er, where she leaves
them to catch small fish for themselves. At a little distance was
another nest, from which the inmates had just been set free; and on a
sandbank a little way down we caught sight of a number of the little
monsters crawling about. They appeared in no way afraid of us as we
approached, and Mango and his brother speared several. They were about
ten inches long, with yellow eyes, the pupil being merely a
perpendicular slit. They were marked with transverse stripes of pale
green and brown, about half an inch in width. Savage little monsters
they were, too; for though their teeth were but partly developed, they
turned round and bit at the weapon darted at them, uttering at the same
time a sharp yelp like that of a small puppy when it first tries to
bark. Igubo could not say whether the mother crocodile eats up her
young occasionally, though, from the savage character of the creature, I
should think it very likely that she does, if pressed by hunger. As is
well-known, the _Ichneumon_ has the reputation on the banks of the Nile
of killing young crocodiles; but Igubo did not know whether they ever do
so in this part of the world. He and his boys collected all the eggs
they could find, declaring that they were excellent for eating. They
however told us that they should only consume the yoke, as the white of
the egg does not coagulate. When it is known what a vast number of eggs
a crocodile lays, it may be supposed that the simplest way of getting
rid of the creatures is to destroy them before they are hatched. It
would seem almost hopeless to attempt to exterminate them by killing
only the old ones. However, I fancy they have a good many enemies, and
that a large number of the young do not grow up. As we were walking
along the bank, we saw, close to the water, a young crocodile just
making his way into it; and Mango, leaping down, captured the little
creature. Even then it showed its disposition by attempting to bite his
fingers. On examining it, we found a portion of yoke, almost the size
of a hen's egg, fastened by a membrane to the abdomen; and when we
afterwards carried it up to David, he told us that he had no doubt it
was left there as a supply of nourishment, to enable the creature to
support existence till it was strong enough to catch fish for itself.
Igubo declared that they caught the fish by means of their broad scaly
tails. The eggs, I should say, had a strong internal membrane, and