,20 A NATURAL HISTORY 



live if he fpeaks Truth, but if otherwife, to deftroy him *. 

 Among the Rarities in GreJJMm-College^ London, is a Crocodile 

 about two Yards and a half long. Crocodiles are little known in 

 Europe, but common in the Indies. 



The Land Crocodile, call'd Seincus, is varioufly defcribed. In 

 the Molucca Iflands they are accounted the fierceft of Monfters, 

 contrary to thofe of the M/f, according to fome Writers -f-. Har^ 

 ris % fays, that they are very harmlefs, and in fome places fo 

 tame, that Children play with them. Le Comte fays, what are called 

 fmall Crocodiles, are huge Lizards, found all over the Woods in 

 Siam, as alfo in Houfes and Fields )[. 



This Land Crocodile is indeed an amphibious Animal, lives 

 partly in the Water and partly upon dry Ground : It has four 

 (lender Legs like a Lizard ; its Snout is fharp, and its Tail fhort, 

 cover'd with fmall Scales of a filver Colour. 'Tis hatch'd in 

 Egypt, near the Red-Sea, in Libya, and the hidies. 



I N Leviticus there's mention made of a kind of Crocodile, in 

 the Hebrew called Choled, which the Septuagint tranflates 

 m.^omShx©' ;)^£p(raio5-, a land Crocodile, which is a kind of Lizard, 

 that feeds upon the fweetefl Flowers it can find ; this makes its 

 Intrails to be very much valued for their agreeable Smell. Bel- 

 lonius fays, it has four Feet, and a round knotty Tail, and is as 

 big as the Salamander. 



The R e's fcarce any way to manage him by Land, unlefs it be 

 by a Wile, as they do on the Bank of Nilus, where little Huts 

 are eredled, from whence the Watchmen, upon the Approach of 

 a Crocodile, fpring out with long Branches in their Hands, which 

 they, with great Dexterity, thruft into its Throat ; and not being 

 able to extricate itfelf, it falls down, upon which others of them 

 difcharge their Arrows at his Belly, which being a, tender part, he 

 is foon killed ; but in Water he is quickly roofed, becaufe for want 

 of a Tongue, he can't fafely open his wide Mouth, without being 

 fufFocated. 



This terreflrial Crocodile comes to us by way o^ Alexandria 

 and Venice^ and is very ufeful in phyfical Prefcriptions, 



LXXVII. 



* Dclloit 07t MaJagafcar, in AtL Afr. 



f Earth. Leo-ardo de Argetifila's Difcovery of ihs 3hl»c(a 3.nd Philippine Iflands. 



J Atlas Awer. 7.61,. 



jl Memoirs, 3d Edit,, p. 502. - 



