10 THE NATURALIST IX NICARAGUA. [Ch. I, 



struggles being observed, some natives ran down and 

 saved it from being pulled into the water and drowned. 

 I heard several stories of people being killed by them, 

 but only one was well authenticated. This was told me 

 by the head of the excellent Moravian Mission, at Blew- 

 fields, who was a witness of the occurrence. He said 

 that one Sunday, after service at their chapel at Blew- 

 fields, several of the youths went to bathe in the river, 

 which was rather muddy at the time ; the first to plunge 

 in was a boy of twelve years of age, and he was imme- 

 diately seized by a large alligator, and carried along 

 under water. My informant and others followed in a 

 canoe, and ultimately recovered the body, but life was 

 extinct. The alligator cannot devour his prey beneath 

 the water, but crawls on land with it after he has 

 drowned it. They are said to catch wild pigs in the 

 forest near the river by half burying themselves in the 

 ground. The pigs come rooting amongst the soil, the 

 alligator never moves until one gets within his reach, 

 when he seizes it and hurries off to the river with it. 

 They are often seen in hot weather on logs or sand-spits 

 lying with their mouths wide open. The natives say 

 they are catching flies : that numbers are attracted by 

 the saliva of the mouth, and that when sufficient are 

 collected, the alligator closes his jaws upon them, but I 

 do not know what reliance can be placed on the story. 

 Probably it is an invention to account for the animals 

 lying with their mouths open; as in all half-civilised 

 countries I have visited I have found that the natives 

 seldom admit they do not know the reason of anything, 

 but will invent an explanation rather than acknowledge 

 their ignorance. 



