His Mouth is very wide, and is extended to the Ears; his Snout and Eyes like those of Swine; the Teeth, which are ingrail’d, are white, acute, strong and numerous; the Feet arm’d with sharp Claws; the Skin of the Belly is tender and may be easily penetrated, but the other parts of the Body are not penetrable by Swords and Arrows: It defies even the Wheels of a loaded Cart, as well as Darts and Spears: It is of a yellow Colour, say some; but _Wormius_ in Mr. _Ray_’s _Synopsis_ says, that those he had seen, were inclin’d to the grey or ash Colour. The Tail is near as long as the Body, upon which are Fins of a Fish, whereby he is capacitated to swim. When he strikes with his Claws, he tears with his Teeth, and grinds the very Bones of what he kills into Powder. In Winter he lives much without Food, but in Summer, his Sustenance is of the animal kind, but is most fond of human Flesh; and as he is an amphibious Creature, plunders both Elements[247]. Footnote 247: _Jonstonus_, 141. The Crocodile, when prest with Hunger, swallows Stones, which have been found worn round about, and the wasted parts reduced to such minute Particles, as were fit to circulate with the Mass of Blood[248]. Footnote 248: _Nierembergius._ In _Egypt_ the _Crocodile_ is made the Object of religious Adoration, but not by all the Nation; for the Inhabitants of _Tentyra_ (an Island form’d by the River _Nilus_) were so far from worshipping that hateful Monster, that they despised it, and often brought them to the _Roman_ Shews for Diversion.——This Aversion to _Crocodiles_ caused a War between the _Tentyrians_ and the other _Egyptians_, who worship’d those Creatures; of which People _Job_ seems to speak in the following Words: _Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their Mourning_, Job iii. 8. Some read it, to raise up the _Leviathan_, or to awake the _Crocodile_; of which _Job_ gives an admirable Description, under the Name of _Leviathan_, _Job_ xli. 1, 2, 3, 4.... So the Psalmist, _Thou breakest the Heads of Leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be Meat to the People inhabiting the Wilderness_. When I think of the superstitious _Egyptians_ warring against the People of _Tentyra_, I can’t but observe how the same kind of Spirit (the more the pity) too often reigns among Christians: Those who have ridicul’d Superstition, and endeavour’d to propagate Truth, have always had Vengeance and Wrath breath’d out against them, and have been exposed to the same Fate as the _Tentyrians_.