C'HAPT. XXIII. odiUs and Alligators. 28' 



t" watch from b distance in ooncealment The man must be 

 very still, and weU concealed, and at a distance, or not a crocodile 

 will be booked, for they are very wavy. Directly one is hooked 

 he gives the information, Then into small boats quick, one 

 man in each prow with a hog spear, start fair, and " ride " or " off" 

 for first Bpear. As he sees the boats coming, down goes the 

 crocodile, and up stands the bamboo, more and more upright 

 the deeper he goes, so that the more he tries to avoid you, the 

 more conspicuous becomes his emir.se. Follow him np, for if the 

 bamboo is a big one, as it should be, it will be so strongly buoyant 

 that he must come to the top soon. There, now, the bamboo is 

 beginning to slope, showing that he is coining to the surface. 

 Now is your time for a spear. But look out for his tail — it is 

 eery powerful If he upsets you, he has big brothers about, and 

 they may reverse the sport. 



What is the difference between a crocodile and an alligator '. 

 sir J. Emerson Tennent, in his interesting sketches of the Natural 

 History of Ceylon, makes it clear enough : — 



" The Portuguese in India, like the Spaniards in South America, 

 " affixed their name of lagarto to the huge reptiles that infested 

 "the rivers ami estuaries of both continents; and to the present 

 "day the Europeans in Ceylon apply the term alligator to what 

 " are in reality crocodiles, which literally swarm in the still 

 " waters and tanks in the low country, but rarely frequent rapid 

 " streams, and have never been found in the marshes among 

 " the hills. The differences, however, between the two, when 

 " once ascertained, are sufficiently marked, to prevent their bein» 

 " afterwards confounded. The head of the alligator is broader, 

 " and the snout less prolonged, and the canine teeth of the under 

 " jaw, instead of being received into foramina in the upper, as 

 " in the crocodile, fit into furrows on each side of it. The legs 

 " of the alligator, tOO, are DOt denticulated, and the feet are only 



mipalmate," 



The Gangetic Gavial has a lengthened beak which marks him 

 unmistakably. 



I>" not deem crocodiles to be unmitigated evils. They have 

 redeeming points like the rest of as. I have found in the stomach 

 of one, beetles which eat spawn, tortoises which eat fry, otters 

 which eat fish, besides tisb which it had taken itself. Doubtless 



