GANGETIG HINDOOSTAN. tto; 



That dreadful lizard the Crocodile Avarms in this neigh- Crocodile. 

 borhood ; they differ from thofe of the Nile : their nofe is 

 narrow, long, and hooked at the end, and in the whole is 

 formed like the bill of the bird Goofander. They grow to the 

 length of thirty feet, and are as dangerous as the Egyptian. 

 Mr. George Edwards firft defcribed this fpecies in Phil. Tranf, 

 vol. xlix. p. 639. tab. xix. it is figured by M. de la Cepede, at 

 p. 235. tab. XV. under the name of L(? GaviaL 



There is another large fpecies of Crocodile in the Ganges, 

 called the Ghurri-aulj fo named from an excrefcence, in form of 

 a ball, near the end of the nofe, which tapers from the head, 

 and ends abrupt like the fnout of a hog. In a dried ftate this 

 ball becomes quite flat ; fuch is the form of the vaft fpecimen 

 of one in the Britijh Mufeum, which is fourteen feet long. 



There is a leffer fpecies not above twelve feet long ; the 

 head and neck are half the length of the body ; the gape of the 

 mouth is of an uncommon width. It does not attack man, but 

 eagerly devours dogs ; the two fore teeth pafs through the 

 upper jaw through two orifices. It is always found in the 

 tanks after the annual inundations, and is never found in the 

 Ganges, being fuppofed to be brought down from fome of the 

 rivers which flow into it. This Crocodile is venerated by the 

 Hindoos, under the fuppofition of its being a deity in one of 

 its tranfmigrations. 



I OMITTED mentioning that a few miles to the north qI Alla^ 

 habad, on the eaft fide of the Ganges, on a rocky precipitous 

 eminence, is a fmall pagoda built like a mofque, but is merely a 

 Hindoo place of worihip ; fee Mr. Daniell, tab. xxi. It is called 



Currah<i 



