102 



tlie boat drops into luicl stream. Botli men staud up in the 

 stern and sliould tlie snake come near them ifc is evidently their 

 intention to jump into the river and swim ashore. The creature 

 is brought into the boat gently and by a dexterous feint with a 

 soft cap his attention is attracted and then his neck is seized and 

 the wire is loosened. lie is a fine specimen of the tree boa 

 constrictor'"' seven feet long. Before we place him in the bag 

 Ave raise him aloft and give a cheer which may be heard half a 

 mile off. But the day's excitement is not yet over. Something 

 rushes from under the thwart. Seaton is over the side in the 

 twinkling of an eye. Crooks rushes toward us and drops terror- 

 stricken in the stern ; the boat is nearly capsized. In our Avake 

 we see a little black head swimming on the surface. It is the 

 wounded mat which was thought to be dead. He is soon 

 recovered, however, and ])ut liors de conihut, and Seaton returns 

 to his oar, vowing by all that is holy he Avill never come Avith 

 us again. We feel Ave have done enough for one day, and beyond 

 an occasional shot at an alligator, do nothing to interfere Avith 

 our further progress toAvards the sea. Just before Ave reach tho 

 river mouth an alligator four feet and a half in length is shot 

 (Avith No. 3 this time). In his mouth Ave find the tail of an 

 iguana. On opening him the body of the lizard is discovered. 

 As Ave have three alligators already Ave hcAV off this last victim's 

 head Avitli a view to preserving it and alloAV his body to drift 

 away. Beyond a temporary check caused by the boat sticking 

 on a mud bank for a feAv minutes, nothing further occurs and Ave 

 land on the Queen's Wharf as the clock strikes six, having en- 

 joyed a day's fun on the Caroni, Avhich it falls to. the lot of few 

 to obtain. 



* Xiphusoma horlulanum, now, or very recently, in the Zoological Gar- 

 dens, London. 



E. R. MOLE. 



2ud Sept., 1892. 



