262 THE TEREIBLE, 



begin to collect around them, which soon grew so bold as 

 to seize one of the shipwrecked wretches, and drag him 

 into the abyss. Another and another followed ; for the 

 poor islanders, destitute of any weapons, and almost ex- 

 hausted with hunger and fatigue, and crowded together 

 on their submerged narrow platform, could neither defend 

 themselves nor evade their ferocious assailants. Every 

 moment made the conflict more unequal, for the sharks, 

 attracted by the scent of blood, gatheredln greater numbers 

 to the spot, and grew more and more audacious, until two 

 or three of the mariners only remaining, the raft floated 

 so as to elevate them beyond reach of the savage monsters, 

 which continued to threaten them, and lingered around, 

 until the waves at lengh bore the survivors to the beach. 



Among reptiles, the mailed crocodiles may be mentioned 

 as formidable foes to man. Vast in bulk, yet grovelling 

 with the belly on the earth ; clad in bony plates with 

 sharp ridges, the long tail bearing a double row of teeth, 

 like two parallel saws ; splay feet terminating in long 

 diverging hooked talons ; green eyes with a peculiar fiery 

 glare, gleaming out from below projecting orbits ; lips 

 altogether wanting, displaying the long rows of interlock- 

 ing teeth even when the mouth is closed, so that, even 

 when quiet, the monster seems to be grinning with rage 

 (" his teeth are terrible round about," Job xli. 14), — it is no 

 wonder that the crocodile should be, in all countries which 

 it inhabits, viewed with dread. 



Nor is this terror groundless. The crocodiles, both of 

 the Nile and of the West Indian Isles, are well known to 



I 



