356 CROCODILES AND ALLIGATORS 



Even man not only kills the hideous reptiles in self-defence, 

 or for the sake of sport, but for the purpose of regaling upon 

 their flesh. In the Siamese markets and bazaars, crocodiles, large 

 and small, may be seen hanging in the butchers' stalls, instead 

 of mutton or lamb ; and Captain Stokes,* who more than once 

 supped off alligators' steaks, informs us that the meat is by no 

 means bad, and has a white appearance like veal. 



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

 many tropical countries the aridity of the dry season produces a 

 similar torpidity in reptile life to that which is caused by the cold 

 of winter in the higher latitudes. In Ceylon, when the water- 

 courses begin to fail and the tanks become exhausted, the marsh- 

 crocodiles are sometimes encountered wandering in search of 

 water in the jungle ; but generally, during the extreme drought, 

 they bury themselves 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 tlieir 

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

 inspire. 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, or of quietly remaining where they 

 were, they hurried towards the extremities 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 from the Pelew 

 Islands to Eap, one of the Carolines, where it was killed after 



* " Discoveries in Australia." f' 



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