en in countless numbers in any of the large
streams, stretched out on the banks basking in the noonday sun. Going
down the Koosee particularly, you come across hundreds sometimes lying
on one bank. As the boat nears them, they slide noiselessly and slowly
into the stream. A large excrescence forms on the tip of the long
snout, like a huge sponge; and this is often all that is seen on the
surface of the water as the huge brute swims about waiting for his
prey. These _nakars_, or long-nosed specimens, never attack human
beings--at least such cases are very very rare--but live almost
entirely on fish. I remember seeing one catch a paddy-bird on one
occasion near the junction of the Koosee with the Ganges. My boat was
fastened to the shore near a slimy creek, that came oozing into the
river from some dense jungle near. I was washing my hands and face on
the bank, and the boatmen were fishing with a small hand-net, for our
breakfast. Numbers of attenuated melancholy-looking paddy-birds were
stalking solemnly and stiltedly along the bank, also fishing for
_theirs_. I noticed one who was particularly greedy, with his long legs
half immersed in the water, constantly darting out his long bill and
bringing up a hapless struggling fish. All of a sudden a long snout and
the ugly serrated ridgy back of a _nakar_ was shot like lightning at
the hapless bird, and right before our eyes the poor paddy was crunched
up. As a rule, however, alligators confine themselves to a fish diet,
and are glad of any refuse or dead animal that may float their way. But
with the _mugger_, the _boach_, or square-nosed variety, 'all is fish
that comes to his net.' His soul delights in young dog or live pork. A
fat duck comes not amiss; and impelled by hunger he hesitates not to
attack man. Once regaled with the flavour of human flesh, he takes up
his stand near some ferry, or bathing ghaut, where many hapless women
and children often fall victims to his unholy appetite, before his
career is cut short.

I remember shooting one ghastly old scaly villain in a tank near
Ryseree. He had made this tank his home, and with that fatalism which
is so characteristic of the Hindoo, the usual ablutions and bathings
went on as if no such monster existed. Several woman having been
carried off, however, at short intervals, the villagers asked me to try
and rid them of their foe. I took a ride down to the tank one Friday
morning, and found the banks a scene of great excite