The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1884-01-16
Hunting the Crocodile.

only now arrived in the waters where
they abound, for it is curious fact that
none are ever seen below Mineyeh !;
though Herodotus speaks of them as
fighting with the dolphins at the mouth
of the Nile. A prize had been offered
for the first man who detected croco-
die, and the crew had been for two days
on the alert in search of them. Buoyed
up with the expectation of such game
we had latterly reserved our Ere for them
exclusively; and the wild duck and
turtle-nay, even the vulture and the
eagle had swept past, or scared above US
in security.
At 9Th the cry of Timseach, tim
seach /" was heard from half a dozen
claimants of the profered prize, and
half dozen black fingers were eagerly
pointed to a spit of sand, on which were
strewn apparently some logs of trees 1t
was covey of crocodiles Hastily and
silently the boat was run in shore, and
anxiously clambered up the steep bank
that commanded the gigantic game. My
intended victims might have prided
themselves on their superior nonchalance;
and indeed, as [ approached them there
mouths and winking eyes. Slowly they
rose, one after the other, and waddled to
the water, all but one-the most gallant
or most gorged of the party. He lay
still until was within hundred yards
of him then, slowly rising on his fin
like legs, he numbered towards the river,
looking askance at me with an express
sion of countenance that seemed to say
He can do me no harm, but we may as
well have a swim" l took aim at the
throat of the supercilious brute, and as
soon as my hand steadied, the very pulsa-
ton of my finger pulled the trigger );
forth flew the bullet; and my excited ear
could catch the thatd with which it
plunged into the scaly leather of his
neck; his waddle became plunge, the
waves closed over him, and the sun shone
upon the calm water as | reached the
brink of the shore that was still indented
by the waving of his gigantic tail. But
there is blood upon the water, and he
rises for moment to the surface. GA
hundred piastres for the timseach T.
shouted I, and half dozen Arabs
plunged into the stream. There he
rises again, and the blacks dash at him
as if he hadn't tooth in his head now
he is gone, the waters close over him,
and never saw him again.
From that time we saw hundreds of
crocodiles of all sizes, and fired shots
enough at them for a Spanish revolution !:
but we never could get possession of any,
even if we hit them, which to this day
remains uncertain. l believe most
fra ho
make nearly the same confession.
Crocodiles stuffed were often brought
to us to buy but the Arabs take great
deal of trouble to get them, making an
ambush in the sands where they resort,
and taking aim when within few yards
of their foe, for as such they regard these
monsters, though they seldom suffer from
them. Above the cataracts, a Greek
officer in the Pasha's service told me
they are very fierce, and the troops at
SEMINAR lost numbers of men by them
and the hlppopotamus when bathing
but heard of only one death occurring
below the cataracts this year. This was
of an old woman, who was drawing
her with his tail, brushed her into the
water, and then selling her by the waist,
held her under the water as long az she
continued to move. When lifeless, he
swan with the corpse across the river to
the opposite bank and the villagers,
now assembled, saw him quietly feeding
on their old friend, as an otter might
upon a salmon. The Egyptian who
narrated this circumstance, told us, with
grin, that the woman was his grand
mother, that he had shot the assassin
three days afterwards, and sold him to
an Englishman for seven and sixpence
The king Of the crocodiles is said to
reside in Denderah, and the queen some
forty miles higher up the river This
separation of the royal family does not
appear to have any injurious effect on
the interest Of the rest of the grim COM
munity; there was scarcely a sunny bank
between these regal residences wherein
a crowd of crocod1les was not to be seen,
Matching eggs or plots against passengers.
The parent crocodile deposits her eggs, to
the number of from eighty to one hun
bred, in the sand, which is a sort of
founding hospital for her race even
hens wont hatch in Egypt, so it could
scarcely be expected that crocodiles
would set the example. The sun, then,
is the foster. mother, and the only watch