THE POSSIBILITY OF EDUCATING CROCODILES. 275 



which they received as divinities explains this man- 

 suetude and familiarity. They willingly permitted 

 those to open their teeth whose intention they knew 

 was to fill their mouths. 



Aristotle, says that the want of food alone renders 

 crocodiles very dangerous; and what he has said of 

 crocodiles is true of the whole crocodilian race ; there 

 is nothing ferocious in them but their appetite. For 

 the rest, except man, I know of no animal (I am 

 speaking of the superior animals, about which we know 

 a little) that sheds blood merely for the pleasure of 

 shedding it ; and the tiger himself, in spite of his 

 wicked reputation, is no exception to this rule. 



Aristotle says again, that it is an easy matter to 

 tame crocodiles, and to do that it is only necessary to 

 feed them well. Nothing can be more true, and it is 

 equally true of all members of the family we are dis- 

 cussing. We have a report in the " Histoire Generale 

 des Voyages " (the responsibility for the truth of which 

 we leave to that work), that on the shores of the Kio 

 San Domingo, in Africa, crocodiles are such kind 

 creatures that the children, who are there badly off for 

 ' toys, use the backs of these saurians instead of the 

 wooden horse, which is not known in that country. 

 This playful humour on the part of the crocodiles is to 

 be attributed to the fact that, owing to their generous 

 nourishment by their fellow-citizens the negroes, they 



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