CROCODILES. 63 



refreshment, with a hope of finding security 

 also, and follow down the little current, flowing 

 through the connecting sluices : but no ! for, as 

 the water recedes in the lake, they are here con- 

 fined. The Alligators thrash them, and devour 

 them whenever they feel hungry, while the ibis 

 destroys all that make towards the shore. 



" By looking attentively on this spot, you 

 plainly see the tails of the Alligators moving to 

 and fro, splashing, and now and then, w^hen miss- 

 ing a fish, throwing it up in the air. The hunter 

 anxious to prove the value of his rifle, marks one 

 of the eyes of the largest Alligators, and as the 

 hair-trigger is touched, the Alligator dies. Should 

 the ball strike one inch astray from the eye, the 

 animal flounces, rolls over and over, beating furi- 

 ously about him with his tail, frightening all 

 his companions, who sink immediately, wiiilst the 

 fishes, like blades of burnished metal, leap in all 

 directions out of the water, so terrified are they 

 at this uproar. Another and another receives the 

 shot in the eye and expires ; yet those that do 

 not feel the fatal bullet, pay no attention to the 

 death of their companions, till the hunter ap- 

 proaches very close, when they hide themselves 

 for a few moments, by sinking backwards." 



The Alligator, like most other reptiles, is en- 

 dow^ed with great powers of abstinence ; and as 

 stones and pieces of w^ood are frequently found 

 in its stomach, it is supposed that these are 

 swallowed to relieve the pangs of hunger, by the 

 mechanical distension of that organ. Catesby, 

 Dr. Brickell, and many other persons of veracity, 

 have testified to the fact from personal observa- 

 tion. In some of these cases the lumps, from the 



