THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



239 



it began to struggle and open its dreadful jaws, which so terrified 

 the men that they would have dropped the rope and fled, had not 

 Baker shot it again in the shoulder, which ended its struggles. 

 The rope was now put around the crocodile and a number of men 

 hauled it ashore, where it was measured by Baker and proved to 

 be twelve feet three inches long. The stomach contained about 

 five pounds' weight of pebbles, as though it had fed upon flesh 

 resting upon a gravel-bank, and had swallowed the pebbles that 



TOWING THE CROCODILE ASHORE. 



had adhered. Mixed with the pebbles was a greenish, slimy 

 matter that appeared woolly. In the midst of these were three 

 undeniable witnesses that convicted the crocodile of willful 

 murder, A necklace and two armlets, such as are worn by the 

 negro girls, were taken from the stomach ! The girl had been 

 digested. 



Crocodiles gre frequently seen upward of eighteen feet in 

 length, and there can be little doubt that they sometimes exceed 

 twenty ; but a very small creature of this species may carry away 

 a man while swim ming The crocodile does not attempt to swallow 



