Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1890-04-03
CROCODILES.
Something Concerning These Re-
pulsive Reptiles.
The Malays Justly Hold the Blood Thirst
Man-Eaters in Great Fear-Noyel
Method of Fishing for Them
Ny Catch.

Surely no death is so horrible than
that OF being eaten by huge, hideous,
scaly, slime-covered crocodile. There
is something romantic and thrilling in
the thought of being carried off by a
majestic lion, or a tiger with beautiful
stripes all over him, and being dined
upon In clearly and aristocratic man-
ner; but to be grabbed by the big, bony
jaws of fifteenfoot crocodile, with a
breath like turkey buzzarl's and to
be carried down to the Shiny bottom of
nasty, muddy river. and there drown
ed and crushed up and swallowed piece
meal Is surely a most horrible and re-
pulsive death.
This Is no fancy picture but a state
mept OF the real facts in the case A
man-eattng crocodile, to do successful
business. must live in water that is so
thick with mud as to be perfectly
Opaque, at least to human eyes, This
enables him to swim up close to any one
standing knee-deep in the water, and
seize his victim by the leg before his
presence is even suspected.
In clear water the monster would be
seen at some distance off, which might
result in his getting a piece of cold lead
instead of dinner. OF course, any one
who is rash enough to go a-swimminr in
waters infested by maa.eating croco.
diles is liable to fall very easy prey
whether the water be muddy or clear
There is a great deal Of misinforma-
ton regarding crocodiles. To begin
with, alligators are not the same as
crocodiles, as many people suppose,
though these two kinds of animals are
very much alike.
The main point of difference between
crocodiles and alligators are as follows:
the crocodile has triangular head,
pointed snout, and canine teeth that
pass up on either side of the upper law
in notch that was cut there by Dame
Nature for that very purpose.
The alligator has a long broad heaA
the sides of which are nearly parallel
with the snout simply rounded off
at the corners. Its canine teeth fit into
deep sockets in the upper jaw, and are
therefore out Of sight when the mouth
is shut
Alllgators are found only in the New
World, and in the alligator family there
are about five distinct Species Croco-
dlles inhabit both the Old World aud
the New-Asia, africa, the Malay Archi-
pelago, Australia and America, both
North and Southland there are four
teen species of them. The habits of
both tho alligator and crocodiles are
much the same.
Some species are small of size, but
most are large, and although saurians
over fourteen feet in length are rare
in any species, old individuals of some
kinds have been known to attain a
length of seventeen to eighteen feet.
Not all crocodiles are man-eaters,
Young crocodiles, which are often hand
some creatures. as reptiles go, do not at
tack human beings; and the famous
Gangetlc crocodile. or gavial, is consid-
cred harmless to mankind. During a
prolonged gavial hunt which l enioyed
on the Jumna, in Northern India, nv
native boatmen used to swim the river
with impunity, right where gavials,
often of great size, were thickest.
1 had the utmost faith in the theory
that the gavials will not attack man,
for never found any thing but fish in
their stomachs; but did not care to 90
In swimming with them. did not have
to do so, and, besides. when the water is
muddy and full of crocodiles, / do not
enjoy swimming very well.
1t is safe to say that mono Of the croc-
odiles of the New World are habitual
man-eaters. Even there, of course, if
man should deliberately make tempt
ing bait of himself, at place where
crocodiles are large and numerous, he
might get badly taken in. The same
might be said of nearly all the large
species of Africa and Australia, for q
crocodile can not be expected to always
distinguish the difference between man
and any other animal of similar SIZE If
he finds him swimming in the water
which constitutes his lawful hunting.
ground.
But when we compare the records ct
the alligator, caiman, jacare, and three
species of American crocodiles with
that of the saltwater crocodile rocn-
dttus Torosus-of Southern Asia and tie
Malay Islands. we cheerfully admit that
none of our species can justly be classed
with the man-eaters.
In Borneo especially saltwater croco-
diles are the terror of the tidal rivers.
They are not found in the clear waters
above the influence of the tides, but
they abound nearer the sea, where the
water is deep and as murky as ink. The
old ones are of great size, very voraciors
and very aggressive; they sometimes
seize men who are in boats, and drag