CROCODILE. | NATURAL HISTORY. 75 
sore. The Crocodile is right nesh and full tender in the 
womb, and for that cause he is soon overcome of such 
fishes, which have sharp pricks and crests growing on their 
backs on highy This grim and most horrible beast followeth )1.. 
and pursueth them that fly, and is dreadful to them; and 
he fleeth serpents, and hath dim eyes while he is in the. 
water, and seeth too sharply when he is out of water. 
And he waxeth more all the time that he is alive. If the 
Crocodile findeth a man by the brim of the water, or by 
the cliff, he slayeth him if he may, and then he weepeth upon 
-him, and swalloweth him at the last. ,/And of his dirt is 
made an ointment, and with that ointment women anoint 
their own faces. And so old women and rivelled [wrinkled] 
seem young wenches for a time. And the Crocodile eateth 
gladly good herbs and grass, among whom lurketh a little 
serpent, and is enemy to the Crocodile, and hideth him privily 
in the grass, and wrappeth himself therein, and so while 
the Crocodile eateth grass, he swalloweth this serpent, and 
this serpent entereth into his womb, and allto [quite] rendeth 
his guts, and slayeth him, and cometh out harmless. ‘The same 
worm lieth in await on the Crocodile when he sleepeth, 
and then wrappeth himself in fen [#.e. mud], and entereth 
in between his teeth, and cometh into his body. The 
Crocodile lieth in await on certain small birds that breed 
among the grass of the River Nile, the which birds fly 
into the womb of the Crocodile for heat of the sun, and 
eateth the worms of his womb; and so that fierce beast 
is cleansed and purified of worms. And so dwelleth in 
land by day, and in water by night; for the water is 
hotter by night than by day, for the water holdeth the 
sunbeams, and be moved, and so the water is hot. 
Bartholomew (Berthelet), bk. xviii. § 33. 
Or late years, there hath been brought into England the 
cases or skins of such Crocodiles, to be seen,—and much 
money given for the sight thereof, the policy of strangers ; 
laugh at our folly, either that we are too wealthy, or else 
that we know not how to bestow our money. 
Batman's addition to Bartholomew, bk. xviii. § 33. 
His nature is ever when he would have his prey to cry Her 
and sob like a Christian body, to provoke them to come to 
him, and then he snatcheth at them; and thereupon came 
