CROCODILES. 
101 
17 ih .— Off long before sunrisb for buffaloes, but, 
owing to the want of dogs and the stupidity of my 
man, we were unsuccessful. On our return to the 
wagon, I shot a crocodile lying high and dry, fast 
asleep. It was some time before I could make out 
which was his head and which his tail, and I w T as 
nearly shooting at the wrong end. When the 
bullet struck him, he threw up his head and opened 
his huge jaws, and I saw that I had broken his 
spine. He would, however, have wriggled himself 
into the river, had I not given him a bullet in the 
throat and another in the chest, which settled him. 
I watched him from the opposite bank for a full 
hour, ready to give him another ball if he showed 
any sign of life, and when I was satisfied that he was 
