The Hijlory of 



well arm'd with crooked claws : The fkin, which is cover'd all 

 over with fcales, is fo hard on the back, that a bullet from a 

 Mufket (hot at him mall hardly make any impreflion on it.* 

 but if he be hurt under the belly, or in the eyes, he is (bon 

 gone : His lower jaw is immoveable, but hath fo wide a mouth, 

 and fo well fet with (harp teeth, that he makes nothing to divide 

 a man in two. 



He runs fafi enough on land 3 but the weight of his body 

 caufes him to make fo deep a track in the fand, as a Coach-horfe 

 might do 3 and having no vertebra in the back-bone, no more' 

 then the Hy<enas, he goes (freight forwards, not being able to- 

 turn his vaft body , but with much difficulty 3 fo that the 

 better to avoid his purfuit , a man need only turn fevetfal' 

 times a fide. 



Thofe which are bred in frefti water do fo finell of Mu(k : 

 while they are alive, that the air isperfum'd a hundred' paces 

 about the place where they are : nay the water retains fomw-har 

 of the fame finell. This obfervation of the fweet fcent of the 

 Crocodile may, by the way, difcover the error of Pliny, who 

 imagin ? d that of all living creatures only the Panther had a 

 fweet fcent with it, as he fomewhere affirms, though in ano- 

 ther place he writes, that the entrails of the Crocodile fmell ve- 

 ry fweet, and that proceeds from the odoriferous flowers on 

 which he feeds : Now this mufky fcent of the Crocodile of 

 America is enclos'd in certain glandules in the Emun&ories, 

 which he hath under the thighs, and which being taken thence 

 keep the faidfmella long time *• It may be imagin'd that God 

 hath beftow'd this fcent on them, that men and other creatures^ 

 which many times become the prey of thefe cruel MonfterSj 

 might by the fcent difcover the place where they lurk, and 

 avoid them. 



Thofe which have their abode in the Sea have no fmell of 

 mulk, but both kinds are very dangerous, and to be dreaded 

 by fuch as either go to wafh themfelves, or are forc'd to crofs 

 fome river by fwimming : This dreadful Monfter hath a 

 ftrange fleight to make his prey of Oxen and Cows : Otfe gif 

 them will lye lurking at thole places of the Ponds and Rivers 

 wherethofe creatures are wont to water , and finding one at his 

 advantage, he.half-fliuts his eyes, and floats onthefaceof the 

 water, as if it were a piece of rotten wood 3 by which means 

 getting neerer and neerer to the poor beafi: which is a drinking, 

 and is not aware of him, he immediately faftenr on him, ta- 

 king him by the lips, and forcing him under water, he drowns 

 Kim, and then feeds on him: He taketh men alfo by the fame? 

 Height, as is affirmed by Vincent le Blanc p who hath a Relation 

 of the (ervant of a Conful of Alexandria, who going to take 

 one of thefe cruel beafts, thinking it had been a piece of wood, 

 was drawn by it to the bottom, and neve r feen afterwards. 



There 



