354 



CROCODILE. 



Crocodile. None of the villages are- built with any regularity, but 

 ■"— "V"""' generally consist of a number of huts scattered up and 

 down at a considerable distance from each other. The 

 houses are for the most part constructed of wood except 

 upon the coast, and in some of the principal cities and 

 towns, where stones or brick arc used, and sometimes 

 (hies, marble. The principal cities are : Agram or Zagrab on 



the Save, the capital and a bishop's see, which is a well 

 built and populous .own, containing nearly f)000 inha- 

 bitants; Carlstadt on the Culpa, built in 1579, and de- 

 lcnded by a fortress; Warasdm, situated in a plain on 

 the Drave, with a castle, and 4000 inhabitants : Fiume, 

 a sea-port on the Adriatic, with a citadel and a tolerable 

 harbour; Zc?igg, a well fortified little town near the sea, 

 containing several churches and convents, and 27+4 in- 

 habitants; and Carlsbago, a trading town south ofZengg, 

 with a good harbour, and 995 inhabitants. See Uemian 

 Tableau Geographique et Politique cles Royaumcs de 

 Hoi/grin, &c. { p ) 



CROCODILE. This is an amphibious animal, which 

 may be ranked among the most hideous and disgusting 

 of all that nature has disseminated over the earth, or in 

 the waters. Aversion and alarm are equally excited by 

 its appearance in those countries which it infests; and 

 •where it is only known by name, its treacherous ferocity 

 has become proverbial. 



Naturalists have scarcely established the real difference 

 between the crocodile and the alligator : some maintain 

 that they are identically of the same species, that the cro- 

 codile of the Nile is the alligator of St Domingo, Louisiana, 

 or Carolina, while others conceive that there are slight 

 distinctions between them. Cuvier enumerates twelve, 

 however, which he concludes are different either fiom 

 structure or habits ; six crocodiles properly so called, four 

 alligators, and two gavials or longirostres. Our obser- 

 vations shall therefore be general, and such as are appli- 

 rable to those characterised as the crocodile of the Nile, 

 the Gangetic crocodile, and the alligator. 



The crocodile is a lizard of enormous size, covered 

 with scales, which are so hard as to resist a musket-ball : 

 its feet are provided with strong sharp claws, and an 

 immense mouth opening as far as the ears, exhibits 

 two rows of teeth like a saw, fitting into each other when 

 it is closed ; the eyes are large, prominent, situated on 

 the very summit of the head, and covered by a mem- 

 brane like that of some birds; the ears, or auditory ori- 

 fices, situated a little above them, are also covered by 

 membranes, having a longitudinal slit in the middle. 

 In general the colour is yellowish, shaded with brown : 

 dull green, with brown bands, or brown with yellow 

 bands. One species is called the black crocodile, from 

 its colour; but possibly that of the whole is affected 

 by the place they inhabit ; for animals dwelling in 

 mud, acquire a dingy hue, which diminishes on chan- 

 ging their abode to pure water : the colour, besides, al- 

 ters with age. The whole body is impregnated with a 

 Strong odour of musk, sometimes affecting the waters, 

 where great numbers collect together, and is sensible at 

 the distance of an hundred yards ; but those which repair 

 to the se i are divested of it. 



If we except the elephant, the rhinoceros, and hippo- 

 potamus, the bulk of the crocodile perhaps exceeds that 

 of every other terrestrial animal; no fishes frequenting 

 fresh waters equal it, and but a few species of those be- 

 longing to the seas. The largest ate not less than thirty 

 feet in length, and one of only half that size is five feet 

 in circumference : the body stands low on the ground, 



and the animal universally presents a dull and sluggish Crocodil? 

 aspect. Nevertheless, its motions in pursuit of prey are "" "V"""" 

 not slow; and the difficulty which it finds in turning is 

 the surest means of escape on land : its agility in water 

 is infinitely greater. 



These facts are better illustrated when the animal is 

 roused to action. Its natural abode is in the water, for 

 scarcely one fourth of its existence is passed on the earth; 

 whence those narratives which affirm that it lives entire, 

 months without that element, are not easily to be cre- 

 dited. The muddy edges and thick reeds of slow and 

 tranquil streams are its favourite haunts; and it some- 

 times descends rivers to within the flowing of the tide. 

 On leaving them, it advances always with a slow pace, 

 nearly in a straight line, its belly frequently dragging 

 on the ground, and its head commonly elevated before 

 it. However, it is seldom seen standing, and its chief 

 enjoyment seems to be lying in a state of absolute qui- 

 escence. When in pursuit of prey, it swims gently and 

 silently, just on a level with the water, until it approaches 

 the place where some terrestrial animal comes to quench 

 its thirst. Then curving its tad, it strikes the animal a 

 violent blow, which is invariably in the direction of the 

 water, and at the same time towards its own mouth. 

 Should the animal .surprised be of large size, such as a 

 horse or an ox, the crocodile adopts another manoeuvre, 

 in seizing it by the nostrils, and forcibly dragging it 

 under the water to be drowned. When a tortoise is 

 seized, the crocodile raises its head above water, and 

 with the inconceivable strength of its jaws, crushes the 

 shell in pieces. Men, and particularly negroes, arc said 

 to be its favourite prey ; and it is greedy after the flesh 

 of dogs ; and hence the negroes that hunt the croco- 

 dile are accustomed to beat the dogs, on purpose that their 

 howling may attract it from its haunts. The prey being 

 drowned, is conveyed to some subaquatic hole or re- 

 ceptacle, and left to putrefy before it is devoured : but 

 the crocodile cannot feed in the water; it would then, as 

 is usually credited, experience the same fate as its vic- 

 tim; therefore, except small fihes, the prey is always car- 

 ried to the land : its structure also is such, that it must 

 rise to the surface once in an hour, or hour and a half 

 for breathing. Nothing that it once seizes can escape; 

 it never quits its hold: even sttong levers forced between 

 the jaws for that purpose, have proved ineffectual; and, 

 shaking its prey to pieces, it is swallowed without mas- 

 tication. Much has been said of the stratagems employ- 

 ed by the crocodile to seize its prey ; that it lies like a 

 log on the banks of rivers, or floats inactive on the sur- 

 face, and then springs forward whenever the victim comes 

 within its reach. This may be partly true, though it 

 appears under many exaggerations; for it is well authen- 

 ticated, that it remains motionless until considerable ob- 

 jects are quite close, and evidently within its reach; 

 then it leaps upon them. The agility of the crocodile is 

 not so great, even when in pursuit of prey, that a man 

 at tolerable speed may not escape, more especially by 

 frequent deviation from the straight path: the blow with 

 the tail, suddenly given, is principally to be dreaded, and 

 the irascibility of the animal when attacked, or the fe- 

 male at the head of her young. 



But in some countries, there are certain seasons whe» 

 the crocodile may be assailed with impunity. Subject, 

 like all other lizards, to toipidity, on the approach of 

 cold, it passes part of the year in the most northerly la- 

 titudes, m a state of insensibility. It inhabits none ex- 

 cepting the warmer countries, and where winter is of tfee 



