crocodile. 549 



are numbered among the delicacies of some of the African nations, 

 and are said to form one of their favourite repasts. 



The gradual evolution and growth of the crocodile are thus 

 poetically described by Dr. Darwin : 



f So from his shell, on Delta's showerless isle, 

 Bursts into birth the monster of the Nile ; 

 First, in translucent lymph, with cobweb threads 

 The brain's fine floating tissue swells and spreads: 

 Nerve after nerve the glistening spine descends; 

 The red heart dances, the aorta bends : 

 Thro' each new gland the purple current glides, 

 New veins meand'ring drink the refluent tides. 

 Edge over edge expands each hardening scale. 

 And sheaths his slimy skin in silver mail. 

 Erewhile, emerging from the brooding sand, 

 With tiger paw he prints the brineless strand : 

 High on the flood with speckled bosom swims, 

 Helm'd with broad tail, and oar'd with giant limbs : 

 Rolls his fierce eyeballs, clasps his iron claws, 

 And champs with gnashing teeth his massy jaws. 

 Old Nilus sighs thro' all his cane-crown'd shores, 

 And swarthy Memphis trembles and adores. 



In the large rivers of Africa crocodiles are said to be sometimes 

 seen swimming together in vast shoals, and resembling the trunks 

 of so many trees floating on the water. The negroes still some- 

 times attack and kill a single crocodile, by stabbing it under the 

 belly, where the skin, at the interstices of the scales, is soft and 

 flexible. It is also, in some countries, the custom to hunt the 

 crocodile by means of strong dogs, properly trained to the purpose, 

 and armed with spiked collars. It is likewise pretended, that in 

 some parts of Africa crocodiles are occasionally tamed ; and it is 

 said that they form an article of royal magnificence with the mo. 

 narchs of those regions ; being kept in large ponds or lakes appro- 

 priated to their residence. We may add, that the ancient Romans 

 exhibited these animals in their public spectacles and triumphs. Scau- 

 rus, during his aedileship, treated the people with a sight of five cro- 

 diles, exhibited in a temporary lake ; and Augustus introduced on 



2 N3 



