THE LIVING WORLD. 
171 
quite possible that the crocodiles might have worsted the Malays. It was difficult, 
indeed, to say which of the two looked at that moment the more savage; the 
triumphant natives, or the flying troop of crocodiles walloping away from the 
water. Many on both sides were wounded, and all covered with slime and weeds. 
There could not have been fewer than thirty or forty crocodiles killed, though 
they were generally small, the largest hardly exceeding ten feet in length.” 
Concerning the similarity that exists between the several species Goldsmith, 
following Buffon as his guide, thus writes 
confirmatively of what I have said : 
“ Of this terrible animal there are two 
kinds, the crocodile, properly so called, and 
the cayman or alligator. Travellers, how¬ 
ever, have rather made the distinctions 
than nature, for in the general outline 
and in the nature of these two animals 
they are entirely the same. It would be 
speaking more properly to call these 
animals the crocodiles of the Eastern 
and Western world; for, in books of voy¬ 
ages, they are so entirely confounded 
together that there is no knowing whether 
the Asiatic animal be the crocodile of 
Asia or the alligator of the Western 
world. The distinctions usually made 
between the crocodile and the alligator 
are these: the body of the crocodile is 
more slender than that of the alligator, 
its snout runs off tapering from the fore¬ 
head, like that of a greyhound, while 
that of the other is indented, like the 
nose of a lap-dog. The crocodile has a 
much wider swallow, and is of an ash 
color; the alligator is black, varied with 
white, and is thought not to be so mis¬ 
chievous. All these distinctions, how¬ 
ever, are very slight, and can be reckoned 
little more than minute variations.” 
THE TIGER AND THE CROCODILE. 
It frequently happens, in its depreda¬ 
tions along the bank, that the crocodile 
seizes on a creature as formidable as 
itself, and meets with a most desperate 
resistance. We are told of frequent combats between the crocodile and the 
tiger. All creatures of the tiger kind are continually oppressed by a parching 
thirst, which keeps them in the vicinity of great rivers, whither they descend to 
drink’very frequently. It is upon these occasions that they are seized by the 
crocodile, and they die not unrevenged. The instant they are seized upon they 
turn with the greatest agility and force their claws into the crocodile’s eyes, 
AN ALLIGATOR TRAP. 
