484 Phe Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce Book I. 
* wafted Limbs, or fuch as have had their Sinews fh runic, 
The Tortoife is exceedingly annoyed by the Sea Eagle, 
which taking the fmaller fort in his Talons, carries 
them a great way up into the Air, and then letting them 
fall on a Rock, breaks the Shells, and fo feeds upon 
their Flelh, which, but for this Contrivance, would be 
fecure from his Fury C 
8. The Crocodile is another amphibious Creature com- 
mon to Africa and the Indies ; but the Indian Crocodiles 
are by far the largeft, and thofe that frequent the Marfhes 
near the River Ganges are believed to be the biggeft in the 
World. Arijiotle has given us a very large Defcription of 
this Animal, which is withal very accurate and juft : He 
informs us, that ■ the Female Crocodile lays fixty Eggs or 
upwards at a time, each of the Size of a Goofe’s Egg, and 
the Animal, when hatched, is of the fame Proportion ; but 
as it grows as long as it lives, it reaches in fome Countries 
a larger, and in others a lefs Size ; Arijiotle mentions fif- 
teen Cubits, which is two-and-twenty Feet and a half, as 
the largeft Size he had heard of; but in the Indies there 
are Crocodiles of twice that Bigneis, for which we fhall 
hereafter affign a probable Reafon q . 
The Crocodile is of the Lizard kind, and therefore we 
need not enter into a particular Defcription of it ; it has 
no Tongue, and moves only the upper Jaw* Its Teeth, 
which are very ftrong and ftiarp, fhut into each other like 
the Teeth of two Combs. It is alfo armed with terrible 
Claws ; and his Back and Legs are covered with Scales fo 
ftrong, that they are not to be pierced. He pafifes the 
Day moftly on Shore, and retires in the Night moftly into 
the Water, where having gorged himfelf with Fifh, he 
comes on Shore when the Sun is up, and fleeps upon the 
Sand. Pliny fays, that for four Months in the Winter the 
Crocodile retires to fome Cave or Den, where it fleeps for 
that Time, without receiving any Suftenance r . 
As this Creature is only bred in hot Countries, fo it 
feems incapable of living in colder Climates. There was 
one brought into France in 1681, and being landed at Ro- 
chelle was brought from thence by Land to Verfailles ; but 
they were frequently obliged to lay it before the Fire, for 
otherwife it would not have furvived the Journey. It 
would eat nothing after it left the Ship, and died when it 
had been kept about a Month at Verfailles. When they 
difiedted it, they found in its Stomach a confiderable Quan- 
tity of Sand, and fome Snails with their Shells whole. It 
appears from hence, that the Accounts of this Creature that 
are given us by the Ancients are juftified by Experience ». 
Thus far of Crocodiles in general, we will now Ipeak 
particularly of thofe in the Indies , and compare the Ac- 
counts given us of them by the Writers of Antiquity, with 
the Relations of fuch modern Travellers as are thought to 
deferve molt Credit. Strabo informs us, that when Alex- 
ander found the River Hydafpes much infefted with Cro- 
codiles, and Egyptian Beans growing on its Banks, he made 
no fort of Queftion that he had found the Head of the 
Nile in the Indies ; nay, to fuch a Degree was he per- 
fuaded of the Truth of this Difcovery, that he adlually 
direded a Fleet to be prepared in. order to have failed that 
way into Egypt , from whence it feems highly probable, 
that before Alexander's Expedition the Ancients did not 
know that there were Crocodiles in the Indies *. 
It is from Strabo likewife that we learn that thefe raven- 
ous Creatures have an Averfion to Swine’s Flefli, which, 
however, is a Point that deferves to be enquired into u . 
Philojlratus , in the Life of Apollonius Pyaneus , enters into 
an exprefs Comparifon between the Rivers Indus and Nilus, 
which, he obferves, have a great Refemblance, efpecially in 
thefe two Particulars, their overflowing annually, and their 
being full of Crocodiles ; but in this as in many other 
things, that Writer is plainly miftaken, for the River Nilus 
is not the only River in Africa , in which Crocodiles are 
bred, nor are thefe Creatures peculiar to the Indus, but 
infeft generally molt of the large Rivers in the Indies , and 
particularly the Ganges , where are the largeft Crocodiles 
perhaps in the World ; and it is obferved by St . Ambrofe 
that it paflfed for a kind of Miracle among the Indians , that 
at the Seafon of the Year when the Brachmans pafied that 
River to go to their Wives, they were never infefted by 
thefe terrible Animals. 
If we could confide in what the Miftioilaries have told 
us of this Subjed, we might add fome curious Particulars 
to the natural Hiftory of Crocodiles. Father Francis Colin 
afiferts pofitively, that this Creature voids no Excrement 
nor has any Pafiage for it, which I doubt is not agreeable 
to Truth. It is likewife affirmed both by him and Father 
Navarette , that the Female Crocodile deftroys her You n o* 
fwallowing them as they run from the Sands, where they 
are hatched, into the Water, which is another wonderful 
Circumftance that never occurred to the Ancients, or for 
any thing I know to any other of the Moderns. As to 
what both thefe reverend Writers relate of Mufk-bags * 
being found in this Animal, it is Angular, but not at all 
improbable, becaufe alrnoft all Writers agree, that the 
Fleffi of the Crocodile has a very mufky Scent ; and in the 
Wejt-Indies the Mouths of the Rivers where thefe Creatures 
haunt have their Waters fo ftrongly tindured with this Smell 
and Tafte, that they are not drinkable, 
Gafper Balbi , whofe Travels through the Indies are ex- 
treamly curious in his Defcription of the City of Pegu, 
which he vifited in 1576, has the following extraordinary 
Pafiage r : 44 The Inhabitants of this City lead, for the moft 
44 part, a lazy and fcandalous Life, they are very fluttilh 
“ in their Houfes, in which, generally fpeaking, they keep 
‘ 6 Hogs . T hey drink the W ater in their Ditches rather from 
“ Superftition or Cuftom, than from any other Reafon, 
“ which is the more wonderful, fince the Crocodiles in 
“ thofe Ditches are not only numerous, but of an extraor- 
“ dinary Size, infomuch that many of them exceed thirty 
“ Feet in Length, and yet the People, who fee fome or 
“ other devoured by them every Day are fo ftupid as to 
44 reverence them as they do the Apes ; and this from a 
“ firm, as well as fooliffi Perfuafion, that the Souls of fuch 
44 as are devoured by the Crocodiles find the dired Road to 1 
44 Heaven. The Subtilty of thefe Creatures is very extraor- 
44 dinary. When the People come with their Pitchers to 1 
“ take up Water, they conceal themfelves under the green 1 
“ Weed, or under the Reeds, which grow on the Side of ; 
44 the Ditch, and laying hold of the Perfon by the Hand, , 
44 or by the Foot, pull them to him. Men and Women 1 
44 have been feen in this manner with their Heads and 1 
44 Hands above Water, roaring out for Help, till fuch 1 
44 time as they were dragged to the Hole where the Cro- • 
44 codile lay, and who was diftindly heard to devour them. , 
44 Remonftrances having been once made to the King on this s 
44 Subjed, he ordered the largeft Crocodile, and which 1 
“ was known to have done moft Mifchief, to be taken and l 
44 killed. This Creature was of an enormous Size,, and of : 
“ a moft terrible Appearance. After his Death there were : 
46 not fo many People killed as before ; and it feems not ; 
44 a little wonderful, that they did not purfue the Exdr- ■ 
46 pation of thefe Animals for the Prefervation of the In- • 
44 habitants. It is obferved here, that though the Elephant, , 
64 which is a very hot Creature, not only drinks out of r 
44 thofe Ditches, but frequently goes into them to cool and l 
44 refreffi himfelf ; yet the Crocodiles never venture to > 
44 attack him, which is fuppofed to be owing to the Big- 
44 nels of the Creature ; for it is obferved, that the Croco- ■ 
44 dile is as cowardly as it is cruel/ 9 
Peter Vanden Broek tells us, that on the Coaft of Coro- 
mandel the Crocodiles are very common in all the Rivers, , 
infomuch that the People are afraid to pafs them, or to go t 
by Water ; and this with great Reafon, fince while he was 5 
there there were feveral, both Men and Women, devoured I 
by them z . In the Ifland of Java , when the Dutch firft : 
vifited it, the Rivers were full of Crocodiles, and People : 
were often devoured by them ; yet the Chinefe , who lived l 
p Hijl. Gen. des bides, lib. iv. <1 Ariftot. de Hip . Animal. HI. V. cap. 33. Herodot. lib. ii. Ctefias , N° 27. Allan, war. in lobs. J 
Voffius de Idolat. lib. iii. cap. 47. r Pliny. Nat . Hiji. lib. v iii. cap. 25, 26. where he tells us, that Marcus Scaurus was the firft wha » 
fhewed at Rome in his Edilefhip a River Horfe, and four Crocodiles, fwimming in a Pool or Lake made for that Purpofe. i Memoire de PAca- 
dem. Tom. 111 Part iii. p. 161. * Strabo, lib. xv. p. 696. u Idem. ibid. w De Morib. Brachman. p. 63. It is obferved in this 
very Paffage, that they pafs this River in July or Augufi , and that this was the Winter Seafon in thofe Countries, which helps us to an eafy Solution 5 
of the Miracle j for, according to Pliny & Account, the Crocodiles were then faft afleep in their Dens. x V oyages aux Indes par P. Colin, p. 83. 
Navarette Hijl. de Chine , Tom. ii. p. 395. >' Voyage aux Indes, p. 135. z Voyage de P. V anden Broek , p. 495, 
3 
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