ch and rub with his hand the softer parts of its
under side.[1] An incident indicative of some reality in this piece of
folklore, once came under my own observation. One morning, about
sunrise, when riding across the sandy plain near the old fort of
Moeletivoe, we came suddenly upon a crocodile asleep under some bushes
of the Buffalo-thorn, several hundred yards from the water. The terror
of the poor wretch was extreme, when it awoke and found itself
discovered and completely surrounded. It was a hideous creature, upwards
of ten feet long, and evidently of prodigious strength, had it been in a
condition to exert it, but consternation completely paralysed it. It
started to its feet and turned round in a circle hissing and clanking
its bony jaws, with its ugly green eye intently fixed upon us. On being
struck with a stick, it lay perfectly quiet and apparently dead.
Presently it looked cunningly round, and made a rush towards the water,
but on a second blow it lay again motionless and feigning death. We
tried to rouse it, but without effect, pulled its tail, slapped its
back, struck its hard scales, and teased it in every way, but all in
vain; nothing would induce it to move till accidentally my son, then a
boy of twelve years old, tickled it gently under the arm, and in an
instant it drew the limb close to its side and turned to avoid a
repetition of the experiment. Again it was touched under the other arm,
and the same emotion was exhibited, the great monster twisting about
like an infant to avoid being tickled. The scene was highly amusing, but
the sun was rising high, and we pursued our journey to Moeletivoe,
leaving the crocodile to make its way to the adjoining lake.

[Footnote 1: A native gentleman who resided for a long time at Caltura
tells me that in the rivers which flow into the sea, both there and at
Bentotte, crocodiles are frequently caught in corrals, formed of stakes
driven into the ground in shallow water, and so constructed, that when
the reptile enters to seize the bait placed within, the aperture closes
behind and secures him. A professional "crocodile charmer" then enters
muttering a spell, and with one end of a stick pats the creature gently
on the head for a time. The operator then boldly mounts astride upon its
shoulders, and continues to soothe it with his one hand, whilst with the
other he contrives to pass a rope under its body, by which it is at last
dragged on shore. This story serves to corro