The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-05-20

'Aiili' etid, Tearing ne WOulu ulSdppetl
in the river, let drive at him behind
the shoulder with my No. IA smooth
bore Samuel Mock muzzle-loader.
To my surprise the crocodile wriggled
forward a pace or two into the water
and stopped dead,
The mahouts and their assistants
jumped off their elephants, tied a rope
round his waist and with difficulty
dragged him out. They then set to
work to get his gall bladder. When
cut open the stencil was overpowering,
and man putting his hands into the
cavity took out two entire human
skulls covered with green deposit, of
bile, I suppose. These We're probably
the remains of carcasses he had de-
voured. I took off his head and carried
1T away, leaving his body to be de-
voured by the tigers and vultures.
This crocodile measured seventeen feet
in length. The stencil from his stomach
was so horrible that further search
for the gall bladder could not be made.
In the cold season these crocodiles, as
well as the ghurrials, or gavials, are ex-
tremely fond of basking in the sun, and
they may be seen stretched out for
hours on the banks of the rivers enjoy
ing sound sleep. 1t is then that croc-
odile-shooting can be had in perfection.
There is a small river on the eastern
boundary of the district of Tirhoot
called the Tiljooga, which literally
swarms with these monsters, and
once spent a few weeks with a friend in
a regular crusade against them. The
ri wa G q no M ~
ming between high and precipitous
banks. At every fifty or sixty PAGES a
crocodile, or sometimes three or four
of them, might be seen lying fast
asleep at the foot of the bank in the
sun. Our plan was to creep cautiously
to the edge of the overhanging bank,
being guided to the spot by a man on
the opposite shore: On getting above
the crocodiles we gave them plung-
ing fire from heavy rifles and gene
rally succeeded in killing or wounding
one or two, but seldom succeeded in
bagging one, as they almost invariably
managed, even though mortally
wounded, to throw themselves into the
water. This result convinced me that
crocodile is almost invulnerable on
the head or back or the upper part of
the body generally.
After shooting in this way for a
week or two we found the crocodiles
had become, rather shy and dropped
into the water on seeing us at a long
distance. We therefore changed our
tactics and resolved upon hooking
them first, and shooting them after
ward, and found this plan exceedingly
useful. The nodus operandi was as
follows: AS bait we used a live duck.
A large and strong hook was procured,
and the duck was fastened to this by
passing the prongs under it's wings and
so tying the hook to the duck. The
| duck was then fastened to a piece of
| the stem of a plantain tree and was
| f1oated out in midstrearn, the end of
| the strong line fastened to the hook
| being retained by a fisherman, while
| we hid ourselves on the top of the bank
| Shortly after the bait had been floated
out and the duck had quacked a little,
heads began to pop up in the water in
the most cautious manner. After a
while great head was protruded, the
duck was seized and taken under wa
for the swallowing process to be COM
pleted the line was drawn in in spite of
| the resistance of the crocodile. I may
| remark here that the hook was at
| tached to about yard Of light steel
| chain, to which a strong line was fas-
| tened. The crocodile allowed himself
| to be puller up to the edge of the water,
| and we delivered a volley into him
behind the shoulder, which finished his
/ career. He turned belly upward in his
death struggle, all resistance was over,
| and he was hauled ashore. The fisher
| men generally cut him up and took
away select parts for home consump-
| ton, and you may be sure the gall
bladder was secured and carried away
as prize. In spite of the strong,
musky odor of the crocodile, and his
general responsiveness as an article of
diet, he is eaten by the fishermen caste,
who also eat the large river turtle,
which is an equally foul feeder.
The Tiljooga is a narrow river not
more than ten or twelve yards broad,
but of great depth. 1t must, therefore,
contain an immense quantity of fish to
/ support such a numerous family of
crocodiles as inhabit it, and which must
| constitute almost their sole food. 1t is
| true that men and dogs and cattle are
sometimes seized, but this is seldom
In Lower Bengal, which is a very wa
terry country intersected with rivers,
and where the people are more aquatic
in their habits, deaths from this cause
! are much more numerous. 1t is a we'll
known fact that some great bull croco-
die appropriates to himself some par
/ ticular spot, near ghaut or crossing
or some bend Of the river, which he
uses as "coigne of vantage" for his
predatory purposes. He is always to
be found there either lurking in the wa
| ter or sleeping on the bank, and comes
| in course of time to be known as bur
ka luggaree goh," or crocodile moored
to the spot like a boat. Most preda-
| ceous animals of this kind have the
! same habit, and readers of Marryat or
tom Cringles Log" have no doubt
read of Port Royal Jack" the great
shark so well known to the sailors in
Jamaica Harbor.
| Crocodiles are very prolific. Young
ones of all sizes abound in the river
and these from the first display the de-
moniac ferocity of their species. The
eggs are laid on a ledge of the bank
and sometimes about thirty or forty
yards from the water, and are covered