Manatee 
tide would have covered the bank in less than an 
hour after our departure, so that unless some 
nigger was waiting and watching, which was not 
likely, the inference is that this crocodile de- 
parted with the hook in his interior. We made 
a great mistake in not attaching a buoy and 
light line to the anchor’s stock, for this would 
have given us a chance of at least finding our 
tackle if he had cleared with it, as he would 
certainly have been secured in a very short 
distance, round some rock or root, and its power 
to hold him was beyond question. 
I have shot a good many crocodiles at different 
times in Africa. They generally crawl up a 
steep bank above the river, where they remain 
for hours, sleeping or dozing in the sun. They 
are, if much disturbed, extremely hard to- 
approach, and when come on suddenly throw 
themselves backwards into the water with a 
splash. They are easily killed if shot through 
the brain, and if they fall, or are killed in the 
river, sink at once, to rise to the surface again 
so soon as the gases formed within them after 
death are strong enough for the purpose. I once 
undertook to skin a small one—a loathsome job— 
and I could not rid my hands of the musky scent 
s for hours afterwards. 
In the higher reaches of the Calabar River a 
weird beast has its habitat—the manatee. The 
natives value them highly as food, catching 
47 
