Few creatures are so sly and wary as the crocodile. I watch them
continually as they attack the dense flocks of small birds that throng
the bushes at the water’s edge. These birds are perfectly aware of the
danger, and they fly from the attack, if possible. The crocodile then
quietly and innocently lies upon the surface, as though it had appeared
quite by an accident. It thus attracts the attention of the birds,
and it slowly sails away to a considerable distance, exposed to their
view. The birds, thus beguiled by the deceiver, believe that the danger
is removed, and they again flock to the bush, and once more dip their
thirsty beaks in the stream.
Thus absorbed in slaking their thirst, they do not observe that their
enemy is no longer on the surface. A sudden splash, followed by a huge
pair of jaws, beneath the bush, which engulf some dozens of victims,
is the signal unexpectedly given of the crocodile’s return--he having
slily dived, and hastened under cover of water to his victims. I have
seen the crocodile repeat this manœuvre constantly: they deceive by a
feigned retreat, and then attack from below.
In like manner the crocodile perceives, while it is floating on the
surface in mid-stream, or from the opposite side of the river, a woman
filling her girba, or an animal drinking. Sinking immediately, it swims
perhaps a hundred yards nearer, and again appearing for an instant
upon the surface, it assures itself of the position of its prey by a
steady look. Once more it sinks, and reaches the exact spot above which
the person or animal may be. Seeing distinctly through the water, it
generally makes its fatal rush from beneath,--sometimes seizing with
its jaws, and at other times striking the object into the water with
its tail, after which it seizes it, and carries it off.
The crocodile does not attempt to swallow a large prey at once, but
generally carries it away, and keeps it for a considerable time in its
jaws in some deep hole beneath a rock or the root of a tree, where it
eats it at leisure. The tongue of the crocodile is so unlike that of
any other creature that it can hardly be called by the same name. No
portion of it is detached from the flesh of the lower jaw; it is like
a thickened membrane extending from the gullet to about half-way along
the length of jaw.
I was one day returning from head-quarters to my station--a distance of
a mile and a half along the river’s bank--when I noticed the large head
of a crocodile about thirty yards from the shore. I knew every inch of
the river, and I was satisfied that the water was shallow. A solitary
piece of waving rush, that grew upon the bank exactly opposite the
crocodile, marked its position. So, stooping down, I retreated inland
from the bank, and then running forward, I crept gently towards the
rush.
Stooping as low as possible, I advanced till very near the bank (upon
which grew tufts of grass), when, by slowly raising my head, I could
observe the head of the crocodile in the same position, not more than
twenty-six or twenty-eight yards from me. At that distance my rifle
could hit a half-crown; I therefore made sure of bagging. The bank
was about four feet above the water; thus the angle was favorable,
and I aimed just behind the eye. Almost as I touched the trigger, the
crocodile gave a convulsive start, and turning slowly on its back, it
stretched its four legs above the surface, straining every muscle. It
then remained motionless in water about two feet deep.
My horse was always furnished with a long halter or tethering-rope. So
I ordered two men to jump into the river and secure the crocodile by
a rope fastened round the body behind the fore-legs. This was quickly
accomplished, and the men remained knee-deep, hauling upon the rope
to prevent the stream from carrying away the body. In the meantime
an attendant had mounted my horse and galloped off to the camp for
assistance.
Crocodiles are very tenacious of life; and although they may be shot
through the brain, and be actually dead for all practical purposes,
they will remain motionless at first; but they will begin instinctively
to move the limbs and tail a few minutes after receiving the shot.
If lying upon a sand-bank, or in deep water, they would generally
disappear unless secured by a rope, as the spasmodic movements of the
limbs and tail would act upon the water, and the body would be carried
away.
The crocodile, which had appeared stone dead, now began to move its
tail, and my two men who were holding on to the rope cried out that it
was still alive. It was in vain that I assured the frightened fellows
that it was dead. I was on the bank, and they were in the water within
a few feet of the crocodile, which made some difference in our ideas of
its vivacity. Presently the creature really began to struggle, and the
united efforts of the men could hardly restrain it from getting into
deeper water.
The monster now began to yawn, which so terrified the men that they
would have dropped the rope and fled had they not been afraid of the
consequences, as I was addressing them rather forcibly from the bank.
I put another shot through the shoulder of the struggling monster,
which appeared to act as a narcotic until the arrival of the soldiers
with ropes. No sooner was the crocodile well secured than it began to
struggle violently. But a great number of men hauled upon the rope; and
when it was safely landed, I gave it a blow with a sharp ax on the back
of the neck, which killed it by dividing the spine.
It was now dragged along the turf until we reached the camp, where
it was carefully measured with a tape, and showed an exact length
of twelve feet three inches from snout to end of tail. The stomach
contained about five pounds’ weight of pebbles, as though it had fed
upon flesh resting upon a gravel bank, and had swallowed the pebbles
that had adhered. Mixed with the pebbles was a greenish slimy matter
that appeared woolly.
In the midst of this were three undeniable witnesses that convicted the
crocodile of wilful murder. A necklace and two armlets, such as are
worn by the negro girls, were taken from the stomach! This was an old
malefactor that was a good riddance.
I have frequently seen crocodiles upwards of eighteen feet in length,
and there can be little doubt that they sometimes exceed twenty; but a
very small creature of this species may carry away a man while swimming.