318 SPORT IN BENGAL. 



his head or body above water, we could do nothing to save 

 the unfortunate man. A distressing circumstance connected 

 with this incident was the fact of the victim's hands appear- 

 ing above water for some seconds, the fingers opening and 

 closing as if in an appeal for help, his long hair becoming 

 loosened, floating just below the surface, as he was carried 

 away in an almost upright position, after being seized by the 

 legs below the knees. Our utter inability to aid a fellow- 

 creature in such dire distress was truly humiliating and 

 painful. 



The next in size and ferocity is the common crocodile of 

 the country, known to the natives as the "mugger," the "koom- 

 beer," or the " bocha," according to the locality. This reptile, 

 growing to the length of sixteen to twenty feet, infests alike 

 fresh and brackish waters, and is found high up the inland 

 rivers, and even in those which flow among the hills of 

 Cachar and Chittagong ; it also enters marshes and large 

 tanks in the rainy season, and wanders freely at night on 

 land in search of new quarters. This variety is frequently to 

 be seen in the deep weedy ditches of old fortresses, into 

 which they have been introduced as guards. 



The above are the two kinds described in books of natural 

 history as common in Indian waters ; but there is, according to 

 my observations, a third and much smaller species, which, rarely 

 exceeding eight or nine feet in length, infests weedy old tanks, 

 deep ditches and marshes, and preys principally on fish, turtle, 

 and vermin, varying its diet now and then by some incautious 

 village dog, goat, or sheep which may fall within easy reach of 

 its jaws. The natives give this variety the same names as to 

 the last, which it resembles in many respects, though much 

 smaller ; but the skull is comparatively of less breadth, and 

 it is not equally dreaded, bathers freely wading into the tanks, 

 in which it is known to be in some numbers. I have shot as 

 many as six or eight in the course of a morning among tjie 

 weeds of deep ditches at the base of high embankments, such 

 as are common in Midnapoor and Orissa; but I do not 

 remember seeing any of this kind in Eastern Bengal. 



