24 



CROCODILES. 



Nile Crocodile. 



of the boy, the crocodile prepared to dive towards him, upon which the boy took 

 refuge in the canoe. In a moment or so the reptile rose to the surface at the 

 expected spot, where he was saluted with a couple of harpoons, one of which 

 secured a firm hold. After a long chase, in which a number of the inhabitants 

 of the village took part in boats, a second harpoon was safely planted in the head 

 of the monster, who was finally dragged to shore. When opened, several gold and 

 silver ornaments — the relics of earlier victims — were found in his stomach. In 

 Ceylon, according to Sir J. E. Tennent, crocodiles are frequently captured by means 

 of a hook and line, which are laid over-night in the water, and made fast, in the 

 native fashion, by a bunch of fine cords. These cords becoming fixed between the 

 interstices of the creature's teeth, are safe from being bitten through ; and in the 

 morning the captive is dragged ashore and despatched. It may be added that, 

 when thus captured, crocodiles emit a disagreeable musky smell, due to the secretion 

 of a pair of glands in the lower jaw. 



Formerly inhabiting the Nile from its mouth to its source, the 

 Nile crocodile (C. niloticus), from the invasion of its haunts by steam 

 vessels and the introduction of rifles, has now well-nigh disappeared from Egypt, 



even as far back as the year 

 1870 being but rarely seen 

 below Beni Hassan, and not 

 common till above the second 

 cataract. In the upper reaches 

 of the Nile it still exists in 

 its pristine numbers, whence 

 its range extends southwards 

 to the Cape and northwards 

 to Senegal. The species also 

 occurs in Madagascar, while it 

 likewise still lingers in Syria, 

 in the neighbourhood of the 

 Zerka, or Crocodile River, near 

 Csesarea. Distinguished from 

 the estuarine crocodile by the 

 absence of the ridge in front 

 of each eye, this species differs 

 from the other two members of the same group by the want of any ridge on the 

 middle of the snout or forehead, so that its whole skull is comparatively smooth. 

 In size it falls but little, if at all short of the estuarine crocodile ; although differing 

 from the latter by the uniformly dark olive colour of the adult. 



As the habits of this crocodile do not differ in any important respects from 

 those of the other members of the genus, they do not require any detailed notice, 

 although a few words must be devoted to its cult by the ancient Egyptians, among 

 whom it was known by the name of cham/psa. By these remarkable people the 

 crocodile was regarded as the symbol of sunrise — possibly, it has been suggested, 

 on account of the brightness of its eye, or, perhaps, because that is the first part to 

 appear when the creature emerges from the water. Among the places where the 



IN'ILE CROCODILE. 



