st of those wild solitudes
where man rarely makes his way. And even in such scenes but rarely
witnessed; and only by the lone Dyak hunter straying along the banks of
some solitary stream, or threading the mazes of the jungle-grown swamp
or lagoon.

On the part of the crocodile the strife consisted simply in a series of
endeavours to dismount the hairy rider who clung like a saddle to its
back. To effect this purpose, it made every effort in its power;
turning about upon its belly as upon a pivot; snapping its jaws till
they cracked like pistol shots; lashing the ground with its long
vertebrated tail, till the grass and weeds were swept off as if cut with
the blade of a scythe; twisting and wriggling in every possible
direction.

All to no purpose. The ape held on as firmly as a Mexican to a restive
mule, one of its fore-arms clutching the shoulder-blade of the reptile,
while the other was constantly oscillating in the air, as if searching
for something to seize upon.

For what purpose it did this, the spectators could not at first tell, it
was not long, however, before they discovered its intention. All at
once the disengaged arm made a long clutch forward and grasped the upper
jaw of the gavial. During the struggle this had been frequently wide
agape, almost pointing vertically upward, as is customary with reptiles
of the lizard kind, the singular conformation of the cervical vertebrae
enabling them to open their jaws thus widely. One might have supposed
that, in thus taking hold, the gorilla had got its hand into a terrible
trap, and that in another instant its fingers would be caught between
the quickly-closing teeth of the saurian, and snapped off like
pipe-stems, or the tender shoots of a head of celery. The inexperienced
and youthful spectators expected some such result; but not so the
cunning old man-monkey, who knew what he was about; for, once he had
gained a good hold upon the upper jaw, at its narrowest part, near the
snout, he made up his mind that those bony counterparts, now asunder,
should never come together again. To make quite sure of this, he bent
himself to the last supreme effort. Supporting his knees firmly against
the shoulders of the saurian, and bending his thick muscular arms to the
extent of their great strength, he was seen to give one grand wrench.
There was a crashing sound, as of a tree torn from its roots, followed
by a spasmodic struggle; then the hideous reptile lay extended