Page 111 - Malay sketches

IN THE NOON OF NIGHT

the great spiked tail lashes round in as the
fury,
loathsome yellow belly slides over the ooze and you
catch of the of the crocodile's
sight stony cruelty
eye, then you will realise what manner of thing she
and will conceive for her and all
is, you probably
her kind a deadly horror and loathing, and a con-
suming desire to slay the whole brood will seize you
then and remain with you for all time.
If it should happen to you to have to fight a
wounded crocodile at close quarters, if accident

brings you in contact with a man who has just lost
arm or leg, or with a corpse out of which a crocodile
has torn the life, your feelings towards these river-
murderers will not be softened.
There are Malay rivers so infested by these
that at low water for a mile or two from the
reptiles
river's mouth they will be seen, in twos and threes
or larger groups, lying on either bank basking or
sleeping in the sun. It repeatedly happens that
knock out of their boats and then
they people kill
and devour them, and in places where the creatures
are specially numerous, if a crocodile is shot dead on
the bank, in less than half an hour the carcase will
be dragged into the river and a crowd of the reptiles
will be tearing it in pieces and fighting for the
remains.
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