In Egypt the crocodile was sacred to Typhon and to the god of Papreinis.
Herodotus (ii. p. ;69), after describing the honours paid to the sacred crocodile by the Egyp tians, adds : `But the people who live round about Elephantimi even eat them ; they don't think them sacred.' In Siam the flesh of the crocodile is sold for food in the markets and bazars. The Singhalese believe that the crocodile can only move swiftly on sand or smooth clay, its feet being too tender to trend firmly on hard or stony ground. In the dry season there, when the watercourses begin to fail and the tanks become exhausted, the inarsh crocodiles have occasionally been encountered in the.jungle, wandering in search of water. During a severe drought in 1844, they deserted a tank near Kornegalle, and traversed the town during the night, on their way to another reservoir in the suburb ; two or three fell into the wells, others, in their trepidation, laid eggs in the streets, and some were found entangled in garden fences and killed. Generally, however, during extreme drought, they bury themselves in the mud, and remain in a state of torpor till released by the recurrence of rains. At Arne-twoe, in the eastern province of Ceylon, whilst riding across the parched bed of the tank, Sir J. E. Tennant was shown a recess, still bearing the form and impress of a crocodile, out of which a crocodile had been seen to emerge the day before. They are said to eat only living creatures, but the dead bodies ia the Ganges are also said to be eaten by them. A curious incident occurred in Ceylon some years ago on the Maguruganga streatn, which flows through the Pasdun Corle to join the Bentotte river. A man was fishing seated on the branch of a tree that overhung the water, and, to shelter himself front the drizzling rain, he covered his head and shoulders with a bag, folded into a shape common with the natives. 1Vhile in
this attitude, a leopard sprang upon him from the jungle, but, missing its aim, seized the bag, and not tbe man, and fell with it into the river. Here a crocodile, which had been eyeing the angler in despair, seized the leopard as it fell, and sank with it to the bottom.
The garial of the Ganges is supposed to be the largest of the liviug saurians. The measurement of the largest mentioned by Messrs. Dumeril and Bibron is given at 17 feet 8 inches. The garial abounds in all the great rivers of Northern India. It is found in the Indus, from its delta north wards to near Attock, and up the Panjab rivers for a considerable distance, where it is most abundant.
Major Court mentions that as canoes were paddled along the Moose() river in Palembang, he saw, on two occasions, crocodiles raise their heads out of the water near the boat's side, and attempt to seize one of the paddlers. The boatmen escaped their grasp by moving away. During the time he was at Palembang, seventeen paddlers were carried away by crocodiles. Two gentlemen coining in it small boat up the river to pay him a visit, lind provided themselves with it basket of provisions for their journey. On their way, a crocodile raised its head from the water ; the paddlers shrieked, and fortunately escaped, but the basket of provisions became the prey to its voracity.—Leitcr from Cooneratne Moodellior, Interpreter of the Supreme C'ourt, 10th January 1861 ; Cul. Rey. ; Jo. B. A. S.; I,nw's Sarawak, p. 83 ; Tennant's Ceylon, p. 288 ; Coures Pakmbang ; Adams.