CROCODILE TAMIKG. 145 



strongest reprehension. Hippo twinkled his eye and shoolt his 

 head, blew a little trumpet through his nostrils, and smiled in 

 triumphant malevolence/' 



Nothing among modern shows can compare with the old am- 

 phitheatrical exhibitions of the llomans. Eor these, largo 

 numbers of animals were collected from the shores of Afi-ica and 

 India ; in the contests of the arena they were slanghtcied by 

 wholesale. Eutropius states, and his assertion is corroborated 

 by other writers, that 5,000 wild beasts of all kinds were slain at 

 thededication of the ampitheater of Titus. Tompey, at the opQu- 

 ing of his theater, exhibited a variety of games and battles with 

 wild beasts in which 500 lions were killed in five days j and in 

 another exhibition the tragedy consisted in " the massacre of 

 100 lions and an equal number of lionesses, 200 lc()i>ards, and 

 300 bears." Even if public taste at the present day would tol- 

 erate such butchery, it would be rather too expensive with lions 

 costing from $2,000 to $4,000 each. In those days, of course, 

 the cost was much less ; in fact, the price of wild beasts in this 

 country is usually ten times their price in their native regions. 

 This profit is necessary to cover the great cost of transportation, 

 feeding and the risks of death or accidents on the passage. In- 

 surance companies consider them too risky to insure. Prices, 

 however, fluctuate greatly, according to the demand, and an 

 animal worth to-day $1,000 may be worth only $200 next month, 

 though he be in equally good condition. 



In the days when "ordeals" were used to prove the guilt or 

 innocence of accused persons, the Brahmin priests of Hindoostan 

 made use of crocodiles for this purpose. The accused was com- 

 pelled to swim across a river infested with these animals and 

 his fate decided the question of his guilt or innocence. There 

 is good reason to believe that there was trickery in these tests j 

 that crocodiles were tamed and kept in one part of the river 

 while those of the other portions of the stream remained in their 

 savage state. The Brahmins could thus predetermine the fate 

 of the persons submitting to the ordeal, and doubtless had those 

 whom they desired to favor cross among the tame animals, while 

 others whom they feared or hated were placed at the mercy of 

 the wild ones. Tame crocodiles are by no means rarities ; the 

 Egyptian priests after rendering them docile, placed bracelets 

 upon their forefeet, and hung rings and precious stones in the 

 opercula of their ears, which were bored for the purpose, and 

 then presented them for adoration of the people. . 



The means used in taming the crocodile seem to have been 

 principally kind treatment and tempting food. This plan is 

 pursued even to the present day in Egypt, India, and other coun- 



