THE EOMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



the shipwrecked wretches, and drag him into the 

 abyss. Another and another followed ; for the 

 poor islanders, destitute of any weapons, and 

 almost exhausted with hunger and fatigue, and 

 crowded together on their submerged narrow plat- 

 form, could neither defend themselves nor evade 

 their ferocious assailants. Every moment made 

 the conflict more unequal, for the sharks, at- 

 tracted by the scent of blood, gathered in 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 the reach of the savage monsters, which 

 continued to threaten them, and lingered around, 

 until the waves at length 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 interlocking 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 coun- 

 tries 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 make man their victim; and the 

 alligators of continental America are not behind 

 them. Those of the great rivers of South America 

 appear to be more savage than their northern 

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