." Glad, no 

 doubt, was the animal to escape its tormentors. 



As we have stated, the crocodile was not held sa- 

 cred in all parts of Egypt, but appears to have been 

 sometimes kept tame, as is attested by one of the 

 marbles in the Townley Collection in the British 

 Museum, which apparently represents an Egyptian 

 tumbler, exercising his feats on the back of one of 

 these animals. (See Fig. 2131.) 



"The Egyptian notions as to sacred things seem 

 not a little strange and contradictory ; the crocodile 

 was also one of the symbols of Typhon, the evil 

 genius, and the murderer of Osiris. It was an 

 Egyptian notion that Typhon assumed this form 

 to avoid the vengeance of Horus, the son of Osiris. 

 Between Harpocrates, an Egyptian deity not men- 

 tioned by Herodotus (but known to the later Greeks 

 by this corrupted name), and Horus, there were 

 some points of resemblance, and hence the subjects 

 of the bronzes (see Figs. 2132 and 2133) may refer 

 to Horus trampling on the crocodile. "7— {' Egypt. 

 Antiq ') 



We must not omit to notice that Herodotus, 

 in his account of the crocodile, says, that as it so 

 constantly frequents the water, its mouth becomes 

 infected with bdel/ce (pitwai), which are by most 

 scholars supposed to mean leeches ; and he adds, 

 that a small bird, called the trochilus (rpiixiAot), 

 relieves him of these pests, boldly entering within 

 his jaws, opened to receive the western breeze, and 

 picking them out, while the huge beast, pleased 

 with the service rendered, offers no injury to its 

 little benefactor. 



By M. Geoffrey St. Hilaire, these bdellae or suck- 

 ing creatures were considered to be some species of 

 gnat, and the trochilus one of the Plover tribe ; and 

 we learn from M. Descourtils that a species of gnat 

 infests the gums and palate of the caimans of 

 America. 



• M. Champollion says ttie E^ptians gave the name of Souk to a 

 deity represented as a man ^Yith a crocodile's bead. 



We learn from Pliny that the Romans first saw 

 crocodiles in the aedileship of Scaurus, about twenty- 

 eight years before the Christian era, and that he ex- 

 hibited five. Augustus introduced thirty-six of 

 them into the amphitheatre, where they were en- 

 countered and killed by gladiators, as an amuse- 

 ment to the spectators. 



Though the crocodile is no longer seen in the 

 Delta, it is abundant in the Thebaid and the Upper 

 Nile, and in the tributary branches throughout 

 Nubia and Abyssinia. In Dongola, at the present 

 day, it is killed for the sake of its flesh, which is 

 regarded as a delicacy. Thevenot, who tasted 

 crocodile's flesh in Egypt, found it good, though 

 rather insipid. 



The mode in which this powerful and ferocious 

 animal is captured in Angola is described as fol- 

 lows by Dr. Kiippell, who often witnessed it:—" The 

 most favourable season," he observes, " is either the 

 winter, when the animal usually sleeps on sand- 

 banks, luxuriating in the rays of the sun, or the 

 spring, after the pairing time, when the female re- 

 gularly watches the sand-islands where she has 

 buried her eggs. The native finds out the place, 

 and on the south side of it, that is to the leeward, he 

 digs a hole in the sand, throwing up the earth to 

 the side which he expects the animal to take. There 

 he conceals himself; and the crocodile, should it fail 

 to observe him, comes to the accustomed spot, and 

 soon falls asleep. The huntsman then darts his 

 harpoon, with all his force, at the animal, for in 

 order that the stroke may be successful, the iron 

 ought to penetrate to the depth of at least four 

 inches, in order that the barb be fixed firmly in the 

 flesh. The crocodile, on being wounded, rushes into 

 the water, and the huntsman retreats to a canoe, with 

 which a companion hastens to his assistance. A 

 piece of wood, attached to the harpoon by a long 

 cord, swims on the water, and shows the direction 

 in which the crocodile is moving. The huntsmeni 

 pulling at this rope, drag the beast to the surface of 

 the water, where it is again pierced by a second 

 harpoon. The skill of the harpooner consists in 

 giving to the weapon sufficient impulse to pierce 

 through the coat of mail which protects the croco- 

 dile. 



"When the animal is struck, it by no means re- 

 mains inactive ; on the contrary, it lashes violently 

 with its tail, and endeavours to bite the rope 

 asunder. To prevent this, the rope is made of about 

 tliirty separate slender lines, not twisted together, 

 but merely placed in juxtaposition, and bound 

 round at intervals of every two feet. The thin lines 

 get between the teeth, or become entangled about 

 them. 



" It frequently happens that the harpoons, by the 

 pulling of the men, break out of the animal's body, 

 and it escapes. 



" If I had not seen the fact with my own eyes, I 

 could hardly have believed that two men could 

 drag out of the water a crocodile fourteen feet long, 

 fasten his muzzle, tie his legs over his back, and 

 finally despatch him, by plunging a sharp instrument 

 into his neck, so as to divide the spinal chord. 



"The iron part of the harpoon which is used by 

 the huntsmen is a span long, and formed toward 

 the point like a penknife, being sharp on one edge ; 

 beyond this edge there is a strong barb, while on 

 the back of the blade a piece projects to which the 

 rope is lastened. This iron head is affixed to a shaft 

 of wood eicht feet in length. The flesh and fat of 

 the crocodile are eaten by the Barabas or Berbe- 

 rines, who consider them excellent; both, however, 

 have an odour of musk so strong that I could 

 never eat crocodile's flesh without sickness follow- 

 ing. The musk-glands of the animal form a great 

 part of the profit which results from this capture ; 

 as the Berberines will give as much as two dollars 

 for them, the unguent being used as a perfume for 

 the hair. 



" In some of the rivers of Africa, the negroes are 

 bol4 enough, and indeed skilful enough, to combat 

 the crocodile in his own element. Armed onlv 

 with a sharp dagger they dive beneath him, and 

 plunge the weapon into his belly. It often happens, 

 however, that the combat is fatal to the man, and 

 frequently his only chance of escape is to force his 

 dagger, or if this be lost, his thumbs, into the ani- 

 mal's eyes, with all his might, so as to produce great 

 pain and blindness." 



Herodotus explains the mode of crocodile-hunting 

 in his time, which was managed by means of a hook, 

 baited with the chine of a pig, while the attention 

 of the monster was aroused by the cries of a living 

 pig, which the fishers had with them on the shore". 

 In anticipation of prey he dashed into the river, and 

 meeting the baited hook instantly seized and 

 swallowed it, and was then dragged ashore : the 

 men then endeavoured to bhnd his eyes with mud, 

 and when this was accomplished, his destruction 

 was easy, but if not, so violent were his sfruirgles, 

 and so dangerous was it to approach him, that it 

 was not without difficulty that he was despatched. 



