Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-08-21
SIZE OF AFRICAN CR0CoDILEs.
Hunter Tells Of the Largest That He
Saw or Shot.

from tne rIeiu
II have shot a number of crocodiles in
the Zambesi and Luangwa rivers and
the largest one l taped measured fourteen
feet Once on the Zambesi. while travel
ing in the river steamer Hamburg, / saw
and wounded a much bigger one. 1t was
lying asleep on a sand bank about mid
day and / used 1903 rifle with a soft
nosed bullet When the bullet struck the
crocodile raised its tail In the air and
brought 1t down with a thump, as these
reptiles often do when well hit
thinking it was dead. ! picked up
pair of binoculars and through them
saw the blood pouring out OF the wound
between the neck and shoulder. While
was looking / heard the crack of two
Snider rifles and upon turning round
found that two Portuguese soldiers had
both fired. Their bullets did not strike
raised the sand some distance beyond
However, the crocodile seemed to revive
and was quickly in the water before
could reload and fire again.
This was by far the largest crocodile
have ever seen, either In India or Africa,
and 1t seemed half as long again as the
fourteen-foot one that / measured. Its
bulk and girth were enormous and far ex-
ceeded an eighteen-foot garial / once
measured In the Brahmaputra river In
81
had been some time on the Zambesi told
me he had never seen one approaching 1t
In size. 1t was well hit with a raking shot
and / fancy 1t died, but shall always re-
greet that l did not fire again and make
sure of this, for / could have persuaded
the skipper to stop the steamer and put
me ashore so that L might have tapped
the animal. In fact, he said he would
have done so had the crocodile not es-
capped. The eighteen-foot garial / meas
In, ha rof rrna To-
one, but / believe i have seen a few big
ger In 1894 these animals were very
plentiful, although in five or six years
they got scarcer, as many people used to
fire at them from the passing steamers.
II have an idea that the late Sir Sam
uel Baker mentions a large crocodile in
his books on the sources of the Nile, but
IL is so many years since I read the work
I'm question that 1 have forgotten the
facts.
"A crocodile is an awkward animal to
skin, for the skin Is very firmly attach
ed TO the body. good many natives are
killed by these animals every year, and
i'm places where they are dangerous the
natives make circular fence in the
water to protect themselves when bath
ing and drawing water"
The passage referred to by our corre-
spondent is no doubt that In wild Beasts
and Their Ways" Chapter KID, where
Raker wrote of having seen on a bare
patch Of gray granite on an island in the
Victoria Nile two vast forms, each as
thick as the body OF hippopotamus, and
Of enormous length. These two antedilu-
Wan monsters glided slowly and fear
lessly along the gently sloping granite
and when half beneath the water they
EXPOSED a breadth Of back which was the
most extraordinary sight have ever seen
IN INV long experience of crocodiles.'
The canoe in which he was travelling at
tba time was about thirty feet long and
he Judged the surface OF the granite at
about sixty feet. but would not presume
n estimate the length of these extraor-
binary creatures