340 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



is a far more dang-erons enemy to rats, mice, lizards, snakes and 

 little birds, than to the huge crocodile, and instead of being 

 esteemed for his imaginary service as he is supposed to have 

 been by the ancient Egyptians, is detested by the fellah as tlie 

 active plunderer of his pigeon cots and hen roosts. A similar 

 fable relates that in the rivers of America, a tortoise of the 

 genus Cinyxis, after having been swallowed by the alligator, 

 and thanks to its shelly case arriving unharmed in its stomach, 

 eats its way out again with its sharp beak, thus putting the 

 monster to an excruciating death. 



I have already mentioned, in the chapter on the Llanos, that 

 in many tropical countries the aridity of the dry season pro- 

 duces a similar torpidity in reptile life to that which is caused 

 by the cold of winter in the higher latitudes. In Ceylon, when 

 the tanks become exhausted, the- marsh -crocodiles are some- 

 times encountered wandering in search of water in the jungle ; 

 but generally, during the extreme drought, they bury them- 

 selves in the sand, where they remain in a state of torpor, till 

 released by the recurrence of the rains. Sir Emerson Tennent, 

 whilst riding across the parched bed of a tank, was shown the 

 recess, still bearing the form and impress of the crocodile, out 

 of which the animal had been seen, to emerge the day before. 

 A story was also related to him of an officer who, having 

 pitched his tent in a similar position, had been disturbed 

 during the night by feeling a movement of the earth below 

 his bed, from which, on the following day, a crocodile emerged, 

 making its appearance from beneath the matting. 



Like the rattlesnake, crocodiles seem to possess the power of 

 fascinating their prey, or rather of completely depriving their 

 victims of all presence of mind, by the terror which they in- 

 spire. In Sumatra, Marsden once saw a large crocodile in a 

 river, looking up to an overhanging tree, on which a number of 

 small monkeys were sitting. The poor creatures were so beside 

 themselves for fright, that instead of escaping to the land, which 

 they might easily have done, they hurried towards the extrem- 

 ities of the branches, and at length fell into the water, where 

 the dreadful monster was awaiting them. 



Crocodiles sometimes indulge in strange wanderings. Cha- 

 misso mentions one having been drifted to Eap, one of the 

 Carolines, where it was killed after having devoured a woman ; 



