THE FEROCITY OF CROCODILES. 261 



means rare to meet with Arabs in the Thebaide, some 

 wanting an arm, and others a leg, which had been 

 carried away by crocodiles. 



Listen to Livingstone : " Every year many victims 

 are made amongst the children who have the impru- 

 dence to play on the banks of the Liambye, when 

 they go for water. The crocodile stuns his prey with 

 a blow of his tail, and drags it into the water, where 

 it is soon drowned. 



"Fish is the principal food of both small and large, 

 and they are much assisted in catching them by 

 their broad scaly tails. Sometimes an alligator, 

 viewing a man in the water from the opposite bank, 

 rushes acfoss the stream with wonderful agility, as 

 is seen by the high ripple he makes on the surface, 

 caused by his rapid motion at the bottom ; but in 

 general they act by stealth, sinking underneath as 

 soon as they see a man. A wounded antelope chased 

 into any of the lagoons in the Barotse valley, or a 

 man or dog going in for the purpose of bringing 

 out a dead one, is almost sure to be seized, though 

 the alligators may not appear on the surface. After 

 dancing long in the moonlight night, young men run 

 down to the water to wash off the dust, and cool 

 themselves before going 'to bed, and are thus often 

 carried away. One wonders they are not afraid-; 

 but the fact is, they have as little sense of danger 



