CROCODILE.
Crocodil, . . . . Gnu. Buaya ; Buwaya, MALAY. Magr ; Kumhir, . HIND. Sisan, . . . . . SIND. Cocodrillo, . . . . Ir. Alii Kimbula, . SINGH. Baya, JAY. Cocodrilo, . . SP.
The species known in the E. Indies Crocodilus palustris, Less., Ganges, Peninsula of India, Ceylon.
C. Siamensis, Seltneid. Siam, Gamboja.
C. porosus, Schneid., all rivers.
C. Pondicerianus, Gray, Pondicherry.
Gangeticus, Gm., Ganges.
The crocodiles are the largest of the reptiles. They are present in all the larger rivers of the Peninsula, the Cauvery, Kistna Godavery, and their feeders ; also in the Indus and its feeders ; in the Ganges and its feeders ; in Ceylon ; in the Irawadi and its feeders; and in all the rivers of the Malay and Philippine Archipelago. The Malays of the Peninsula reckon three species,—the labu or gourd, the kutak or frog, and the tambaga, or copper crocodile. That found in Sumatra and Java, Celebes, Borneo, and the Moluccas, is C. porosus ; but there is another in the rivers of Borneo, formidable by its size and rapacity, par taking of the character of the biporcatus and the garial of the Ganges (Crawfurd, p. 10). Croco diles are in every creek, in every river, in tbe Sunderbuns, varying in size from a span in length to 18 or 23 feet. They are usually seen lying on the surface of the black mud, basking in the sun ; they sleep very soundly, for a steamer may be going at full speed, and making the usual splash and noise, passing within ten paces of a sleep ing crocodile, without disturbing their slumbers. To a casual observer they resemble mud-covered logs of wood ; and it is not until the,large square glittering scales, which are of exceeding strength and beauty when closely examined, and the ele vated and doubly dentilated ridge or crest that runs along either side of the tail, become visible, or are seen to glisten in the sun, that the shape less mass is found to be a fierce, carnivorous, and dangerous animal. The Gangetic'garial is not seen in the Sunderbuns ; it appears to love the sweet and, comparatively speaking, quieter waters of the upper rivers of India and their clean sand banks where they may be seen lying. with their mouth's wide open, but for what purpose it is difficult to divine, unless it is to get rid of nume rous sMall red filamentous woriug that cluster about their fauces. The lower. jaw .being pro longed backward beyond the skull, causes the upper jaw to appear moveable, which it only is when accompanied by the whole of the skull. A small brown bird has been seen to alight upon the tongue of an open-mouthed crocodile, and pick the worms from the throat as it lay upon a sand bank in the Ganges. It is generally believed that the snubbed nose crocodile always remains 1D fresh water ; but such is not the ca.se, as they are found all along the Chittagong .and Arakan coasts,—never far from the shore, it is true, but still in bona fide salt water, where they are as dangerous as sharks. In the rivers of the delta
of the Ganges, where they flow through the culti vated portions of the country, stakes are driven into the bed of the river at the watering places or ghats opposite to the. villages, where the in habitants may bathe in security, and draw water for domestic purposes ; but even this precaution is not always sufficient to ward off the attacks of the fiercer crocodiles. The crocodile finds no difficulty, when pinched by hunger, in turning the flank of the stakes, and taking up his post within the enclosure, where he silently awaits his prey. A surveyor on the banks of the Goraee was witness to a shocking occurrence in connec tion with these enclosures. A young Hindu girl about 14 years old came to fill a pitcher with water, and had hardly put her feet into the water, when a crocodile, which had been lying in wait inside the enclosure, rushed at the poor girl, seized her in its formidable jaws, scrambled up the banks of the river, holding the shrieking, struggling girl well up in the air by the middle of her body, and plunged heavily into the river outside of the stakes. A smothered scream, a ripple upon the water, a few bubbles, and the frightful scene was closed. A more daring attack by a Sunderbun crocodile than even the above, occurred at Hoolna. A gang of ironed convicts were being inspected by the magistrate prior to their being sent off to another and a more distant jail. The men, numbering with their guards about fifty, were drawn up in line on the raised embank ment or levee of the river ; the examination was proceeding, when a crocodile rushed up the bank, seized a manacled prisoner by the legs, dragged him from the ranks, and in a moment, and before any assistance could possibly be rendered, plunged into the river and disappeared. The Peer-puker at Pundooa, in Sind, is a large tank, forty feet deep and 500 years old. The most remarkable tenant of this tank was a tame crocodile, called Fatteh IChan, which answered the call of a fakir living upon the embankments. On summons, the monster would show itself upon the surface, and keep floating for several minutes. Captain von Orlich saw thirty crocodiles in a tank near Kurachee, which at the call of the fakir instantly crept out of the water, and, like so many dogs, lay in a semicircle at the feet of their master. In Colonel Tod's time there were two crocodiles familiar to the inhabitants of Udaipur, who came for food when called. He often exasperated them by throwing an inflated bladder, which the mon stem greedily received, only to dive away in angry disappointment. 011 0110 Of 111CSO 21 Itiljp1IL Chief affirmed he had ventured to swim. l'ortions of ciocodiles have been discovered fossil in the Siwalik llills, and in Burma. In India the croco diles are often called alligators ; but the alligator belongs to tropical and Southern America, where they aro styled also cayman, jacar.