394 



HISTORY OF FROGS, LIZARDS, AND SERPENTS. 



as formerly. The arts of mankind have, 

 through a course of ages, powerfully operated 

 to its destruction ; and, though it is some- 

 times seen, it appears comparatively timorous 

 and feeble. 



perched upon a human body, which the mistaken at- 

 tachment of superstitious friends had committed to the 

 stream to send on its roads to paradise, tearing the 

 scarcely cold flesh from the bones, until chased from its 

 horrid repast by the more dominant and not less voracious 

 alligator. 



It is a very common thing for the native princes of 

 India, living in the neighbourhood of large rivers where 

 alligators abound, to have them caught for the purpose 

 of entertaining their court and guests, by making them 

 fight, or causing them to be attacked by other animals. 

 Captain Basil Hall has given the following animated 

 account of a fight of this kind, got up for the amusement 

 of the Admiral, Sir R. Hood, and performed by a corps 

 of Malays in the British service. 



Very early (he says) in the morning, the party were 

 summoned from their beds, to set forth on the expedition. 

 In other countries, the hour of getting up may be left to 

 choice ; in India, when any thing active is to be done, 

 it is a matter of necessity ; for after the sun has gained 

 even a few degrees of altitude, the heat and discomfort, 

 as well as the danger of exposure, become so great, that 

 all pleasure is at an end. The day, therefore, had 

 scarcely begun to dawn, when we all cantered up to the 

 scene of action. 



The ground lay as flat as a marsh for many leagues, 

 and was spotted with small stagnant lakes connected by 

 sluggish streams, scarcely moving over beds of mud, 

 between banks fringed with a rank crop of draggled 

 weeds. The chill atmosphere of the morning felt so 

 thick and clammy, it was impossible not to think of 

 agues, jungle-fevers, and all the hopeful family of 

 malaria. The hardy native soldiers who had occupied 

 the ground during the night, were drawn up to receive the 

 Admiral, and a very queer guard of honour they formed. 

 The whole regiment had stripped ofl" their uniform, and 

 every other stitch of clothing, save a pair of short trou- 

 sers, and a kind of sandal. In place of a firelock, each 

 man bore in his hand a slender pole, about six feet in 

 length, to the extremity of which was attached the 

 bayonet of his musket. His only other weapon, was 

 the formidable Malay crease, a sort of dagger, or small 

 two-edged sword. 



Soon after the commander. in-chief came to the 

 ground, the regiment was divided into two main parties, 

 and a body of reserves. The principal columns, facing, 

 one to the right, the other to the left, proceeded to occupy 

 different points in one of the sluggish canals, connecting 

 the pools scattered over the plain. These detachments 

 being stationed about a mile from one another, enclosed 

 an interval where, from some peculiar circumstances 

 known only to the Malays, who are passionately fond of 

 the sport, the alligators were sure to be found in great 

 numbers. The troops formed themselves across the 

 canals, in three parallel lines, ten to twelve feet apart ; 

 but the men in each line stood side by side, merely leav- 

 ing room enough to wield their pikes. The canal may 

 have been about four or five feet deep, in the middle of 

 the stream, if stream it can be called, which scarcely 

 moved at all. The colour of the water, when undis- 

 turbed, was a shade between ink and coffee ; but no 

 sooner had the triple line of Malays set themselves in 

 motion, than the consistence and colour became like 

 those of peas-soup. 



On eveiy thing being reported ready, the soldiers 

 planted their pikes before them in the mud, each man 

 crossing his neighbour's weapon, and at the word 

 " march " away they all started in full cry, sending forth 



To look for this animal in all its natural 

 terrors, grown to an enormous size, propagated 

 in surprising numbers, and committing un- 

 ceasing devastations, we must go to the unin- 

 habited regions of Africa and America, to 



a shout, or war-whoop, sufficient to curdle the blood of 

 those on land, whatever effect it may have had on the 

 inhabitants of the deep. As the two divisions of the in- 

 vading army gradually approached each other in pretty 

 close column, screaming, and yelling, aud striking their 

 pikes deep in the slime before them, the startled animals 

 naturally retired towards the unoccupied centre. Gen- 

 erally speaking, the alligators, or crocodiles, had sense 

 enough to turn their long tails upon their assailants, and 

 to scuttle off, as fast as they could, towards the middle 

 part of the canal. But every now and then, one of the 

 terrified monsters floundered backwards, and, by retreat- 

 ing in the wrong direction, broke through the first, 

 second, and even third line of pikes. This was the per- 

 fection of sport to the delighted Malays. A double circle 

 of soldiers was speedily formed round the wretched 

 aquatic who had presumed to pass the barrier. By 

 means of well-directed thrusts with numberless bayonets, 

 and the pressure of spme dozens of feet, the poor brute 

 was often fairly driven beneath his native mud. When 

 once there, his enemies half-choked and half-spitted 

 him, till at last they put an end to his miserable days, 

 in regions quite out of sight, and in a manner as inglori- 

 ous as can well be conceived. 



The intermediate space was now pretty well crowded 

 with alligators, swimming about in the utmost terror, at 

 times diving below, and anon showing their noses above 

 the surface of the dirty stream ; or occasionally making 

 a furious bolt, in sheer despair, right at the phalanx of 

 Malays. On these occasions, half-a-dozen of the soldiers 

 were often upset, and their pikes either broken or twisted 

 out of their hands, to the infinite amusement of their 

 companions, who speedily closed up the broken ranks. 

 There were none killed, but many wounded.; yet no man 

 flinched in the least. 



The perfection of the sport appeared to consist in de- 

 taching a single alligator from the rest, surrounding and 

 attacking him separately, and spearing him till he was 

 almost dead. The Malays, then, by main strength, 

 forked him aloft, over their heads, on the end of a dozen 

 pikes, and, by a sudden jerk, pitched the conquered 

 monster far on the shore. As the alligators are amphibi- 

 ous, they kept to the water no longer than they found 

 they had an advantage in that element ; but on the two 

 columns of their enemy closing up, the monsters lost all 

 discipline, floundered up the weedy banks, scuttling 

 away to the right and left, helter-skelter. " Sauve qui 

 pent !" seemed to be the fatal watch-word for their total 

 rout. That prudent cry would, no doubt, have saved 

 many of them, had not the Malays judiciously placed 

 beforehand their reserve on each side of the iver, to 

 receive the distracted fugitives, who, bathed in mud, 

 and half dead with terror, but still in a prodigious fury, 

 dashed off at right angles from the canal, in hopes of 

 gaining the shelter of a swampy pool, overgrown with 

 reeds and bulrushes, but which most of the poor beasts 

 were never doomed to reach. The concluding battle 

 between these retreating and desperate alligators, and the 

 Malays of the reserve, was formidable enough. Indeed, 

 had not the one party been fresh, the other exhausted, 

 one confident, the other broken in spirit ; it is quite pos- 

 sible that the crocodiles might have worsted the Malays. 

 It was difficult, indeed, to say which of the two looked 

 at that moment the more savage ; the triumphant natives, 

 or the flying troop of alligators wallopping away from the 

 water. Many on both sides were wounded, and all 

 covered with slime and weeds. There could not have 

 been fewer than thirty or forty alligators killed. The 



