TRUE CROCODILES. 
2 5 
crocodile was specially reverenced were Thebes and the shores of Lake Moeris, as 
well as Ombi, near Syene. At Thebes a crocodile was reared from youth in the 
temple, where it was fed with sacred food, adorned with rings and bangles, and 
worshipped with divine honours; while after death its mummified body was care¬ 
fully preserved in the catacombs, where hundreds of embalmed crocodiles are still 
to be found. Something analogous to this Egyptian veneration for the crocodile 
is to be met with in other countries. Leith-Adams tells us that the Indian 
crocodile is reclaimed by certain religious sects in India, being rendered so tame 
that it will leave its pond to feed out of its keeper’s hand; while Mrs. R. B. Lee 
relates that at Dix Cove, on the north-western coast of Africa, a pair of tame 
crocodiles were kept in a pond by priests, dressed in white garments, who fed their 
charges with snow-white fowls. 
In the Upper Nile the favourite haunts of the crocodiles are sandbanks, 
situated in parts of the river where the current is not too strong. There they 
may be seen at all hours of the day sleeping with widely opened mouths, in and 
out of which the black-backed plover (as mentioned on p. 475 of the preceding 
volume) walks with the utmost unconcern. According to Arab accounts, one and 
the same crocodile has been known to haunt a single sandbank throughout the 
term of a man’s life; thus leading to the conclusion that these creatures must enjoy 
a long term of existence, during the whole of which they continue, like other 
reptiles, to increase in size. In common with this feature of uninterrupted growth, 
all crocodiles are also distinguished by their remarkable tenacity of life; the shots 
that prove instantaneously fatal being those that take effect either in the brain 
itself or in the spinal cord of the neck. It is true indeed, that a shot through the 
shoulder will ultimately cause death; but it allows time for the animal to escape 
into the water, where its body immediately sinks. To reach the brain, the 
crocodile should be struck immediately behind the aperture of the ear. Although 
it is commonly supposed that the bony armour of these reptiles is bullet-proof, this 
is quite erroneous; if the plates are struck obliquely, the bullet will, however, 
frequently ricochet. 
A remarkable instance of boldness and ferocity displayed by a crocodile of 
this species is narrated by a correspondent of the Times during a journey to 
Mashonaland. On arriving one evening at the banks of the narrow but rocky 
Tokwi River, a man named Williams rode in with the intention of crossing. 
During the passage his horse was carried by the stream a few yards below the 
landing-place, and just as he reached the opposite bank he was seized by the leg 
by a crocodile, which dragged him from his horse into the stream. There the 
reptile let go its hold, upon which the man managed to crawl on to a small island. 
Immediately his companion rode in to his assistance, upon which another very 
large crocodile mounted up between him and his horse’s neck, and then slipped 
back, making a dreadful wound on his side and in the horse’s neck with its claws 
as it did so. The river seemed, indeed, to be absolutely swarming with crocodiles; 
and it was with the greatest difficulty that the unfortunate man Williams, who 
ultimately died of his wounds, was brought to bank. 
The Siamese crocodile (C. sictmensis), inhabiting Siam, Cambodia, 
Siam Crocodile. Java, may be distinguished from the preceding species by the 
