THE CROCODILE. 131 



•>wn element. As soon as he approaches, he presents his left 

 arm, which the crocodile greedily snatches into his mouth, when 

 the negro immediately gives it several stabs in the soft part under 

 the throat. The wounds thus inflicted, together with the water 

 rapidly entering his mouth, which is involuntarily held open, 

 and choking it, accomplish its destruction. This is certainly 

 a daring exploit ; but few would consider it as a very delightful 

 pastime. 



The Siamese take abundance of crocodiles, by throwing 

 several exceedingly strong nets across a river, so that if the ani- 

 mal burst through one, he may be entangled in another. They 

 then approach him in boats, and by various means secure him. 

 When thus brought into subjection, and especially when bred up 

 young, the crocodile is kept to divert the great men of the eastern 

 countries of Asia. He is said to be managed, in those parts, in 

 the same manner as a horse ; a curb being put into his mouth, 

 and the rider directing him at. pleasure. In some parts also of 

 Africa, as at Siam, this animal constitutes one of the appendages 

 of savage pomp. Philips informs us that, at Sabi, on the Gold 

 coast, there are two pools of water near the royal palace, where 

 crocodiles are bred as we breed carp in our fish-ponds. 



In the rivers of Africa, this animal is sometimes taken in the 

 same manner as the shark, of which an account has already 

 Deen given. The natives of some countries pursue it for the 

 sake of its flesh, which, as well as its eggs, they consider as ex- 

 cellent food ; but such is its amazing tecundity, that it would 

 soon render the rivers in those warm climates unnavigable, and 

 their banks uninhabitable, did not every beast and bird of prey, 

 particularly the ichneumon and the ibis, as well as a multitude 

 of predaceous fishes, concur, with unceasing assiduity, in devour- 

 ing its eggs or its young. 



The crocodile produces from eighty to a hundred eggs, of the 

 size and form of a tennis-ball : these she deposits in the sand, 

 where they are vivified by the heat of the sun, and the young 

 are excluded at the expiration of about thirty days. At this 

 time, she is instinctively directed to return upon land, and by 

 scratching away the sand, to set them at liberty ; and this recol- 

 lection of the period of the vivification of her offspring which 

 the crocodile possesses, may be added to the numerous and 

 wonderful instances of animal instinct which the Author of Na- 

 ture has implanted in his creatures. The young brood quickly 

 avail themselves of their freedom ; some run unguided to the 

 water, while others are conveyed thither on the back of the 

 parent. They all immediately disperse into different parts of 

 the stream, where the greatest part are soon destroyed, and 

 tnose that escaoe owe their safety chiefly to their minuteness 



