50 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
In size, the crocodiles vary in different parts of the island: 
the largest that are found in the lakes on the eastern 
coast do not usually exceed fifteen feet in length; but in 
the Sakalava country, they are said to attain a greater size, 
and to manifest a more perilous ferocity. Their body is 
of a brown or stone colour, reddish on the breast, and 
yellow underneath the belly. That the rivers and lakes 
are full of them, and that it is unsafe to walk along their 
banks, is an exaggerated statement. That they exist in 
the rivers is true, and to bathe or swim or ford in some 
places is hazardous; but there is no danger in walking on 
the banks of any of the waters of the island. Crocodiles are 
found in most rivers or lakes between the mountain torrents 
of the interior, and the partially salt waters of the coast; 
though there are many large rivers in which neither these 
reptiles, nor any of the fish on which they prey, are ever 
found. This is perhaps caused by the coldness of the 
water, and the rocky barrenness of the beds through which 
these rivers flow. 
In the brackish water, extending from the junction of 
the river with the sea, to a distance of about seven miles 
or more towards the interior, crocociles are never found; 
nor in water absolutely salt. Their favourite places are 
the deep rugged banks of a river or lake overhung with 
trees, and containing numerous cavities in which they can 
hide themselves, having also a gradually sloping sand¬ 
bank, up which they can crawl to deposit their eggs. 
In such situations they abound, and can often be heard 
at the bottom of the water, and especially underneath 
the overhanging trees, uttering a shrill sound, not much 
unlike the mewing of a kitten. In some parts, the natives 
affirm that they are so numerous, as to cause the place to 
resemble a plain covered with bullocks. They feed prin- 
