The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-09-14
INDIAN \, [ CREO1C,O)DILEs.
THEY ARE A TERROR TO HUMAN LiFs
IN LOWER BENGAL.

IN lOWEh BENGAL.
Ferooious and Prolific, They Mako tn,
Rivers They Inhabit vsritAble Deatl
Traps-Despite Their Responsiveness The!
Are Eaten by Native Fishermen.
The Indian crocodile Is ferooious ant
dangerous animal and causes great de
struction to human life, especially in low
Or Bengal. In the daily police reports you
seldom fail to see an account Of some man.
woman, child or animal either carried of
or wounded by crocodile, and numerous
cases arc no doubt never reported.
In all tho smaller rivers Of Jessore Pub
ma and other districts the "ghaut," OF
bathing place, Of every village Is protected
by palisades, and 1t is not safe to venture
even into these inolosed places incautious
ly, for the cunning reptile creeps into them
at night and lies in wait. once saw a
crocodile that had seized little girl by
the thigh In one Of these places and was
swimming of with her In his mouth, pur.
sued by the father In q oocoanut trunk
canoe, with bamboo pole. He compelled
the crocodile to drop the child, but II had
torn off one leg from the hip before doing
80.
The blind ferocity Of the Indian croco.
dilo is well known. had young speci-
men about six inches long, which l kept
in tub OF water. In him was eoncen-
trated oil the ferocity Of his race. All at
tempts to conciliate him were vain. A
stick put into the water was seized at once
and held with the greatest tenacity. There
was no getting him to relinquish his hold,
and lie snapped with the greatest fury at
everything put into the water. Yet on
the other hand, have seen full grown
crocodile who lived In large pond 80
tame that he came swimming up to q
man, who, standing waist deep in water,
called him by his name, "Kalay Khan"
and would take fowl or a piece of flesh
out Of his hand without doing him any
harm.
Very often number Of crocodiles tako
up their habitation in pond and arc not
disturbed by the Indians, who. in time
come to consider thom as sacred animals
and feed them till they are so tame that
they may DO approached and almost han
died with immunity.
Crocodilos wander to long distances on
land chiefly to change their habitations,
owing, suppose, to supplies falling short
When met on their way, they are invarl-
ably dubbed or speared by the natives,
who believe that the gall bladder has me-
dicinal virtues and always try to get one.
A long experience has convinced me
that the head is not tho vulnerable part In
an Indian crocodile. Indeed can safely
say that in the course of my long expert
ence, in which l have made crocodile
shooting special study for awhile, l have
never succeeded in bringing one down
dead with q shot in the head, even from
heavy rillo aimed from the very short dis.
lance of six or seven yards. The most Of
fectiyo shot Is just behind the shoulder and
with this shot havo never failed to kill
on tho spot. In one of our tiger shooting
expeditions VIC wero led to beat along
branch of tho river Kosi, which, coming
down from the hills of Nepaul, flows be-
twcon tho Bhaugulpore and Purncah dis
tricts through alluvial plains and spreads
into numerous branches. While moving
through tho thin jungle saw an immense
crocodile sleeping on tho bank entirely
out Of tho water with his head toward tho
river. was about 90 yards from him,
and. fearing he would disappear In the
river, let drive at him behind the shoul-
der with my No. IA smoothA)ro Samuel
Mock" mlz2le loader. To my SURPRISE
tho crocodile wrigglod forward pace or
two into the water and stopped dead.
Tho mahouts and their assistants jumped
of their elephants, tied rope round his
waist and with difficulty dragged him
out. They then set to work to get his gall
bladder When cut open, tho stenchiwas
oyerpoworing, and man, putting his
Lands into tho cavity, took out two entire
human skulls covered with green do
rosit Ct bio. I suppose. These were prcb-
ably tho remains of carcusses he had de-
voured. took off his head and carried it
away, leaving his body to To dovourcl by
this tigers and yiiltures. This crocodile
measured II feet in length. Tho stencil
from his stomach was so horrible that Is
further search for his gall bladder could
not Ee made.
In tho cold season these crocodiles, as
well as tho ghursials, or gavials, are cx-
trcnc!y fond of bas!;ing in the sun, and
they may be seen stretched out for hours
Oil wv vi lIlC llNtES u
sound sleep. 1t Is then that crocodile
shootlng can be had In perfection. There
is u small river Oh the eastern boundary
of the district of Tirhoot called tho Til
joog1, which literally swarms with there
and l once spent IL few weeks
with friend in II regular crusade against
them. Tho river is II narrow, winding
one, running between high and precipi-
tnus banks. At every SO or 60 PAGES a
crocodile, or sometimes three or four of
them, might DO seen lying fast asleep at
tho foot of tho bank in tho sun. Our plan
was to creep cautiously to the edge of tho
ovorllangng bank, being guided to the
spot by man on the opposite shore. On
getting above the crocodiles VIC gave them
q punging fire from heavy rifles, and gen
orally succeeded in killing or rounding one
or two, but seldom succeeded in bagging
ono, rs they almost invariably managed,
even though mortally wounded, to throw
into the water. This result con-
WINGED NE that crocodile is almost invul-
nerablo on the head or back or the upper
part of the body generally.
When one is captured, the fishermen
cut him up and took away select
parts for home consumption, and you may
be sure the gall bladder was secured and
carried away as a prize. In spite of the
strong musky odor of the crocodile and his
general responsiveness Us an article Of diet,
10 is eaten by the fishermen CASTE who
slao cat tho large river turtle, which is an
equally foul feeder.
Crocodilcs are very prolific. Young
mes of all sizes abound in tho river, and
hcsc from the first display tho dcmoniac
erocity of their species. Tho eggs are laid !
IN ledge Of tho bank, and sometimes
bout 30 or 40 yards from tho water, and
ro covered with sand. The female Is al
vays close by and PUSHES Mt any animal
hat comes near them. She even drives off
rows or dogs that approach the spot. In
pito of her vigilance large majority of
he eggs and young are destroyed in one
ray or another. Immediately the young
re Matched they plunge into the stream,
nd largo numbers are no doubt eaten by
shes and other animals. -Contemporary
leview.
A Fancy.