Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1900-02-01

gin to hope for the chance Of being
introduced to one. Crocodile stories
are no longer told; in fact, it 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 as a subject, whether
for personal or artistic reasons is not
quite clear. Possibly the crocodile
resents being focused as he formerly
shrank from conformation with a
mirror-an ordeal which often led to
his dying of chagrin, as was supposed
at the sight of his own ugliness. More
over, the experienced photographer is
wise in taking no risks" remember
ing that the crocodile's tears are only
natural solvent which the saurian APP
plies to the tougher forms 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 motives
He discovered that the crocodile made
friends with a particular bird, which
he allowed to enter his mouth in order
as the writer supposed, to rid the rep
tile 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 salts
faction 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 naturalists described it as being
as large as thrush, while it 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 alli-
ance there is not the least doubt. The
operation has been frequently witness
ed by numerous independent observers,
one of the latest of whom considers
that the bird does actually perform the
functions Of toothpick, "a process
which the crocodile enjoys" With
such confederation the narration of
Herodotus, subject to qualifications as
1T must be, is at least to be taken SER
iously and &c longer regarded as the
visionary idea of a mere fabulist.
In the Egyptian hieroglyphics the
crocodile is represented by a single
wavy line, so perfectly suggestive of
the contour Of the animal that it is
quite impossible to escape from it's
meaning. 1t might stand as an excel
lent contemporary illustration of the
text of Herodotus, neither author nor
artist overstepping 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 impute to the lack of prac-
teal knowledge by the classic writer's.
When Fuller lucubrated so learnedly
of the crocodile he doubtless felt that
he was correcting the erroneous ideas
of an earlier period and the following
example of his erudition may serve to
show how he set about 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 the name of saffron fearer.
knowing himself to be all poison and
it all antidote" AS to this legend of
the crocodile's tears it can only be re-
garded as myth grated upon some
of the reptiles observed habits. Prob
ably because they could offer less re-
sistance to his attacks, women and
children were especially liable to them,
the office of the former as water car
riers bringing them often to the Nile
and the children naturally finding a
playground on it's shores.
Herodotus gives an amusing account
of the manner in which the Egyptian
brothers of the angle used to fish for
crocodile, from which it would seem
that they had taken a leaf out of the
reptiles own book of strategy. They
baited the hook with a large piece of
hogs flesh, with which they made a
real anglers cast" into the middle of
the river. And they employed a very
special and alluring form of ground
bait, consisting of a vigorous young
porker. whom they anchored Irish
fashion on the bank and melted by
divers irritating arts into energetic
squealing. Entranced with the melodi-
Gus sound the crocodile was drawn in
the direction from which it came and
being unable to get at the pig put up
with the baited hook instead.-London
Globe.