IN CROCODILE VALLEY. 207 



In the meantime a second large bull swam to the 

 sand bar just below us, and with his body half out 

 of the water kept watching us with his small fishy 

 eyes. I and my friend fired together, and both 

 our bullets took effect. He was into the water with 

 a splash, and we saw no more of him till next day, 

 when we found him lying dead on the sand bar. 

 The creatures had now become more wary, and 

 would not show themselves on land, although they 

 kept swimming about in the pool not fifty yards 

 off. We fired repeatedly at them in the water, but 

 failed to drive them off, and the boatmen declared 

 it would be dangerous to cross in the dug-out, as 

 the animals would be certain to attack us if we 

 entered the water. We had to walk back to camp 

 at Durjung, three miles away, and come next day 

 to recover our spoil. The brute first shot was a 

 monster bull with a body larger round than a 

 big buffalo's. He had one hundred and ninety- 

 six teeth (large and small) in his jaws. According 

 to the natives, these creatures have sixty-four teeth 

 when young, and get four fresh teeth every year. 

 If this assertion be true, then this brute must have 

 been thirty-three years old, and since they are 

 said to live often to a hundred years, what a row 

 of teeth such a hoary monster would have ! 



The cork-like substance on the top of the round 

 saucer nose was secured by the Kols as medicine. 

 The fat also was carefully saved, and boiled down 

 into oil, which finds a ready sale all over Bengal 

 among native women as a sovereign remedy for 

 sterility. It took a large amount of curing before 



