270 THE CROCODILE 



Shangans, and when about half-way I saw to my 

 alarm that the crocodiles' heads had reappeared, 

 and seemed if anything rather nearer than before. 

 Raising my rifle, therefore, I fired at the nearest, 

 and the next moment my two carriers and myself 

 were lying in a struggling heap in the bottom of 

 the river. Startled by my shot they dropped me, 

 and then in an access of nervousness fell over on 

 the top of me. However, we were soon out and, 

 to my inexpressible relief, none of my people were 

 missing, so the rest was of no importance ; but 

 I have never seen a more unpleasant sight than 

 those grim heads regarding us on either hand as 

 we shouted and splashed our way across the 

 crocodile-infested waters of the Urema. 



The females of these ill-devised creatures lay 

 about fifty or sixty eggs, burying them rather more 

 than a foot deep in the sand bordering the waters 

 they frequent, the localities being plainly identi- 

 fiable by the marks of their belly-scales and claw 

 excavations. The egg is white, about the same 

 size as a duck's egg, and almost spherical. The 

 young are hatched out by the warmth of the sun's 

 rays, and the tiny creatures, only a few inches 

 long, take immediately to water, most of them 

 to find sanctuary in the omnivorous and canni- 

 balistic stomachs of one or other of their own 

 species. These eggs are greatly prized as articles 

 of diet by certain tribes, but I do not know up to 

 what stage of the young crocodile's unhatched 

 existence. 



A somewhat amusing experience befell one 

 of my officials when I was serving in 1912 at the 



