A pilgrimage to the temples and tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and ...

128 CROCODILES.
have not a man in our crew, tlie Reis and his
son excepted, who has not undergone one or
other of these mutilations. Mothers even steel
their hearts to perform these barbarous opera-
tions on their infant boys, as a future safeguard
for them from that worst of all evils in their
eyes, the dreaded conscription.
Yesterday was marked by us with a white
stone, as being the date of our first personal
introduction to live crocodiles ! I was sum-
moned from my cabin to behold the monstrous
reptiles basking on a bank of sand in the river;
there were three of them—one enormously large
—I should say at least fifteen feet long, and
the tw^o others evidently young things. A dou-
ble-barrelled gun was immediately discharged
at them, which caused the little ones to shuffle
away into the water in a great fright ; but the
old fellow treated the salute with superb con-
tempt, and after a second or two that showed
he was accustomed to stand fire, w^addled in
leisurely after them, appearing to be quite con-
scious that the shot might have been fired at
the citadel of Cairo with the same effect as
against his own impenetrable scales. We have
no rifle on board, but except under very pecu-
liar circumstances, crocodiles are even rifle-proof.