xx] ADVENTURES WITH CROCODILES 



for there he lay stretched out immovable on the mud, and looking 

 as if he were dead, but the mouth was open to its widest extent, 

 the upper jaw nearly at a right angle to the lower one, showing all 

 the teeth and the yellow colour of the inside. I contemplated 

 the monster for some little time, wishing to see how long it would 

 preserve this absurd attitude, but it never moved, and looked 

 exactly like a stuffed museum specimen. I cannot understand 

 how such a posture can be comfortable, but for crocodiles it appears 

 to be a common attitude of repose. My Malays said that the 

 animal had just gone to sleep, and certainly its eyes were closed, 

 possibly the result of some unusual digestive effort. When crocodiles 

 lie thus with open jaws, small shore birds, especially waders of the 

 sandpiper kind, which are always running about on the banks in 

 search of food, enter the huge reptiles' mouths to capture any such 

 small fry as may have sought refuge amongst the teeth or in 

 the folds of the mucous membrane of the mouth or pharynx. In- 

 deed, if I remember right, I have witnessed the thing myself ; but 

 now as I write I cannot feel quite sure that it was not one of the 

 many stories told by my men. 1 



But to return to the one which has given rise to these reflections. 

 I thought that I would disturb its slumbers with a bullet, and 

 aimed at the inside of its mouth. I do not know whether I hit it,, 

 but it certainly awoke as suddenly as the report of my gun, and 

 dived into the river's depths forthwith. This, and other shots 

 fired at the crocodiles we met now and then with their snouts 

 sticking out of the water, were the only incidents of the day. I 

 was never able to make out whether I hit the animals or not, for 

 they invariably plunged under water and disappeared at once. 

 On one occasion only, on the Sarawak river, was I able to secure a 

 small crocodile which I had shot. It is very difficult to kill at the 

 first shot creatures whose vitality is so tenacious, and whose skin 

 is so admirably protected by its scales, whilst the brain in the 

 massive skull is nearly inaccessible to a bullet. It is said, however, 

 that even a slight wound is eventually fatal to crocodiles on account 

 of worms which take possession of the sore. This may be partially 

 true ; but all the same, one often meets with animals which have 

 been more or less mutilated in fights amongst themselves, which 

 are alive and active enough. 



Crocodiles are more abundant in places such as those I have 

 just described than elsewhere. Perhaps this may be accounted 

 for by the fact that they find an easy prey in the wild pigs, which 

 are extremely numerous in these forests when the fruits ripen, and 

 often cross the river in troops. The scarcer the wild animals on 

 which they prey, the more dangerous do crocodiles become to 



1 Cf. Herodotus, Bk. II. lxviii., where the same story is told. I have also 

 heard it from the lips of a Malay in Celebes. — Ed. 



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