Large Crocodiles. 51 



A crocodile is an awkward animal to skin, for the skin is very firmly 

 attached to the body. A good many natives are killed by these animals 

 every year, and in places where they are dangerous the natives make a 

 circular fence in the water to protect themselves when bathing and drawing 

 water. 



Shire River, Nyasaland. D. D. L. 



[The passage referred to by our correspondent is, no doubt, that in 

 " Wild Beasts and their Ways " (ch. xiii.), where Baker wrote of having 

 seen on a bare patch of grey granite on an island in the Victoria Nile " two 

 vast forms each as thick as the body of a hippopotamus, and of enormous 

 length. These two antediluvian monsters glided slowly and fearlessly 

 along the gently sloping granite, and when half beneath the water they 

 exposed a breadth of back which was the most extraordinary sight I have 

 ever seen in my long experience of crocodiles." The canoe in which he 

 was travelling at the time was about 3oft. long, and he judged the surface of 

 the granite at about 6oft., but "would not presume to estimate the length of 

 these extraordinary creatures." ED.] 



Field, July 16, 1910. 



E 2 



