THE HOME OF THE ALLIGATOR 369 



Except for the flatness of the country, which makes the drainage 

 uncomfortably slow in wet weather, a more delightful place to pitch 

 one's tent could hardly be found than one of these Florida hammocks. 

 To be sure there are numerous snakes (we caught no less than twenty- 

 three in a hammock where we camped for about a month), but they are 

 mostly of harmless varieties and are really very graceful and interesting 

 animals. 



Dotted over the prairie are numerous small swamps and sluggish 

 water-courses: the latter are called "sloughs" (pronounced "slews"), 

 and differ from the former in containing, at least during wet seasons, 

 running water. These swamps and sloughs are the home of the alli- 

 gator and the deadly cotton-mouth moccasin. While searching for the 



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A Typical 'Gator Hole of Central Florida. 



nests of the former, the latter were frequently seen, but were left 

 severely alone, as they are quite deadly, are much more aggressive than 

 the rattlers, and have no warning rattle to indicate the state of their 

 tempers. 



In these swamps we collected not only several hundred alligator 

 eggs, but also numerous alligators themselves, both large and small. 

 The baby 'gators were hooked up out of the water with a wire noose 

 on the end of a bamboo pole, while the large ones were either shot 

 directly or were pulled out of their caves under the banks and killed 

 by a rifle bullet in the back of the neck. 



