222 
EASTERN ETHIOPIA 
XVII 
vermin in the folds and creases of the skin of elephants 
and crocodiles, their cries and hntterings warn the sleep¬ 
ing animals of the approach of danger. 
In former times crocodiles flourished in that section 
of the Nile which flows through Lower Egypt. The 
crocodile was worshipped in Egypt from very early 
The BufF-backed Heron which picks leeches from crocodiles and 
ticks from elephants and cattle. 
times as the representative of the Nile-god Sebek. The 
chief shrines were at Crocodilopolis in Upper Egypt: 
the people who dwelt near Thebes and the lake of Moeris 
regarded them as especially sacred. The people in each 
of these districts brought up one crocodile in particular. 
When this had been tamed, they placed, according to 
Herodotus, bracelets round its fore-feet. When these 
