1Q4? HABITS AND INSTINCTS OF ANIMALS. CHAP. VI. 



in the ditches of Bavaria, to prevent the desertion of 

 their soldiers, most of whom were enlisted by force ; 

 they likewise served to oppose the nocturnal attacks of 

 the people of the country, who supported their yoke 

 with impatience. It is supposed that one reason why 

 the ancient Egyptians venerated this animal was, that 

 the fear of the crocodiles arrested the course *)f the 

 Lybian and Arabian robbers, who, but for these rep- 

 tiles, would have been continually passing and re- 

 passing the river and its canals. The courage and 

 strength of these creatures are in proportion to their 

 size. Bartrum, the American naturalist, tells us, that 

 his armed companions had to sustain a vigorous combat 

 against one of them which came to attack their camp. 

 Stedman, however, says that those of Surinam will 

 not attack a man, so long as he remains in motion in 

 the water. Waterton, on the contrary, affirms that the 

 Indians " take uncommon precautions lest they should 

 be devoured by these cruel and voracious reptiles, 

 which are very numerous on the river Essequibo." * 

 The same writer gives us the following anecdote, told 

 to him by one of the Portuguese governors, on the spot 

 where the event happened. " One fine evening, last 

 year, as the people of Angustura were sauntering up 

 and down here on the Alameda, I was within twenty 

 yards of this place, when I saw a large cayman seize a 

 man and carry him down, before any one had it in 

 his power to assist him ; the screams of the poor 

 fellow were terrible, as the cayman was running off 

 with him. He plunged into the river with his prey. 

 We immediately lost sight of him, and never saw or 

 'heard of him, more." f In reference to the apparently 

 contradictory accounts given of crocodiles in general, 

 we should remember that there are not only many 

 species, but genera, each distributed in peculiar parts 

 of the world, and all having certain shades of difference 

 in their economy. Some are, consequently, much more 

 savage than others; and hence, no doubt, have frequently 



* Wanderings. t Ibid. 



