24 
CROCODILES. 
Nile Crocodile. 
of the boy, the crocodile prepared to dive towards him, upon which the boy took 
refuge in the canoe. In a moment or so the reptile rose to the surface at the 
expected spot, where he was saluted with a couple of harpoons, one of which 
secured a firm hold. After a long chase, in which a number of the inhabitants 
of the village took part in boats, a second harpoon was safely planted in the head 
of the monster, who was finally dragged to shore. When opened, several gold and 
silver ornaments—the relics of earlier victims—were found in his stomach. In 
Ceylon, according to Sir J. E. Tennent, crocodiles are frequently captured by means 
of a hook and line, which are laid over-night in the water, and made fast, in the 
native fashion, by a bunch of fine cords. These cords becoming fixed between the 
interstices of the creature’s teeth, are safe from being bitten through; and in the 
morning the captive is dragged ashore and despatched. It may be added that, 
when thus captured, crocodiles emit a disagreeable musky smell, due to the secretion 
of a pair of glands in the lower jaw. 
Formerly inhabiting the Nile from its mouth to its source, the 
Nile crocodile (C. niloticus), from the invasion of its haunts by steam 
vessels and the introduction of rifles, has now well-nigh disappeared from Egypt, 
even as far back as the year 
1870 being but rarely seen 
below Beni Hassan, and not 
common till above the second 
cataract. In the upper reaches 
of the Nile it still exists in 
its pristine numbers, whence 
its range extends southwards 
to the Cape and northwards 
to Senegal. The species also 
occurs in Madagascar, while it 
likewise still lingers in Syria, 
in the neighbourhood of the 
Zerka, or Crocodile River, near 
Caesarea. Distinguished from 
the estuarine crocodile by the 
absence of the ridge in front 
of each eye, this species differs 
from the other two members of the same group by the want of any ridge on the 
middle of the snout or forehead, so that its whole skull is comparatively smooth. 
In size it falls but little, if at all short of the estuarine crocodile; although differing 
from the latter by the uniformly dark olive colour of the adult. 
As the habits of this crocodile do not differ in any important respects from 
those of the other members of the genus, they do not require any detailed notice, 
NILE CROCODILE. 
although a few words must be devoted to its cult by the ancient Egyptians, among 
whom it was known by the name of cham'psa. By these remarkable people the 
crocodile was regarded as the symbol of sunrise—possibly, it has been suggested, 
on account of the brightness of its eye, or, perhaps, because that is the first part to 
appear when the creature emerges from the water. Among the places where the 
