hospital, as
compared with that of the surgeon who in after years only administers for
a time the remedies which the founder had provided in perpetuity. Had
the Bishop succeeded in introducing Christianity, his converts might have
been few, but they would have formed a continuous roll for all time to
come.

The Shire fell two feet, before we reached the shallow crossing where we
had formerly such difficulty, and we had now two ships to take up. A
hippopotamus was shot two miles above a bank on which the ship lay a
fortnight: it floated in three hours. As the boat was towing it down,
the crocodiles were attracted by the dead beast, and several shots had to
be fired to keep them off. The bullet had not entered the brain of the
animal, but driven a splinter of bone into it. A little moisture with
some gas issued from the wound, and this was all that could tell the
crocodiles down the stream of a dead hippopotamus; and yet they came up
from miles below. Their sense of smell must be as acute as their
hearing; both are quite extraordinary. Dozens fed on the meat we left.
Our Krooman, Jumbo, used to assert that the crocodile never eats fresh
meat, but always keeps it till it is high and tender--and the stronger it
smells the better he likes it. There seems to be some truth in this.
They can swallow but small pieces at a time, and find it difficult to
tear fresh meat. In the act of swallowing, which is like that of a dog,
the head is raised out of the water. We tried to catch some, and one was
soon hooked; it required half-a-dozen hands to haul him up the river, and
the shark-hook straightened, and he got away. A large iron hook was next
made, but, as the creatures could not swallow it, their jaws soon pressed
it straight--and our crocodile-fishing was a failure. As one might
expect,--from the power even of a salmon--the tug of a crocodile was
terribly strong.

The corpse of a boy floated past the ship; a monstrous crocodile rushed
at it with the speed of a greyhound, caught it and shook it, as a terrier
dog does a rat. Others dashed at the prey, each with his powerful tail
causing the water to churn and froth, as he furiously tore off a piece.
In a few seconds it was all gone. The sight was frightful to behold. The
Shire swarmed with crocodiles; we counted sixty-seven of these repulsive
reptiles on a single bank, but they are not as fierce as they are in some
rivers. "Crocodiles," says Captain Tuckey, "are so