-* Buffaloes and Crocodiles 



of crocodiles in the rivers, as the snouts and nostrils of the 

 animals, which just reach the surface of the water, are very 

 often nearly invisible. Crocodiles notice everything that 

 goes on in their vicinity ; their eyesight is extraordinary. 

 If the reptiles happen to be lying on sand-banks or low- 

 lying places by the bank, they suddenly disappear into 

 the water at the least sign of danger. I have often 

 surprised gigantic crocodiles by coming out from the 

 covert on the bank. Then it sometimes seemed as if 

 the ground under my feet suddenly became alive, or as if 

 some moss-covered tree-trunk in the water had come to lite. 



Young ones just out of the broken eggs I used to find 

 in March. Even these showed themselves inclined to bite. 

 Some old animals that I have caught used to emit at times 

 a peculiar deep, indescribable half-growling sound, of a 

 savageness hard to describe ; a sound which I have now 

 and again heard them make when at liberty, especially 

 at rutting-time. The quite young crocodiles when caught 

 gave a loud and lively cry. 



A bullet from a small-calibre rifle (even a common lead 

 bullet) will kill the reptile on the spot, if it strikes the 

 head in the region of the spine. It seems to set working 

 a kind of convulsive motion in the whole vascular system 

 of the animal. I have killed a great number of crocodiles 

 which coulcl not move an inch after having been hit by 

 a ball, and which lay as if struck by lightning. 



My friend Captain Merker once had a very interesting 

 experience with young crocodiles. He found some 

 crocodile - eggs near the volcanic Lake Chala, in 

 December, and took them back with him to Port Moshi. 



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