THE GANGETIC CROCODILE. 61 



or three doves or partridges for my dinner. I had roast dove or 

 partridge on toast nearly every day, and we had no other meat 

 during the trip than such as we shot. We killed geese, ducks, 

 and peacocks, which made excellent roasts and curries, and once I 

 shot a gazelle ("ravine deer"), upon a brushy sand-flat, the flesh 

 of which was very acceptable to us all. 



There was ample room on the deck of the boat for us to work 

 at our specimens, and we skinned and skeletonized many a gavial 

 and large bird as we floated quietly along. We could not hang our 

 crocodile skins under any shade, and so we tried hanging them on 

 the mast. By taking the skins down during the hottest part of the 

 day we managed to dry them very successfully, and as soon as they 

 were dry we folded them up. One day as we went floating do"v\Ti 

 the river with an eleven foot gavial skin suspended by the head 

 from the toj) of the mast, its legs held straight out by sticks, and 

 the jaws gaping wide open to allow a free circulation of air, we 

 saw some distance ahead of us three large gavials lying upon the 

 bank. Just beyond them were some natives washing at the river- 

 side. We began to lay our plans for making a kill, but suddenly 

 two of the natives caught sight of us, and guessing our purpose 

 from the emblem at the mast-head, they ran toward the gavials and 

 drove them into the water. We shouted angrily at them, and by 

 way of reply they threw stones at the gavials until their heads en- 

 tirely disappeared under the water, and were thus beyond our 

 reach. This was the only time I ever saw the natives show any 

 sympathy for the crocodiles. In some portions of India, however, 

 crocodiles are held sacred, and it would be safer to shoot a native 

 than one of those scaly reptiles. At Mugger Peer, eight miles 

 from Kurrachee, there is a large tank full of huge and ugly mug- 

 gers {Crocodilua bombifrons), which are regularly fed by priests 

 and held sacred. 



Twice while we were on the Jumna, low-caste natives came to us 

 for the flesh of yoimg gavials, which they declared they wanted to 

 eat. I have eaten roast crocodile in South America, where they 

 feed only upon fish, and the flesh was white, tender, free from 

 all disagreeable musky odoi's, and toothsome as the nicest roast 

 veaL 



For about fifteen miles below Etawah the Jumna fairly swarms 

 with gavials, many of which are of monstrous size. Unlike all the 

 other saurians I ever hunted, they come out upon the sand-bars 

 very early in the morning, and are to be found there at all hours 



