254 CROCODILES AND CAYMANS. 



" These aquatic woods are filled with animals which 

 eat each other ; half-devoured carcases are seen floating 

 on the water." Lying in ambush on the hanks of the 

 lakes and rivers, the tiger in India and the jaguar in 

 America watch the moment when the young saurian s 

 approach the shore, seize them with their powerful 

 claws, and devour them. 



Livingstone relates, that on arriving one evening 

 on the banks of the Libaye, he put to flight two 

 broods of crocodiles ; they were about ten inches 

 in length. Their bodies were marked with alternate 

 brown and pale green bands ; their eyes were 

 yellow. When speared, they bit the weapon savagely, 

 yelping all the while like a whelp just beginning 

 to bark. , 



Added to the testimony of Caillaud, this last fact, 

 reported by a traveller so trustworthy as Livingstone, 

 would suffice to solve the controverted question as to 

 whether crocodiles have a voice. Captain Jobson 

 (" Hist. Gen. des Voy.") assures us that those of the 

 river Gambia, called bumbos by the negroes, utter cries 

 which appear to come out of a pit, and which can be 

 heard at a great distance. Catesby reports that the 

 caymans of Carolina, on coming out of their lethargic 

 slumber, make horrible roarings. Bosc, who has 

 visited the same country, says that the caymans make 



