CHAPTER XIII 



THIS reptile is an intruder among the mammalia, and may appear 

 out of place in a description of wild beasts and their ways, but it 

 inhabits the same localities as the hippopotamus, and, being equally 

 amphibious, I venture to exalt it to the society of superior animals. 



As lizards are found distributed in great varieties throughout 

 the world, in like manner we find the largest of all lizards, the 

 crocodile, under various names, in nearly every river of the tropics, 

 lu America this reptile is generally known as an alligator, and some 

 persons pretend to define the peculiarity which distinguishes that 

 variety from the crocodile, but I regard the distinction in the same 

 light as that between the leopard and the panther, the difference 

 existing merely in a name. As we see many varieties of cats which 

 are classed as leopards, in the same manner the different varieties 

 of alligators may be classed under the name crocodile. There is a 

 peculiar species in the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and other Indian 

 rivers which, although included in the name, exhibits marked 

 variations from all others ; this is known as the gavial. The long 

 beak-shaped jaws, with a lump upon the extremity of the nose, 

 distinguish this creature from all other varieties. The gavial grows 

 to a great length, sometimes attaining 20 feet and upwards, but it 

 is deficient in bulk, and is by no means so formidable as other 

 varieties of the species. This creature lives upon fish, and it seldom 

 attacks either men or animals. The head is far longer in pro- 

 portion than the ordinary crocodile's, and the gavial remains 

 distinct, per se, as no instance has been known of a cross, or in- 

 termediate variety. In other respects the habits are the same ; 

 the female lays her eggs in a sandbank near the river, to the 

 number of fifty or sixty, and when they are hatched by the heat of 

 the sand, the young ones immediately take to the water. 



Few persons have the opportunity of witnessing the rapid dash 



