1 66 ADVENTURE WITH A CROCODILE.

and we kept a sharp lookout for hippopotami ; there were the fresh tracks of three having been there, but we saw none.

Fish, many of them of large size, were in shoals ; the water was so clear that we could see them very plainly. We kept as near the water's edge as we could, and it was a case of scrambling over the rocks almost the whole way ; in many places these rose perpendicularly from the water to a height of a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet.

I had an extraordinary adventure with a crocodile during my walk, which might have terminated rather unpleasantly for me. Our experience had always been, that crocodiles were among the shyest animals that one meets with in Africa, the large ones more particularly so. Of course no one would ever think of going into deep water where these animals are numer ous, as I believe they are anything but afraid of man when they encounter him in their native element ; and one not unfrequently hears of Arabs being carried off by them, when attempting to swim across rivers. We had, however, never hesitated to approach the banks of a river, even when they shelved off into deep water. On this occasion we had gone down to the river to drink at a place where the water was very deep ; and I was stooping down, drinking out of the palm of my hand, when Arthur suddenly gave me a vigorous pull back. A very large crocodile, with a huge head, was making for me, and was within two feet of where I was standing, when Arthur perceived it. As soon as I jumped back, the crocodile turned tail, and made for the middle of the river. An Arab boy, who was holding our rifles while we drank, was so much astonished that he stood open-mouthed, and was so awkward that neither of us could snatch a rifle quick enough from him to get a shot before the monster sank and disappeared.

Probably, if my brother had not seen the crocodile when he