- Fine day, but all cargo, stores, &c., are wet. The miserable
vessels of the Soudan are without decks, thus one heavy shower creates
much damage. The men are busy drying their clothes, &c. Two soldiers
died. Steamers far astern in the sudd, regularly fixed.
"March 20. - A boy died. I sent fresh men to the assistance of the
steamers, which have to be literally dug out.
"March 21. - Yesterday as the men were digging out the steamers, which
had become blocked by the floating rafts, they felt something struggling
beneath their feet. They immediately scrambled away in time to avoid the
large head of a crocodile that broke its way through the tangled mass in
which it had been jammed and held prisoner by the rafts. The black
soldiers, armed with swords and bill-hooks, immediately attacked the
crocodile, who, although freed from imprisonment, had not exactly fallen
into the hands of the Royal Humane Society. He was quickly despatched,
and that evening his flesh gladdened the cooking pots of the Soudani
regiment.
"I was amused with the account of this adventure given by various
officers who were eye-witnesses. One stated in reply to my question as
to the length of the animal, `Well, sir, I should not like to
exaggerate, but I should say it was forty-five feet long from snout to
tail!' Another witness declared it to be at least twenty feet; but by
rigid cross-examination I came to the conclusion that it did not exceed
ten.
