Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-12-28
THE NILE CROCODILE.
His Live Toothpick. His Tears and
His Way of Getting Caught.


To say that the crocodile has seen
his best days Is but feebly to express
the rapldlty with which he is lapsing
Into the class of extinct animals. AS n
feature of modern Egypt he is perhaps
rather a curiosity than plague, and
the traveller has to get far beyond tho
regions of the delta before he can be-
gin to hope for the chance of being in
troduced to one. Crocodile stories are
DO longer told In fact, 1t Is safer to
trust to the sea serpent. Nothing can
make the crocodile attractive, and even
the man with the camera is shy Of
treating him MS subject-whether for
personal or artistic reasons is not quite
clear Possibly the crocodile resents
being focused, as he formerly shrank
from conformation with mirror, an
ordeal which often led TO his dying Of
chagrin, as was supposed. ut the sight
of his own ugllness. Moreover, the
experienced photographer is wise In
taking no risks" remembering that
the crocodile's tears are only natural
solvent which the saurian applies to
the tougher form of animal food.
And this is where the legend Of the
toothpick properly comes in. Herodo-
tus noticed the fact. but seems to have
been misled as to the motive. He dis
covered that the crocodile made friends
with n particular bird, which he al
lowed to enter his mouth in order. as
the writer supposed, to rid the reptile
of the leeches which infested his jaws.
Pliny says nothing of these pests, but
considers the complaisance of the
crocodile TO be due to the satisfaction
he felt In having his teeth picked by
the bird. "He taketh so great delight
in this her scraping and securing Of
his teeth and jaws" Both authors
speak of the bird as wren; later nat
uralists described 1t as being as large
as thrush. while 1t has been reserved
for the present generation of travellers
to Identify this useful friend Of the
crocodile as the spur winged plover.
OF the fact of the alliance there Is not
the least doubt. The operation has
been frequently witnessed by numer-
Gus independent observers, one of the
does actually perform the functions Of
n toothpick. IN process which the croc-
odile enjoys" With such corrohora-
tion the narration of Herodotus, sub
1cct to qualification. as 1t must be. Is at
least to be taken seriously and no lon
ger regarded as the visionary idea Of
mere fabulist.
In the Egyptian heroglyphics the
crocodile is represented by single
wavy line, so perfectly suggestive Of
the contour of the animal that 1t Is
quite impossible to escape from its
meaning. 1t might stand as an excel
lent contemporary illustration Of the
text Of Herodotus. neither author nor
artist overstepplng the modesty of ma
ture. This was reserved for later
times. In which arose SO many of the
myths and extravagances which we
are ready to imputc to the lack of prac-
tical knowledge by the classic writer's.
When Fuller lucubrated so learnedly
of the crocodile, he doubtless felt that
he was correcting the erroneous idea
of an earlier period. and the following
example of his erudltion may serve TO
show how he set abont the task: "The
sovereign power OF saffron is plainly
proved by the antipathy of the croco-
ollie thereto, for the crocodile's tears
are never true, save when he Is forced
where saffron groweth, whence he hath
the name of saffron fearer, knowing
himself TO be all poison, and 1t all anti
dote." AS to legend or the crocodile's
tears. 1t can only be regarded as
myth grated upon some of the rep
tiles observed habits. Probably be-
cause they could offer less resistance
to his attacks, women and children
were especially liable to them, the Of
fee Of the former MS water carriers
bringing them often to the Nile and
the children naturally finding play
ground on Its shores.
| Herodotus gives an amusing account
of the manner in which the Egyptian
brothers of the angle used to fish for
crocodile, from which 1t would seem
that they had taken n leaf out of the
reptiles own book OF strategy. They
baited the hook with large pleco of
hogs flesh, with which they made a
real anglers cast into the middle OF
the river. And they employed very
special and aIlurlng form Of ground
bait, consisting Of Il vigorous young
porker, which they anchored, Irish
fashion, on the bank and melted by
divers Irritating arts into energetic
squenllng. Entranced with the melo-
dious sound, the crocodile was drawn
In the direction from which 1t came,
and, being unable to get at the pig,
put up with the baited hook instead.-
London Globp