XIII 
THE CROCODILE 
29 
to induce them to brave all dangers, and to defy the 
fate which so frequently befalls them. There is no 
possibility of escape should a person be seized in 
the water, although the crocodile might be of a 
small size; he would assuredly be dragged beneath 
the surface. 
If the creature should be of large size, the force 
of the snapping jaws would crush any human bone. 
As the sixty-eight teeth, which are long and sharp- 
pointed, fit exactly into the interstices between 
them, it may be imagined that such a rat-trap 
formation would effectually preclude escape. The 
throat of a crocodile is not only large, but is capable 
of great expansion, and, although the habits of the 
creature usually permit the body of a victim to rest 
in quiet until it is devoured in piecemeal, there are 
many exceptions to the rule ; large crocodiles will 
swallow a small person without the slower operation 
of dismemberment. Mr. Bennett, in his excellent 
work upon Ceylon published in 1843, affords an 
example of this swallowing capacity, which he 
himself witnessed :—“ A native in the act of bathing 
was seized by a crocodile and swallowed, with the 
exception of the head and one hand, which were 
found on the margin of the river; from which it 
was inferred that the poor victim had seen the 
animal approach, and had endeavoured to save 
himself, but was overtaken just as he had grasped 
the overhanging branch of a tree in the last fruitless 
effort to escape. 
“ Immediately upon the report reaching the 
