CHAP. III.] 



CKOCODILES. 



187 



feet, and ready to assail man when pressed by hunger ; 

 and the Marsh crocodile 1 , which lives exclusively in 

 fresh water, frequenting the tanks in the northern and 

 central provinces, and confining its attacks to the 

 smaller animals : in length it seldom exceeds twelve or 

 thirteen feet. Sportsmen complain that their dogs are 

 constantly seized by both species ; and water-fowl, when 

 shot, frequently disappear before they can be secured 

 by the fowlef7 The Singhalese believe that the croco- 

 dile can only move swiftly on sand or smooth clay, its 

 feet being too tender to tread firmly on hard or stony 

 ground. In the dry season, when the watercourses 

 begin to fail and the tanks become exhausted, the 

 Marsh crocodiles are sometimes encountered wandering 

 in search of water in the jungle ; but generally, during 

 the extreme drought, when unable to procure their ordi- 

 nary food from the drying up of the watercourses, they 

 bury themselves in the mud, and remain in a state of 

 torpor till released by the recurrence of the rains. 3 At 

 Arne-tivoe, in the eastern province, whilst riding across 

 the parched bed of the tank, I was shown the recess, 

 still bearing the form and impress of a crocodile, out 

 of which the animal had been seen to emerge the day 

 before. A story was also related to me of an officer at- 

 tached to the department of the Surveyor-General, who, 

 having pitched his tent in a similar position, had been 

 disturbed during the night by feeling a movement of the 

 earth below his bed, from which on the following day a 

 crocodile emerged, making its appearance from beneath 

 the matting. 4 



1 Crocodilus palustris, Less. 



2 In Siara the flesh of the crocodile 

 is sold for food in the markets and 

 bazaars. "Un jour je vis plus de 

 cinquante croqodiles, petits et grands, 

 attaches aux colonnes de leurs mai- 

 sons. Ils les vendent la chair coinme 

 on vendrait de la chair de pore, mais a 

 bien meilleur marche." PALLEGOIX, 

 Siam, vol. i. p. 174. 



3 HERODOTUS records the obser- 

 vations of the Egyptians that the 

 crocodile of the Isile abstains from 

 food during the four winter months. 

 Euterpe, Iviii. 



4 HtTMBOLDT relates a similar story 

 as occurring at Calabazo, in Vene- 

 zuela. Personal Narrative, c. xvi. 



