ALL ARE" AGREED. 285 



sion to make his power felt, the crocodile has made 

 frequent victims ; and La Condamine thinks that the 

 boldness of those of the Amazon arises from their 

 being so little hunted. 



There is still another and last distinction to be 

 made between crocodiles, viz., those which have already 

 eaten a man, and those which are not yet ac- 

 quainted with his flavour. Those which have once 

 eaten a man form a taste that way, and become 

 excessively dangerous. The misfortune and shame of 

 our race is, that in many places men devote themselves 

 to giving to the crocodile an appetite for man. 



It was told M. Treineaux that, in certain places 

 inhabited by crocodiles, accidents never happened. 

 But if the monstrous amphibian, by any chance, has 

 tasted human flesh, the place from that time becomes 

 dangerous ; for not only has this animal acquired the 

 taste, and lies in wait for his prey, but sometimes 

 others share it with him, and thus become terrible 

 to man. Thus it is always by the same animal or at 

 most by two or three that certain spots of the river 

 are rendered formidable. 



Mr. Combes, having reported the sad events of which 

 he had been witness, adds, " An inhabitant of Khar- 

 toum, whom I had asked if such accidents frequently 

 occurred, assured me that before the arrival of the 



