268 THE CROCODILE 



bones, strung together round their necks or wrists 

 or about their bodies, and if they have known me 

 well enough to unbosom themselves of the secret, 

 they have replied quite quietly and frankly, but 

 with an unshakable air of steady conviction, that 

 it was a charm rendering bullets powerless, or 

 wild beasts blind, or the wearer invisible, or some 

 similar rubbish — virtues in which most South 

 Central Africans have the blindest faith, which no 

 words of mine could discourage for an instant. 

 Thus it is, without question, that, with a con- 

 fidence in their superstition not wholly destitute 

 of pathos, they sacrifice themselves daily to the 

 horrible monsters which inhabit in unsuspected 

 numbers almost every African creek and water- 

 way. 



The boldness of crocodiles at times is in- 

 conceivable. Captain Ross, of one of the Flotilla 

 Company's Zambezi steamers, lost the coxswain 

 of one of his barges, who was taken in the act of 

 micturition whilst crouching upon one of the 

 barge's rudder pintles, and this whilst the steamer 

 was under way in the Shir 6 River. A case oc- 

 curred in the Ruo stream near Chiromo of a 

 native being swept from the stern of his 

 canoe by a blow from a crocodile's tail, and in- 

 stances are not wanting of persons standing or 

 walking several feet from the water's edge being 

 thrown down in a similar manner and carried off. 

 In very few instances, where the reptile gets a 

 good hold, is escape possible, unless it be a young 

 one of small size. As I think I have pointed out 

 elsewhere, the teeth of these creatures are 



