R 



O 



do so, and to elevate this the most 'hideous of animals 

 into a divinity. Nearly five hundred years before the 

 Christian era, the inhabitants of Thebes esteemed the 

 crocodiles of the lake Mceris sacred : from a number 

 that were tamed, one in particular was selected, which 

 was carefully fed and preserved ; ornaments of gold or 

 jewels were hung from the ears, and rings or chains, as 

 a kind of bracelets, adorned the fore-legs. When these 

 crocodiles died, they were embalmed, or deposited in sa- 

 cred places; and we are told that cities were dedicated 

 to them. 



We cannot reject the concurring testimony of authors, 

 that the crocodile is a ferocious animal ; but its ferocity 

 nas undoubtedly been very much exaggerated, arising 

 perhaps from greater apprehensions at its appearance, 

 than the real danger warranted ; and, indeed, the natu- 

 ral ugliness of the animal, added to the perpetual expo- 

 sure of a formidable row of long sharp teeth, uncovered 

 by lips, are well calculated to excite alarm. But the 

 crocodile always flies from man. Unless when pressed 

 by hunger, when roused by provocation, or anxious for 

 the safety of its young, it never ventures to attack him. 

 The hundreds floating on the surface of rivers may, in 

 general, be approached with confidence ; and even when 

 assailed on the land, their first impulse is flight. Adanson, 

 Sonnini, Denon, all coincide in opinion, that the crocodile 

 is less to be dreaded than we are taught to believe. If we 

 can credit Labat, there is a certain village, which he calls 

 Bot, on the western coast of Africa, where crocodiles 

 often appear, without injuring any one. Nay, he goes 

 so far as to say, that children sport with them, or beat 

 them away, and still they testify no resentment. Pos- 

 sibly it might be the docility of individual crocodiles, 

 that led to his general conclusion ; but he accounts for 

 it by observing, " that the care with which the negroes 

 feed these carnivorous animals, has changed, or at least 

 mollified, the natural badness of their disposition." — 

 Most probably, it is this abundance of food that prevents 

 them from seeking to satisfy the rapacity implanted in 

 every being which preserves itself by the destruction of 

 animal life. Aristotle has long ago said, that nothing more 

 is required to tame crocodiles than a supply of food, while 

 abstinence renders them dangerous. M. de la Borde has 

 seen crocodiles kept in a bason at Cayenne along with tur- 

 tles, to which, being fed, they did no injury; and, in the 

 Isle of Boutan, some of these animals, it is said, are in 

 a certain degree domesticated from similar treatment. 

 That superstitious veneration with which the ancient 

 Egyptian's beheld the crocodile is not altogether wanting 

 in modern times, though " at this day it is neither pur- 

 sued nor reverenced ; and is left in peace to impart its 

 musky odour to the Nile, or clear its waters of fishes." 

 But in India many of these creatures are subsisted in 

 tanks or pools, by the eleemosynary donations of travel- 

 lers, who bestow a trifle of money, or present some pro- 

 vision to mendicant priests, to be converted to their use. 

 On hearing the voice of their purveyor, the crocodiles 

 are said to leave the waters, and each receives a small 

 cake of meal, or other provender. Scarcely less extraor- 

 dinary are the superstitions of the Catholics in the con- 

 vent of Neguade, in Upper Egypt, who bathe in the 

 Nile without the slightest apprehension, while devoutly 

 believing, that their Mahometan neighbours would infal- 

 libly be devoured, because they have no faith in Christ. 



Notwithstanding the circumstances which we have now 

 related, there are too many fatal examples of mankind 

 having perished by the jaws of the crocodile ; and al- 



357 CRO 



though neither its rage nor rapacity may be excited, it 

 is an animal which no one unguarded can ever approach 



with confidence, 



The ancient Romans, always delighting in sanguinary 

 spectacles, exhibited combats between these animals and 

 men ; and the Emperor Keliogabalus, in imitation of 

 his predecessors, ordered them to be brought from A- 

 frica, for the amusement of himself and the populace. 

 Five were at one time collected in an artificial pond by 

 M. Scaurus, in the games given during the period that 

 he was aedile. 



Various parts of the crocodile were formerly supposed 

 to possess peculiar virtues in the cure of disease, and 

 they have lost none of their repute in modern creduli- 

 ty ; but it is singular that there should be a coinci- 

 dence of opinion on this subject between the Egyp- 

 tians and the natives of North America. Hasselquist 

 assures us, that the former esteem the fat an effectual 

 remedy for rheumatism ; to which property the Ameri- 

 cans add the cure of cancers or ulceration. The Arabs 

 consider the eyes the most powerful aphrodisiac, while 

 in North America the same quality is thought to reside 

 in the teeth. The negroes sometimes make a species of 

 helmet of the scaly integument of the crocodile, from 

 its capacity of resisting a musket ball from a distance, 

 and the blow of a hatchet. Many of them devour their 

 eggs voraciously ; and, in certain countries, their flesh 

 is a considerable article of subsistence. Chiefly for this 

 purpose the animal is hunted; " when their tails are cut 

 off, they look very fair and white, seemingly like the 

 best of veal ; and some people eat thereof, and say it is 

 most delicious meat, when they are not musky." It is 

 this musky taste and odour which renders the flesh of 

 the crocodile disgusting to Europeans ; and unless the 

 scales of the breast are removed before the animal dies, 

 it becomes unpalatable even to the Indians. See Jour- 

 nal de Physique, 1782, part. 2.; Catesby's Natural His- 

 tory of North Carolina; Brickell's Natural History of 

 North Carolina; Voyage a la Guiane et a Cayenne; La- 

 bat Nouvelle relation de VAfrique Occidental, torn. 2. 

 and 5.; Hasselquist's Voyages and Travels; Denon 

 Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Egypte, torn. 1.; Son- 

 nini Voyages, torn. 3.; and Williamson's Vade Me- 

 cum. (c) 



CROCUS, a genus of plants of the class Triandria, 

 and order Monogvnia. See Botany, p. $3. 



CRCESUS. SeeLYDiA. 



CROIX, St. See Cnuz, St. 



CROMARTY, a sea-port town on the eastern coast 

 of Scotland, situated in the county of the same name. It 

 was formerly a royal burgh ; but the inhabitants, on ac- 

 count of the expence to which it subjected them, peti- 

 tioned for a privation of their rights to send a represen- 

 tative to Parliament. The late proprietor, Mr George 

 Ross, made great exertions to promote industry in this 

 town, which induced government to contribute L. 7000 

 towards building a pier. Mr Ross erected extensive 

 buildings for a brewery, and a hemp manufactory, which 

 are still in a flourishing stale. The manufactory sends 

 annually to London about 10,000 pieces of bagging, 

 which may be valued at about L. 25,000. Pickled pork, 

 hams, and dried cod fish, form considerable articles of ex- 

 port. The bay of Cromarty has long been famed as one 

 of the finest and safest harbours in Britain. It has been 

 examined with the view to render it a naval depot ; but 

 though it is a safe retreat for ships in bad weather, it 

 has been found unfit, from various circumstances, (par- 



II 

 Cromarty. 



