TxEPTILI A — CROCODILE. 693 



strument of destruction is the tail ; with a single blow of this, it has often 

 overturned a canoe, and seized upon the poor savage, its conductor. 



Though not so powerful, yet it is very terrible even upon land. The 

 crocodile seldom, except when pressed by hunger, or with a view of deposit- 

 ing its eggs, leaves the water. Its usual method is to float along upon the 

 surface, and seize whatever animals coins within its reach; but when this 

 method fails, it then goes closer to the bank. Disappointed of its fishy prey, 

 it there waits, covered up among the sedges, in patient expectation of some 

 land animal that may come to drink ; the dog, the bull, the tiger, or man 

 himself. Nothing is to be seen of the insidious destroyer as the animal ap- 

 proaches; nor is its retreat discovered till it be too late for safety. It seizes 

 the victim Avith a spring, and goes at a bouiid much faster than so unwieldy 

 an animal could be thought capable of; then, having secured the creature 

 with both teeth and claws, it drags it into the water, instantly sinks with it 

 to the bottom, and in this manner quickly drowns it. 



The crocodile, brought into subjection, or bred up young, is used to divert 

 and entertain the great men of the East. It is often managed like a horse; 

 a curb is put into its mouth, and the rider directs it as he thinks proper. 

 Though awkwardly formed, it does not fail to proceed with some degree of 

 swiftness, and is thought to move as fast as some of the most unwieldy of 

 our own animals, the hog or the cow. 



Along the rivers of Africa, this animal is sometimes taken in the same 

 manner as the shark. Several Europeans go together in a large boat, and 

 throw out a piece of beef upon a hook and strong fortified line, which the 

 crocodile seizing and swallowing, is drawn along, floundering and struggling, 

 until its strength is quite exhausted, when it is pierced in the belly, which, 

 is its tenderest part ; and thus, after numberless wounds, is drawn ashore. 

 In this part of the world, also, as well as at Siam, the crocodile makes an 

 object of savage pomp, near the palaces of their monarchs. Phillips in- 

 forms us, that at Sabi, on the Slave Coast, there are two pools of water near 

 the royal palace, where crocodiles are bred, as they breed carp in the ponds 

 in Europe. 



There is a very powerful smell of musk about all these animals. Travel- 

 lers are not agreed in what part of the body these musk-bags are contained; 

 but the most probable opinion is, that this substance is amassed in glands 

 under the legs and arms. The crocodile's flesh is, at best, very bad, 

 tough eating ; but, unless the musk-bags be separated, it is insupportable. 

 The negroes themselves cannot well digest the flesh; but a crocodile's egg 

 is to them the most delicate morsel in the world. 



All crocodiles breed near fresh waters ; and for this purpose the female, 

 when she comes to lay, chooses a place by the side of a river or some fresh 

 water lake, to deposit her brood in. She always pitches upon an extensive 

 sandy shore, where she may dig a hole without danger of detection from the 

 ground being fresh turned up. There she deposits from eighty to a hundred 



