cHAi-. XVI. PROXIMITY TO A CROCODILE. 443 



distant, to see the situations in which the Ouvlrandra fe- 

 nestralis grew, and found it in a skiggish river about twenty 

 yards wide, and three or four feet deep in the centre, with a 

 sandy, alluvial bottom, and a considerable deposit of sand and 

 mud around the crowns of the plants, indicating that the de- 

 posit of soil brought down by the frequent rain from higher 

 parts of the country formed a sort of top-dressing for the plants. 

 A large plant which I procured I preserved, at Sir William 

 Hooker's suggestion, in a jar of spirits, and it is now in the 

 museum of the Eoyal Gardens at Kew. 



As we passed along, we saw a woman seated on a piece of 

 wood which jutted out into the water, eating a banana, and 

 drinking of the stream ; the chief who was with me in 

 the boat warned her away, lest she should be seized by 

 a crocodile, of which, he said, there were numbers in the 

 river. A few yards further on, a monster, shining and brown 

 like the bank of mud on which he was lying, appeared not 

 many yards from our canoe. It was about seven feet long, 

 and so still, that I thought it was dead, and, pointing to it, 

 the chief, expecting that I wished to approach, called out 

 with a most startling earnestness, " Away ! away ! It is not 

 dead, nor yet asleep." Looking more intently, I saw that its 

 tail did not lie straight out, bvit was rather curved ; clearly 

 showing it to be alive. We were at the time rowing along 

 the edge of a large plantation of sugar-cane ; and one of the 

 labourers belonging to the plantation, who was in the canoe, 

 stated that crocodiles there were numerous and savage ; that 

 two or three of the slaves belonging to the plantation were 

 almost every year carried off by these reptiles. 



While waiting at Tamatave, I had a good opportunity 

 for using my cameras ; and many of the chiefs and others 

 were gratified by having their likenesses taken. At the same 

 time I also secured a view of my own residence, together with 

 the street in Tamatave of which it formed a part, as well as 



