12 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



which were swimming about on the look-out for some 

 prey. When about fifteen paces off I fired at one 

 with a rifle, but the bullet sounded on the animal as 

 on a piece of wood, and the beast did not move. My 

 boatman told me that if any woman or child, or even 

 a man alone, came to fetch water just then, he or she 

 would incur a great risk of being seized. He added 

 that when a crocodile attacks it begins by taking 

 the victim under its claws and squeezing it tightly, 

 dragging the body off to devour it upon some 

 neighbouring island. 



" He went on to tell me that, being one day in the 

 water and swimming about with his brother, one of 

 their comrades who was on shore called out to them 

 to be careful, as he had just seen a crocodile. The 

 two swimmers at once made for shore, but their com- 

 rade incautiously had advanced close to the edge of 

 the water, and the crocodile, making a prodigious 

 bound, seized him by the left arm, plunged into the 

 stream and came up on the other side, where my boat- 

 man distinctly saw him devour the body of his unfor- 

 tunate comrade. He also showed me a wound which 

 a crocodile had made in his leg. He once met one 

 which had gone ashore and was waddling back to the 

 Nile. He and his companion tried to stop it, but the 

 crocodile came at him, and with its open jaw inflicted 

 a bite which threw him to the ground. Fortunately, 

 he had the time to seize the dagger which the natives 

 wear in the form of a bracelet, and with this he sue- 



