Cunning Crocodiles Of The Zambezi River

In that mystic land between the Zambezi and the Saba country, Africa, the jungle has come to its own again, covering mighty ancient fortresses and walls with growth that looks as if it never had been disturbed by man since the world began. 

And in that jungle the wild beasts rule. There the lions and leopards truly are man eaters, not waiting to be attacked, but carrying the war into the camps and into the very tents of the invaders. 

As if they were matching their wits against man, the crocodiles and hippopotami are becoming more daring and dangerous every year in that country. Two black men belonging to the Peters expedition were killed by crocodiles at one time. The creatures lay in wait under the bank of the river, and when the men stooped to wash the immensely powerful tails of the amphibians were swung at them and whipped them into the water, where the crocodiles seized them and carried them away to an island in the middle of the river. Dr. Peters' men saw the whole tragedy. They could see the bodies of the men clearly as they were being dragged along just under the surface. Another favorite trick of the man killing crocodiles along the Zambezi is to lie perfectly still under grasses near the shore and seize passersby by the leg. Sometimes they are so fearless that they do not even hide, but lie on the shore. with eyes shut, mimicking sleep. 

The hjppopotami, says Dr. Peters, seem to have learned that there is a connection between canoes and explosive bullets. Certainly they have come to treat boats as enemies every time, and it is dangerous now to cross the river in any light craft.