CROCODILES. 293 



very singular construction, quite flat-bottomed, of very 

 liglit draught, about fifty feet long, and not more than 

 two broad. The oarsmen stand up and handle these 

 boats very ably. Thus equipped, they went into the 

 very midst of the crocodiles. Some were swimming, 

 others basking in the sun on the mud-banks. They 

 took no notice whatever of the boat. M. du Chaillu 

 killed two, one eighteen feet long, the other twenty. 



There are in Egypt some people bold enough to 

 swim underneath a crocodile, and stab him in the 

 belly with a poniard ; and the negroes of the Senegal 

 do the same. " One Lapot, of Fort St. Louis, 

 amused himself in this way almost every day, and 

 for a long time was very successful, as we read in the 

 ' Voyage of De Brue ; ' but he at length received such 

 wounds in one of these combats, that had he not 

 been assisted by his companions, he would have lost 

 his life in the jaws of the monster." 



At other times, in the same country, the negroes 

 surprise the crocodile in places where there is not 

 sufficient water left for him to swim in, and attack 

 him with a lance, the left arm being protected by a 

 shield of ox-hide. They thrust the lance into the 

 eyes and throat, placing the left arm in his mouth, 

 preventing him from closing it, and holding it open 

 until tho animal is suffocated, or until he expires 

 under their blows. 



