478 DANGERS FROM CROCODILES. 



was therefore obliged to bait with pieces of hippopotamus. 

 Fishing in such a pool as that of the Atbara was sufficiently 

 exciting, as it was impossible to speculate upon what creature 

 might accept the invitation; but the Arabs who accompanied 

 me were particular in guarding me against the position I 

 had taken under a willow bush, close to the water, as they 

 explained that most probably a crocodile would take me 

 instead of the bait; they declared that accidents had fre- 

 quently happened when people had sat down upon the bank, 

 either to drink with their hands, or even while watching 

 their goats. " 



This is a danger which it is by no means prudent to 

 make light of, and which has constantly to be guarded 

 against in approaching or crossing many of these 

 tropical rivers, where the fisherman may go to catch 

 some of the inhabitants of the waters, but where they 

 may sometimes turn round and catch him. Neverthe- 

 less Sir Samuel Baker proceeded with his fishing, and 

 soon caught a respectable dish of fish of a species of 

 perch called " boulti, " which is considered one of the 

 best Nile fish. He then changed his bait to a piece 

 of one of these " boulti " about four ounces weight, 

 which glistened like silver, and it was taken by a 

 turtle of at least 100 Ibs weight, but after a long 

 struggle the creature broke away by cutting the thick, 

 treble-twisted brass wire trace. * Later on in the 

 course of his journey, in the month of September, he 

 had some splendid sport higher up the course of the 

 Atbara, near its juncture with the Till, a small tribu- 

 tary stream. He had a good supply of tackle, and 

 fitted up " a beautiful straight and tapering bamboo 

 that had been brought down by the floods" as a rod, 



* The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia, by Sir Samuel Baker, 1867, 

 PP. 39 4 1 - 



