the late Dr. Bromfield. 6395 



northwards at the present day, for in ancient times it would appear to 

 have ranged much lower in the Nile, and it is said to have even 

 inhabited the Delta, and Lower Egypt properly so called. In our 

 day the crocodile is said first to make its appearance at or near Osiout, 

 but we saw none of them during our stay at that city ; but on Sunday 

 morning (December 14) on arriving about a quarter of a mile from a 

 sand-bank, which we learned from our boatmen was a favourite resort 

 of these reptiles, and which is a little beyond Girgeh, between that 

 town and Farshoot, we had the gratification of seeing a whole herd, 

 if I may use the term, of these river monsters emerge one by one from 

 the stream as the sun gained power, and assemble on the sand-bank, 

 where we soon counted no less than sixteen of various sizes, huddled 

 together, and evidently enjoying the warmth of the bright and un- 

 clouded morning ray. The smallest of those we saw, as we watched 

 them through our telescopes, seemed to be at least eight or nine feet 

 in length, and several were absolute leviathan monsters, as hideous 

 and terrific as can well be imagined, not less certainly than sixteen 

 and eighteen feet long, with bodies as thick as that of a horse; the 

 huge jaws of some gaping wide apart as they lay listless and motionless 

 on the sand, or occasionally dragged themselves forth from the water 

 to lie along like huge logs or trunks of palm trees, to which they have 

 no inconsiderable general resemblance in the rough and scaly covering 

 of their unwieldy forms, knotted with crested protuberances. We were 

 so near them, that by the aid of our telescopes we could perfectly 

 watch their motions, and discover their minutest characters, longing 

 all the time to be amongst them with our guns, and planning an attack 

 we intend making on their stronghold when we return down the river. 

 We propose to throw up a masked battery of sand the day previous 

 to our attack, and landing on the beach before day-break the following 

 morning, to open fire on them from behind our temporary fort as they 

 come up out of the river to bask in the sun. We have furnished our- 

 selves with balls of hardened lead expressly for the purpose, and 

 trust to be able to achieve the feat of shooting a crocodile, and carrying 

 off his jaws and scull as trophies of our campaign against the ancient 

 monster deities of Egypt's river. The young specimens of the cro- 

 codile of the Nile that are occasionally brought alive to England give 

 no idea whatever of the hideous deformity and ferocious aspect of the 

 full-grown animal. A more revolting creature does not exist; yet, I 

 believe, that to man they are seldom, if ever, dangerous, being 

 extremely watchful and timid, waddling slowly down to and sliding 

 into the water, on the too near approach of any person ; and we 



