CROCODILE, an amphibious, cruel, voracious Animal, in shape almost like a Lizard, but much larger. It is found principally in the Nile. Some likewise have been seen in the River Darat, in Mauritania1, and in the Indies2. It seems as if there had been some also in Palestine, since Pliny and Ptolemy both speak of a City called Crocodilon, between Ptolemais and Cæsarea in Palestine. The Crocodile is covered with very hard Scales, which are not to be pierced without great difficulty; excepting under the Belly, where the Skin is tender. It has a wide Throat, with Teeth sharp, and separated, which enter one within another; of these it has several rows. It is very low upon its Feet, and crawls almost on the Earth. It runs with great swiftness, but does not easily turn itself. It lives a long time, and is said to grow continually till its death; but this is not at all probable. There are some of fifteen or eighteen Cubits long.
Crocodiles lay their Eggs upon the Ground, or on the Sand near the Waterside. Their Eggs are like Goose Eggs; and sometimes they lay sixty of them. They cover them in the Sand, that the heat of the Sun may contribute to hatch them. When their Bowels are taken out, or they are wounded, they smell very agreeably. There are several ways of taking them. Sometimes they are caught with great Hooks, baited with Hog’s flesh, which they love mightily: At other times they are taken in Pits covered with Boughs and Earth, which they fall into, and are not able to get out. It is said, that the Ichneumon or Indian Rat, which is as large as a tame Cat, breaks the Crocodile’s Eggs as often as it finds them on the Shore, and that it gets into the very Belly of this creature, while it is sleeping with its Throat open, gnaws its Intrails, and kills it.
The word Crocodile is supposed to come from the Greek, Croco-deilos, which signifies afraid of Saffron; because in reality this creature abhors the Flower and smell of Saffron. Its sight is very piercing, when it is upon the Ground; but in the Water it sees but dimly. The Egyptians we know adored the Crocodile. It is said to spend the four Winter Months under Water, without eating any thing. The Egyptians paid divine Honours to it3, particularly the Inhabitants of Arsinoe, and they who dwelt in the Neighbourhood of Thebes, and the Lake Mæris. But the People of Tentyra and Elephantis killed and eat them. It is our Opinion, that Job speaks of these People in the following words. Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up a Leviathan, or to awake the Crocodile, let them curse the day of my birth. See our Comment on this Passage. See likewise Psal. lxxiv. 15. Thou smotest the heads of the Leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat for the people in the wilderness.
Job gives an admirable description of the Crocodile, under the name of the Leviathan, in the xl. Chapter, the 20 and Leviathan Κροκόδειλος.following Verses, and in the xli. 1, 2, &c. See Bochart, De Animal. Sacr. parte 2. l. v. c. 16. Ezekiel, xxix. 3, 4. and xxxii. 2, 3. directs his speech to the King of Egypt, under the name of Leviathan, or Crocodile. Behold I am against thee, thou great dragon, that liest in the midst of thy rivers, which hast said, my river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. There are some4 who think, that the name of Pharaoh, which commonly denotes the King of Egypt, does properly signify a Crocodile.
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