Chap. IX.] 



CROCODILES. 



285 



incident indicative of some reality in this piece of folk- 

 lore, once came under my own observation. One morn- 

 ing, about sunrise, when riding across the sandy plain 

 near the old fort of Moeletivoe, we came suddenly upon 

 a crocodile asleep under some bushes of the Buffalo- 

 thorn, several hundred yards from the water. The 

 terror of the poor wretch was extreme, when it awoke 

 and found itself discovered and completely surrounded. 

 It was a hideous creature, upwards of ten feet long, and 

 evidently of prodigious strength, had it been in a con- 

 dition to exert it, but consternation completely para- 

 lysed it. It started to its feet and turned round in a 

 circle hissing and clanking its bony jaws, with its ugly 

 green eye intently fixed upon us. On being struck 

 with a stick, it lay perfectly quiet and apparently dead. 

 Presently it looked cunningly round, and made a rush 

 towards the water, but on a second blow it lay again 

 motionless and feigning death. We tried to rouse it, 

 but without effect, pulled its tail, slapped its back, 

 struck its hard scales, and teased it in every way, but 

 all in vain ; nothing would induce it to move till acci- 

 dentally my son, then a boy of twelve years old, tickled 

 it gently under the arm, and in an instant it drew the 

 limb close to its side and turned to avoid a repetition of 

 the experiment. Again it was touched under the other 

 arm, and the same emotion was exhibited, the great 

 monster twisting about like an infant to avoid being 

 tickled. The scene was highly amusing, but the sun was 

 rising high, and we pursued our journey to Moeletivoe, 



of a stick pats the creature gently 

 on the head for a time. The ope- 

 rator then boldly mounts astride 

 upon its shoulders, and continues to 

 soothe it with his one hand, whilst 

 with the other he contrives to pass 



a rope under its body, by which it 

 is at last dragged on shore. This 

 story serves to corroborate the nar- 

 rative of Mr. Waterton and his 

 alligator. 



