CROCODILES 225 



groin. The glands are about the size of a small 

 olive, and their scent remarkably strong. In some 

 parts of the country it is believed that the powerful 

 odour of the male has a desirable effect in attracting 

 the female to him. The fore-feet of a crocodile 

 resemble a human hand, and are armed with claws 

 measuring two or three inches in length, which are 

 doubtless employed for holding their ghastly food, 

 whilst it is mangled and torn with the teeth. The 

 general supposition that the crocodile disposes of 

 his victim like a snake by immediately swallowing 

 it is quite erroneous, the practice being to drag the 

 prey at once under water, drown it, and then hide 

 it away under a shelving bank or among tree-roots 

 until it has become decomposed. It is then de- 

 voured. From the fact that the sixty-eight formid- 

 able teeth fit exactly into each other like those of a 

 rat-trap with a sUght backward rake, and also that 

 when once he fixes on his prey the crocodile scarcely 

 ever relaxes his hold, it will be readily understood 

 that, once their terrific jaws have closed, escape, 

 except by miracle, is practically hopeless. I have 

 seen natives taken by crocodiles, once on the Shire 

 River, and once on the Zambezi, and the sudden- 

 ness of the catastrophe precluded all attempt at 

 help or rescue. In one case the man taken, with 

 that amazing carelessness of which natives are so 

 constantly guilty, was standing in the shallows, 

 not much more than ankle-deep, washing at sunset, 

 and not more than fifty yards away from the 

 verandah of the house in which I was staying. I 

 turned to address some remark to my host, and 

 looked back towards the river just in time to hear 



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