4 
HABITS or THE CROCODILE. 
of its prey. The animal, overcome by pain, plunged to the 
bottom of the river, and, after having drowned the Indian, 
came up to the surface of the u ater, dragging the dead body 
to an island opposite the port. A great number of the 
inhabitants of Angostura witnessed this melancholy spec- 
tacle. 
The crocodile, owing to the structure of its larj'ux, of the 
hyoidal bone, and of the folds of its tongue, can seize, though 
not swallow, its prey under water; thus when a man disap- 
pears, the animal is usually perceived some hours after 
devouring its prey on a neighbouring beach. The number 
of individuals who peiash annually, the victims of their own 
imprudence and of the ferocity of these reptiles, is much 
greater than is believed in Europe. It is particularly so in 
villages where the neighbouring grounds are often inundated. 
The same crocodiles remain long in the same places. They 
become from year to year more daring, especially, as the 
Indians assert, if they have once tasted of human flesh. 
These animals are so wary, that they arc killed with diffi- 
culty. A ball does not pierce their skin ; and the shot is 
only mortal when it penetrates the throat or a part beneatl) 
the shoulder. The Indians, who know little of the use of 
fire-arms, attack the crocodile with lances, after the animal 
has been caught with large pointed iron hooks, baited with 
pieces of meat, and fastened by a chain to the trunk of a 
tree. They do not approach the animal till it has struggled 
a long time to disengage itself from the iron fixed m the 
upper jaw. There is little probability that a country, in 
which a labyrinth of rivers without number brings every 
day new bands of crocodiles from the eastern back of the 
Andes, by the Meta and the Apure, toward the coast of 
Spanish Guiana, should ever be delivered from these reptiles. 
All that will be gained by civilization will be, to render them 
more timid and more easily put to flight. 
Affecting instances are related of African slaves, who have 
exposed their lives to save those of their masters, who had 
fallen into the jaws of a crocodile. A few years ago, between 
Uritucu and the Mission de Abaxo, a negro, hearing the 
cries of his master, flew to the spot, armed with a long 
knife (machete), and plunged into the river. He forced the 
crocodile, by putting out his eyes, to let go his prey and to 
