310 CROCODILES. 



they leave a double row of footprints on the sand, with a narrow 

 median furrow produced by tlie we'glit of the tail ; but wlicn they 

 have been disturbed and make a rush to escape, tliey raise their tail 

 and leave only the tracks of their feet on the sand. These croco- 

 diles are equally at home in salt and fresh water. I have frequently 

 passed them in ray Rob Roy canoe when they have been floating as 

 though asleep at the surface of the sea ; and it was always in the 

 .sea that they found a refuge when my little ciaft intruded itself 

 within their haunts. They came under my notice in the fresh- 

 water lakes of Santa Anna and Stirling Island, and in the lower 

 courses of the streams in several localities. They are apparently in 

 no uncongenial conditions in the salt-water lagoon of Eddystone 

 Island, although its waters receive the hot sulphureous vapours of 

 submerged fumaroles. 



These crocodiles do not apparently attain a greater length than 

 12 or 13 feet. ]\Ir. Sproul shot one at Santa Anna which measured 

 9i feet. A female that I shot in the Shortland Islands, measured 



11 feet. One of the seamen of the "Lark," named Prior, obtained 

 from the natives the skull of a rather larger specimen. Out of half- 

 a-dozen individuals seen on the Three Sisters, not one measured 

 more than 7 or 8 feet.^ Mv. Bateman, a trader resident at Ugi, 

 told me that at Wano on the St. Christoval coast he saw a very 

 large crocodile which, from his description, appears to have been 

 twice as long as any that I saAv. It was, however, dusk at the time ; 

 and in connection with this circumstance I should add that I have 

 found actual measurement to reduce the apparent length of a 

 crocodile from 14 to 11 feet. 



Natives are rarely attacked by these reptiles, and they show 

 little or no fear of them. I have seen a full-cfrown crocodile dart 

 under a line of swimmei's without causing any dismay. Of the 

 numbers I saw, all were but too anxious to get out of my way ; and 

 their cowardly nature is well shown in the account of m}'- capture 

 of a specimen which is given below. However, I came upon a 

 man of Santa Anna who had had his loii: broken bv one of 

 these reptiles. The natives of Rubiana hold the crocodile in 

 veneration and work without fear in tlie places which it frequents. 

 They believe that only faithless wives are seizjd and carried 

 off by the monster. Pigs are occasionally the prey of the crocodile ; 



^ A skull given to mc by I\Ir. Nisbot, the govcrnment-.agent of the " Redcoat," at Ugi, was 



12 inches lon;<. It was obt lined from the natives of Guadalcanar. 



