sperate effort to regain the
water. He was soon hauled back again, however, and Lumsden and I had to
put an end to him by sending a couple of rifle balls into his side. We
thought that we had killed him, for he lay perfectly still with his eyes
closed. We were again running up to him, when one of the natives called
us back, and another pricking him with a spear, up he started as full of
life as ever once more, making a push for the water, with the hook and
line still in his mouth. He was, however, soon brought back again, when
one of the natives pushed a long sharp spear into his neck, and drove it
home till it reached his heart. Whether or not he was the monster who
had killed the woman we could not tell. Certainly he had not swallowed
her, for on being cut open, his maw was found to contain only some
tortoises, and a quantity of gravel, and stones, and broken bricks.
Those hard substances he had swallowed to assist his digestion. The
opinion of the natives was that he certainly was not the monster who had
carried off the woman, because had he been, he would not have returned
for more food.

Crocodiles are said never to attack people except when pressed by
hunger. On such occasions they watch for deer and other animals which
come down to the tanks or lakes to drink, and, seizing them by their
heads, quickly draw them in. I should think that a crocodile would find
an elephant a very tough morsel, though he might give him a very awkward
nip at the end of his snout. At the same time, if any living creature
could crush a crocodile, an elephant's knees would do it.

It was a day's journey from this neighbourhood that we heard of the
existence of musical fish. It was asserted that they sang so loudly
that their notes could be heard by those floating over the calm surface
of the lake where they were said to live. My grandfather was a man who
never was content to believe anything from mere hearsay, when he had the
power of investigating the truth of an account. Accordingly he engaged
a canoe, and the evening of our arrival, when the moon arose, we pulled
off to the locality spoken of. The surface of the lake was like glass,
and as we listened there could be no doubt of it. Sweet, gentle sounds
came up faintly, but clearly, from the depths below. They reminded us
of those produced by a finger-glass when the edge is gently rubbed round
and round. There was not one continuous note, but a number of gentle
sounds,