260 CROCODILES. 



Let us not forget the yavial. His reputation was 

 never better than that of caymans and crocodiles. 

 Modern travellers have however undertaken to re-estab- 

 lish his character. According to these travellers, the 

 yavial never attempts to attack men or animals. 



We have heard witnesses for the defence : let us 

 now listen to others. 



La Condamine reports that the crocodiles of the 

 Amazon seize the Indians in their huts and in their 

 canoes. 



In the Grambo, according to an old traveller, Jobson, 

 the negroes are so suspicious of crocodiles, that they 

 will not venture to swim or wade across rivers fre- 

 quented by these animals. 



We read in the "Description de 1'Ile Celebes (Hist. 

 Gen. des Voyages)," that the crocodiles of the great 

 Macassar river do not confine themselves to making 

 war upon the fish, but* that they sometimes assemble 

 in troops at the bottom of the water to await the 

 passage of the small boats, which they stop, and using 

 their tails as hooks, upset them, and then seize the 

 men and animals and drag them into their retreat. 



Hasselquist ("Voy. en Palestine") writes, that in 

 Upper Egypt, crocodiles very frequently devour the 

 women who come to carry water from the Nile, and 

 children playing on its banks. 



Geoffroy Saint Hilairo reports that it is by no 



