46 History of Nature. [BOOK VI II . 



contented with this, he addresseth himself to a Conflict 

 with another, as hurtful as the former. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

 Of the Crocodile, Scink, and Hippopotamus. 



THE Nilus is inhabited by the Crocodile, 1 an ill-disposed 

 Creature, four-footed, as dangerous upon Land as on the 

 Water. This Animal alone, of all other that live on the 

 Land, hath no use of a Tongue. He only moveth the 

 upper Jaw, with which he biteth hard ; and the grasp of 

 his Mouth is otherwise terrible, by means of the row of his 

 Teeth, which close within one another as if two Combs 

 penetrated each other. Ordinarily he is above eighteen 

 Cubits in Length. The Female layeth Eggs as big as those 

 of a Goose, and sitteth continually upon them out of the 

 Water. By a certain Fore-knowledge she is aware how far 

 the Nile will rise that Year when it is at the highest. There 

 is no other Creature that from a smaller Beginning groweth 

 to a greater Size. He is armed with Claws, and his Skin 

 will resist any Injury whatever. By Day it keepeth on the 

 Land, but passeth the Night in the Water ; being guided by 

 each according to the Season. When it hath satisfied its 

 Appetite with Fishes, it lieth asleep on the Shore, and 

 always with some of the Meat in his Mouth. Then cometh 

 a little Bird, called there Trochilos, 2 and in Italy the King of 

 Birds, and for the sake of her Food she instigates the Crea- 

 ture to gape by hopping first about its Mouth, which she 

 pecks and cleanses, and then the Teeth, after which she 

 getteth within to the Back of his Mouth, which it openeth 

 the wider because it taketh such great Delight in this 

 scouring. When the Crocodile is lulled fast asleep with 



1 Crocudilus vulgaris. CUVIER. The Crocodile. Wern. Club. 



2 This account is taken from Herodotus (Euterpe, Ixviii.) who says, 

 " The mouth of the crocodile is filled in the inside with leeches. All 

 birds and animals in general avoid him ; the trochilus is the only animal 

 at peace with him ; and that on account of the services he receives from 

 that bird ; for when the crocodile comes out of the water to land, and 



