258 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CIIAP. 



lake, until prodded by a harpoon from a canoe, which I had sent 

 to disturb it. The boatman could not pierce through the thick 

 scales ; and suddenly the line slackened, and I hauled up my line, 

 at the end of which was a completely flattened duck, together with 

 my hook, compressed and useless, as I have described. 



I have shot immense numbers of crocodiles in various countries, 

 and, if upon the shore, I have generally secured them. A very 

 accurate rifle is necessary, as there are only two points that are 

 immediately fatal No. 1 is just behind the eye, No. 2 exactly 

 through the centre of the shoulder. The latter shot will break 

 both joints of the fore legs, and will pass directly through the 

 lungs. Although I prefer a "577 rifle, the '450 solid bullet will 

 be always fatal, if it is placed exactly as I have described. 



The hard scales of crocodiles were said to be proof against a 

 rifle bullet. This may have been the case at the beginning of the 

 century, when rifles were loaded with only 1 dram of powder ; it 

 was at that date that the grizzly bear was considered almost 

 bullet-proof, when the first settlers encountered it with no better 

 weapon than the No. 70 pea-rifle; but a hardened solid bullet, 

 propelled by 6 drams of powder, will drive through a crocodile like 

 a sheet of paper. 



General H. Browne, when at Jubbulpur, showed me a '577 

 solid bullet, ^ tin, which he had fired completely through a large 

 crocodile when lying on the margin of the river, and he dug the 

 bullet out of the hard bank, into which it had penetrated for at 

 least 1 foot. This bullet was so little injured in form that it 

 might have been used a second time. 



Although the hippopotamus and the crocodile are both 

 amphibious, there is a vast difference between them in the power 

 of remaining under water. The former has enormous lungs, which, 

 when inflated, contain sufficient air to nourish the blood during 

 five, or at the most ten minutes, at the expiration of which it is 

 compelled to reappear upon the surface. 



The crocodile has valves which close two small orifices in lieu 

 of ears, and also the nostrils, but the lungs are not extraordinary 

 in size, in proportion to the weight of the reptile. Notwithstanding 

 this apparent inferiority in lung capacity, it can remain beneath 

 the water for almost any length of time, and when it appears upon 

 the surface, it does not blow out a jet of spray, neither does it 

 exhibit any sign of a desire for inhalation, but it merely looks 

 around, as though scrutinising the immediate neighbourhood, 

 either in search of prey, or in the fear of danger. 



The crocodile has the power of hybernaling. This may be 



