DEAD AT LAST. 205

but the crocodile had not moved. I fired point-
blank into his eye and under the shoulder, not
indeed without trembling a little. He was dead
at last; there could be no doubt of it now. In
length he measured ten feet, and in circumference
round the middle four feet. We abandoned him
for the moment, half sunk in water and mud, with
his belly turned up to the sun, and off we started
for Castroville to procure assistance and announce
our exploit. Although crocodiles are not rare in
the Medina, they are very seldom killed ; the news
created quite a sensation in town, and a waggon
set out without delay, accompanied by as gay and
uproarlous a procession as one can well imagine.
The distance was six miles ; and, though killed in
the morning, it did not reach our garden until the
evening. . . . The cooking of it was a real
féte. It is only the fleshy portions of the tail that
are eaten. We distributed it liberally. The flesh
did not strike me as well flavoured; it was but
too evident that the animal had lain in the mud
during the hottest part of the day. There also
emanated from it a powerful odour of musk, which
destroyed our appetites, and remained in our clothes
for more than a week afterwards.”

Here is the Abbé’s portrait of An Hnthusiastic
Naturalist. . . . ‘He was an old German
priest, who officiated in Braunfels and the neigh-