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By this means it can enlarge or lessen the bulk<of its 

 body, and inhabit any depth of water. 



As for the Serpent of the Waters, of which an ao 

 count is gravely given, by the writer of the Natural 

 History of Norway, which he talks of as being five 

 or six hundred yards long, and as rearing his head 

 higher than the main mast of a man of war, I pre- 

 sume it is very nearly related to the Craken of the 

 ame author ; a sea-monster, to which a whale is 

 but a shrimp, larger than twenty men of war put 

 together. And this our writers of magazines and 

 reviews swallow without any difficulty ? Is it from 

 the just judgment of God, that men who do not be- 

 lieve the Bible, will believe any thing ? 



The king of all reptiles which are known with 

 any certainty, is the crocodile. There are sixty. two 

 joints iq the back. bone, which, though very closely 

 united, have sutlicient play to enable the animal to 

 bend like a bow to the right and the left ; so that what 

 we hear of escaping the creature by turning out of 

 the right line, and of the animal's not being able to 

 wheel after its prey, seems to be fabulous. It is 

 likely the crocodile can turn with great ease ; for the 

 joints of its back are not stiffer than those of other 

 animals ; and we know by experience it can wheel 

 about very nimbly for its size. 



It is probable, that the smell of musk, which all 

 these animals exhale, may render them agreeable to 

 the savages of that part of Africa. They are often 

 known to take the part of this animal which con- 

 tains the musk, and wear it as a perfume about their 

 persons. Travellers are not agreed in what part of 

 their body, the musk -bags are contained, some say in 

 the ears, some in the parts of generation ; but the 

 most probable opinion is, that this musky substance 

 is amassed in glands under the legs and arms. 



The American Crocodile or Alligator, is only fif- 

 teen or sixteen feet long. But those bred in Africor 

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