CROCODILE SHOOTING.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1859, 28 February 1889, Page 3

CROCODILE SHOOTING.

It was on a hot Sunday afternoon, when, on turning the bend in the Nile not far from the wonderful temple of Abu Simbl, the Arab in the bows shouted that there was a big crocodile asleep on a mudbank in the middle of river. B accordingly got his rifle, and as the awakening brute slid lazily into the water, plumped him under the right shoulder at a distance of quite 130 yards--a first-rate shot. The beast stopped at the water’s edge and began to lash his flaily tail about. By this time the excitement among the sailors was immense; the sporting old captain stopped the steamer, a boat was manned, and we pulled off to the bank, I having charge of the rifle wherewith to finish him. Ho was already half in the water, and t£e difficulty was to get his head out, to lei: me g o b a ffiir shot e J e » which I had learnt in my youthful days, was the pnly vulnerable point. The boathook was the only instrument to haul him back by, so half-a-dozen niggers manned in, hooked it into the corner of his jaw, and tugged his great head round for the coup de grace. Even with a second bullet in the place where the brain ought to have been he had strength enough left to snap at the boathook with such force as to leave marks of his teeth on the iron head. A third shot under the eye finished him, and with much labor he was hoisted into the boat, and from thence on to the steamer. On measuring him he was found to he a couple of inches under thirteen feet—a real monster. When we halted for good that evening the carcase was skinned, and devoured (entrails and all) by some natives from a neighboring village, B took possession of the hide, and put in on the paddle-box to dry in the sun. When the wind was ahead the stench was really dreadful, and drove us off the after-deck. — Count Gleichen.