Twilight And Dawn by Caroline Pridham

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There are four chief divisions of the Reptile family--Tortoises and
Turtles, Crocodiles, Lizards, and Snakes.

Most reptiles have a tail and two pairs of limbs, but, as you know, Snakes
are destitute of limbs, and seem to move along by a motion from inside, so
that they have been said to walk on their ribs. Serpents are covered with
horny scales; Crocodiles and Tortoises have a bony covering.

The Tortoise--so called from its twisted feet, or its crooked way of
walking--has, as you know, an upper and an under shell which covers its
body like a coat of mail, protecting it from every enemy except man. This
strong shell is, like that of the snail, a house for the tortoise to live
in; but this house is formed by arched bones, and is part of the creature
itself. The four feet of the tortoise or turtle, and a curious mouth rather
like the beak of a bird--without teeth, but with jaws hard enough to make
a bite from it very painful--and a little scaly tail; these are the only
parts of the animal not covered by the shields of its bony shells.

The Lizard has both limbs and teeth, but no shell. Lizards are wonderfully
active, darting away at the least alarm, so that it is not easy to catch
them.

We may think of the Crocodile of the African, and the Alligator of the
North American rivers, as enormous lizards; though they are now placed in a
class by themselves, on account of their horny covering, which is so strong
that it is almost impossible to pierce through it, and so smooth that a
bullet will glance off from it. Serpents have neither shell nor limbs.
Their vertebrae, as you will see, if you look at any skeleton of a snake in
the Museum, fit very beautifully one into the other; and owing to this they
are able to glide swiftly along the ground, to coil their shining length
round trees, and to dart their heads in every direction.

In one respect Tortoises, Lizards, and Serpents are alike--they all lay
eggs, only the shell is not made of lime and earth, but is soft like
leather. They are also cold-blooded animals, like fish. Of tortoises, some
live on land, some in marshy places, some in rivers; turtles live in the
sea, their lungs being so made as to enable them to remain under water
without breathing.

The common tortoise, often kept in gardens, is found in the south of
Europe, and is generally not more than nine inches long. Its upper shield
is exceedingly strong. My brothers and sisters and I used often to stand
upon the back of a pet tortoise which lived in our garden; it did not seem
to feel our weight, but I remember finding it no easy matter to keep my
feet together upon its smooth back, and none of us could perform this feat
unless the tortoise was pleased to stand still while we balanced ourselves
upon him. I can, in imagination, see this little tortoise of ours now, not
larger than a crab such as you see at the fishmonger's, with its short
legs and feet, and its little tail, all covered with scales, sticking out
between its upper and under shells. How we used to laugh, when we saw him
draw in his head and feet under the shelter of the shell: the only sign he
gave of being annoyed at all our pranks! We were told that our tortoise
might not die for a hundred years, and I have heard that some have been
known to live twice that time; it is a slow sort of life, but we must not
forget that, in the poem about the Hare and the Tortoise, it was "slow and
steady" that won the race.

I cannot remember that we ever gave our tortoise anything to eat; it must
have catered for itself in the garden where it was so fond of burrowing
and hiding away, that we had many a hunt for it when it was supposed to be
lost. Mr. Wood speaks of a small one which he used to feed with bread and
milk. He kept it, not in a garden, but in his own room, where its favourite
place was the rug: for it enjoyed the heat so much, that it made many
attempts, with its short legs and heavy shell, to climb over the fender in
order to get nearer to the fire. I don't remember that our tortoise ever
made any noise; but this one, shortly before it died, went about mewing
like a young kitten. Far from living to be a hundred, Mr. Wood's pet died
so soon that he had no opportunity of seeing whether it would in time get
to know him; but a story is told of a tortoise who did take a fancy to one
person, and, though he would attend to no one else, would come creeping
along at her call, and tap the boot of his favourite with his beak, in
token, we may suppose, of his regard. One lady, who had a long-standing
acquaintance with a tortoise, having fed him for thirty years, said he
would come to her, and to no one else; which looked rather like "cupboard
love," you will say.

You may have often admired the tortoise-shell of which combs are made, with
its beautiful wavy lines and markings; it is taken from the outside of the
shell of the turtle or sea-tortoise, which is caught not only for the sake
of its shell, but because its flesh is so good to eat. You may perhaps have
seen, as I have, a small turtle at the door of a shop, and wondered where
it came from, and what brought it there. You may be quite sure that it has
come a long way, and that the poor creature is soon to be made into soup.
Very awkward it looks, poor thing; for its proper home is in the water, and
not on the hard pavement; its feet are rather like fins, so that it may be
able to make its way rapidly through the water, and it only comes ashore
to make its nest in the sand, where it scoops out a great hole with its
paddle-like feet, and then covering its eggs over safely, leaves them for
the sun to hatch.

I have heard that as many as two hundred eggs have been found in one of
these sand-nests; but not all laid by one turtle; for those who hunt for
the eggs have watched a crowd of animals come ashore, and have seen one
of them dig a deep pit with its broad paws, lay its eggs, and cover them
over; then another has done the same, until there have been several layers
of eggs: such a nest is a lucky _find_; for turtle eggs are said to be
delicious food, though some I tasted were very "strong" and nasty.

[Illustration: TURTLE.]

The turtles common in Jamaica, and other islands of the West and East
Indies, are great creatures five or six feet long, but they are not
difficult to capture, for when once they have been turned over on their
backs, the shell is so heavy that they cannot, owing to the shortness of
their legs, turn themselves back again, but lie helpless on the sand.

Of Lizards, the second division of the Reptile group, I doubt if you have
seen any, except in the Reptile-house at the "Zoo"; for although there are
two kinds of these active little creatures in our country, they do not
often court our society. The common lizard, about six inches long, with
very bright eyes, has a tail which is so brittle, that if you were to catch
hold of it, it would break right off, and its late owner would dart away to
its hiding-place, leaving the old tail in your hand; itself growing a new
one.

The Sand-lizard, also found in England, is about twice the length of the
common lizard: it lives on sandy heaths, and like the turtle, lays its eggs
in the sand, to be hatched by the sun. But neither of our lizards is so
pretty as the little green one so common in the warmer countries of Europe.
It may be seen on walls, or by the wayside, basking in the sunshine, and
now and then darting at a fly. The whole species are, like the butterflies,
summer creatures, and hide themselves safely underground before winter
comes.

In the Reptile-house of the Zoological Gardens, I have often stood to look
at the largest kind of lizard; for the Crocodile, that huge animal with its
green glaring eyes, and its armour made of bony plates with sharp ridges,
is but an overgrown lizard. If you wish to form some idea of what it is
most like, you can look at one of the beautiful little newts which live in
some pond or ditch near you, and fancy it magnified many, many times, and
then you will not have a bad notion of the crocodile, the lizard of Africa,
or of the Cayman or Alligator, the great lizard of the New World.

[Illustration: CROCODILE.]

The word crocodile means a creature which dislikes saffron; so it would be
of no use, I suppose, for us to offer that lazy-looking animal floating
in his tank, looking as lifeless as the trunk of a tree, with his nose
and a little ridge of his mail-clad back alone appearing above the water,
a saffron bun--to say nothing of his being a creature whose appearance
does not seem to invite us to come to close quarters, or to hold any
communication with him. But we have little idea of what these enormous
reptiles are really like, when we see them so far away from their native
haunts. It is thought by some that the "_leviathan_," spoken of in the
book of Job, whose "teeth are terrible round about," is the crocodile; for
its mouth is larger than that of any other animal, and is armed with very
sharp teeth. Dr. Smith tells [Footnote: "Nile," _Dictionary of the Bible_,
p. 621.] us that crocodiles were once so plentiful in the East, that the
great river of Egypt swarmed with them, and the Egyptians, who made almost
everything into a god, worshipped them and made mummies of them, as they
did of birds, cats, and snakes.

I have often thought that when the mother of Moses long ago laid that child
who was "fair to God" in his bulrush cradle among the reeds by the river's
bank, her heart must almost have failed her as she remembered the terrible
crocodiles; but she had faith in God, and He suffered no wild beast to
molest that little ark. The crocodile feeds upon fish, and any animals
which he can catch, when they come to the banks of the Nile and other
African rivers to drink. Though it is clumsy in its movements on land, it
makes its way swiftly through the water by means of its tail; sometimes it
opens its terrible jaws, gives a great yawn, and then shuts them again with
a sound which is heard far away. Mr. Arnot, a missionary in the heart of
Africa, tells us that the crocodiles in the great river Zambesi drag the
game which they catch under water, and so drown them, and then hide them
under the river's banks. He says, "I used to watch these animals come up
with perhaps a quarter of an antelope, and by firing at their heads I
compelled them to drop their supper, Which my men picked up from their
boats." The crocodiles' eggs are about the size of goose-eggs, and are said
to be good to eat.

Herodotus, the "Father of History," tells a curious story about the
crocodile and the Nile bird. He says, "When the crocodile takes his food in
the Nile, the interior of its mouth is always covered with flies. All birds
with one exception flee from the crocodile: but this one bird, the Nile
bird, far from avoiding it, flies towards the reptile with the greatest
eagerness, and renders it a very essential service. Every time the
crocodile goes on shore to sleep, and at the moment when it lies extended,
with open jaws, the Nile bird enters the mouth of the terrible animal and
delivers it from the flies that it finds there. The crocodile shows its
recognition of the service by never harming the bird."

I have heard that the flies which molest the crocodile are gnats, and their
devourer a kind of plover.

Near Karachi, in India, there is a swamp caused by hot springs, which is
inhabited by crocodiles. There are over two hundred in the tank, which has
been walled in, as they are considered sacred creatures. Buffaloes stand
in the water unharmed, but any other animal which came within reach would
be instantly devoured. A rash young Englishman once made the tour of this
tank, alive with crocodiles, by walking on their horny backs!

Alligator is only the Spanish name for all lizards, so called in allusion
to their having legs like arms. The great American lizard, known by this
name, is not so large as the crocodile; it loves heat, and will bury itself
in the mud in cold weather. It feeds mostly upon fish, and will drive them
before it in a shoal, until they have got into some creek or narrow bend
of the river, and then stun them by blows of its great tail. Mr. Waterton,
who knew the South American rivers so well, tells us that he once came
upon what he thought a pretty sight--a number of young alligators, about a
foot long, playing about on the sand like so many rabbits. He also tells
a story, which might have had a sad ending, saying [Footnote: _Life of
Charles Waterton_, p.56] that when he was anxious to secure an alligator,
which he much wished to stuff, with its tough skin uninjured, he would not
allow his men to shoot at him, but actually jumped upon his horny back and
rode him along the sandy river-bank until the poor creature was tired out,
and the daring rider secured his prize. I daresay yon would like to see the
picture which one of his friends made of him, riding upon his dangerous
steed.

We may form some idea of this naturalist's feat from what he tells us in
another part of his book about his "wanderings." "One Sunday afternoon,"
he says, "when a good many people were standing about on the banks of the
Orinoco, never dreaming of danger, a great Cayman came suddenly out of the
river, seized a man, and carried him off beneath the water, so that he was
seen no more."

How sad it would have been had Waterton shared a similar fate, in his
effort to get the alligator's skin! Life is a precious gift from God, and
no one has a right to risk his life in a rash foolhardiness, which is very
different from the true courage which does not shrink from facing danger if
the life of one more helpless than himself is in peril.

But while we know that no one has a right to give up his life unless at
God's desire, and that it is wicked in His sight for anyone to risk losing
his life unless at God's command, we must not forget that there is no risk
for those who count not their lives dear to them for Christ's sake. He
spoke some solemn words about "loving" and "hating" life, which His
servants should ever remember.

You will be interested to know that the alligators' eggs are laid in a
nest made of grass on the banks of a stream, and that they often travel
for miles across forest or prairie from one stream to another. The nest
is raised higher and higher by a fresh layer of grass, cut with the great
water-lizard's sharp teeth, every time more eggs are laid, until it is as
high as a cock of hay. The eggs take a month to hatch; but as soon as the
young alligators are out of the shell, they are quite able to run about and
get their own living.

A gentleman who was looking after some building in a lonely part of South
America,

"Where on the mighty river banks,
La Platte and Amazon,
The Cayman, like an old tree trunk,
Lies basking in the sun."

caught a baby-alligator, and made it so tame that it would follow him about
the house like a dog.

It must have been a strange sight to see this little creature, born in a
rushy swamp, scrambling upstairs after his master; but stranger still to
see him lying on the rug before the fire, with his head resting upon the
cat, of whom he had become so fond that he was restless and uncomfortable
when she was not near him.

He was fed on raw meat and milk, and was shut up in cold weather, like the
tame swallow, in a box lined with wool; but, alas! one frosty night the
poor little pet was forgotten, and next morning found him dead, killed by
the cold. How often we find that the stories of pet animals, especially
wild ones which have been made unnaturally tame, have had a sad ending!

The Blind-worm, so called from its small eyes--and yet these tiny eyes are
brighter than some larger ones--is a kind of lizard without legs, and is,
on that account, sometimes included in the Snake-family. We may come upon
it in hot weather, among the furze bushes upon the common, or the stones
of some old ruin. It feeds upon a little grey slug, and is like the common
lizard in being so brittle that you can hardly take hold of it without
breaking it.

There is one more lizard which I have seen next door to the crocodile tank
at the Zoo: a very curious little animal, almost of the same colour as the
stick along which it walks, so slowly and silently that you may stand and
watch it for some time without being sure that it is moving at all; though
its eyes, which can move in different directions at the same moment, and
its long thin tongue, so clever at catching the insects on which it feeds,
are constantly in motion; but for its eyes and tongue, the Chameleon looks
as if it were as dead as the withered branch to which it clings.

The name of this lizard means "Ground-lion," but it is very unlike the king
of beasts both in appearance and disposition. The chameleon is found in
Spain, in Sicily, and in Syria; its home is in the branches of trees. Many
stories used to be told of the way in which it would change colour, not
exactly by blushing like a human creature, but by becoming green, yellow,
and even black when angry or calm, or when in sunshine or shade; but
naturalists who have kept a careful watch upon it do not believe that all
that has been said about this is true. There seems to be no doubt, however,
that it changes its colour according to its surroundings--a means of
protection given to a creature otherwise very defenceless.

[Illustration: "A lizard's body, lean and long,
A fish's head, a serpent's tongue."]

Serpents--so called from a word which means that which _creeps_--are
constantly used in the Bible as emblems of deceit and treachery. The words,
"More subtle than any beast of the field," may well come to our minds as
we watch a serpent, with its limbless body, winding along with that soft,
gliding motion to which we have given the name "snake-like."

In the serpent's eyes, too, though they are often so beautiful that we
cannot but admire them, there is some of this same dangerous subtlety--an
untrust--worthiness which makes us shrink from looking at them.

There are many varieties of this large family; some, like the rattlesnake,
cannot climb or swim, but crawl along the ground, the terror of unwary
travellers who may tread upon them in the dim forest-paths; others are
Water-snakes; some, like the Boa and Python, are dreaded, although not
venomous, because, of their enormous strength, and power of crushing their
victims in their close embrace; others, like the Cobra, for their deadly
bite; while many--we might almost say most--snakes are quite harmless, for
it has been reckoned that not more than one in ten is venomous; and none
but the giants of this family are dangerous, except for their poisoned
bite. The skin of serpents is covered with what are called false scales,
which do not overlap each other like those of the fishes, but only seem to
do so; and these scales are said to help them to move along rapidly. Most
of them are beautifully marked and spotted, and some shine like gold in
the sun, while others have pale, soft tints; but these lovely colours fade
in death, just as those of fish do; so that a snake in all its glittering
beauty can only be seen when alive. They often change their skins, creeping
out of the old and appearing ready-dressed in the new. A traveller along
the banks of the Nile has often found these cast-off skins in the fields;
they are always turned inside out, for the old skin, which is very soft,
folds back as the snake slips out of it.

[Illustration: SPOTTED SNAKES]

I suppose the first thought of all of us, on finding a snake in the grass,
would be, Is it a venomous one? So I think you will like to know that
poisonous snakes are rare in Europe; and Mr. Wood [Footnote: _Natural
History_ p. 521.] tells us that the Viper, which is our only venomous
serpent, is one of those least dangerous to life, although far from a
friend to those who shrink from pain. It may be known by dark spots down
the back. When we speak of venomous serpents, we mean those whose bite is
to be dreaded, because it conveys a tiny drop of poison, which mingles with
the blood, and often causes intense anguish, ending in death. In poisonous
serpents, the venom lies in a little bag at the root of a long sharp tooth,
pierced by a narrow tunnel, through which, at the moment when the bite
is given, the poison flows into the wound. If these poison-fangs--one on
each side--are taken out, the bite of the most dangerous serpents becomes
harmless.

The Indian serpent-charmers of whom you have heard know this, and before
they allow themselves to be bitten by the deadly cobras, with which
they are so fond of playing their feats of jugglery, are careful to
extract their sharp poison-fangs. Snakes seem to have a higher degree
of intelligence than is possessed by reptiles generally, and they can
be trained to be as playful and friendly as kittens; as you will allow
when you have heard a story which I have read, about some tame serpents
which lived in a cupboard, and were allowed to crawl about a gentleman's
drawing-room and lie coiled up on the tables and in the arm-chairs--besides
being on the most familiar terms with his children.

But we were speaking just now of the Viper, and you remember in the account
of the Apostle Paul's stay at Malta how the people who had been so kind
to the shipwrecked company looked at him when the viper crept out of the
bundle of sticks which he had gathered and laid on the fire, and fastened
on his hand? They expected that he would have swollen--for that is one
of the effects of the poison--or fallen down dead suddenly; but the Lord
Jesus, when He was on earth, said to His disciples, "Behold, I give unto
you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the
enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." And when He was going back
to His Father, He said to those who believed on Him, "In My name ... they
shall take up serpents"; so we are not surprised that His servant "shook
off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm."

We must not forget, that although God may now allow what we call a violent
death to come to one of His children, whether by the bite of a serpent
or by some accident, nothing can possibly happen to them by chance; and
whatever dangers He allows them to fall into or saves them from--all that
comes is the very best for them that could happen: because "we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God."

Though you may admire the "spotted snakes" at a safe distance, in their
cages, I know you will not be sorry to hear that in England we have but
two kinds--the Ringed or Grass snake, which has no poison-fangs, and is
perfectly harmless, feeding upon the frogs which it finds in the marshy
places which are its home, and upon mice and young birds; and the common
Viper or Adder, which has two poison-fangs, but is not ready to use them,
unless it is trodden on, or otherwise provoked. This snake is found in
woods, and is fond of basking in the sun. It hatches its young before their
birth; so that the viper's brood have not to make their way out of the
shell before they can run about.

It is sad that dogs, and sometimes children, have been killed by its bite;
but it has not generally been fatal to men. These snakes are fond of
cream, and will wind their way into the dairy, and skim the milk-pans, and
sometimes visit hen-roosts, and suck the eggs.

The most terrible of the venomous snakes are the Cobra of India--called
by a Portuguese name, which means "hooded"; a very grand-looking serpent,
which holds its head high, and gives a loud hiss as it rises to strike its
prey; and the Rattlesnake of South America.

The Cobra de Capello is a land-serpent, but can swim, and climb trees. It
is treated with great respect in Egypt and India; and the people of Ceylon
say that it belongs to another world, but has come to pay them a visit.
They worship it in their temples, and their priests feed it with sugar
and milk, and never allow it to be killed. I believe serpents are not now
worshipped in Egypt; but they once were. They are constantly represented
upon Egyptian monuments, which are as old as the time when the children of
Israel were in Egypt; and on one of them may be seen three men, who are
being offered as sacrifices to a serpent which is represented coiled around
the seat of the sceptred king, as if protecting him.

The cobra loves music; and it is upon these serpents especially that the
snake-charmers like to show their skill. They take them about, coiled up in
baskets. When the performance is to begin, the lid of the basket is opened,
and the charmer, seated on the ground, begins to play upon his pipe.
Instantly the beautiful snake lifts its head, expands its hood--a loose
skin about the neck which it makes large or small at pleasure--and creeps
out, waving its body gracefully while the music lasts, and when it ceases,
dropping down again into the basket.

Some people have power to charm serpents; I have read a story of a man who,
by his music cleared a house of the snakes which infested it; having got
into the empty rooms, and hidden themselves in the crevices in the walls.
It was a strange sight to see them creep from their hiding-places at the
sound of the pipe; but sometimes serpents are deaf both to the voice and
music of the charmer--"like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; which
will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely" to
which David compares the wicked.

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