312 EXCURSIONS IN NEIGHBOURHOOD OF EGA. Cuap. XI. 
engaged from the net, and allowed, with the coolest unconcern, to return 
to the water, although the two children were playing in it not many 
yards off. We continued fishing, Innocencio and I lending a helping 
hand, and each time drew a number of the reptiles of different ages 
and sizes, some of them Jacaré-tingas ; the lake, in fact, swarmed with 
alligators. After taking a very large quantity of fish (I took pains to count 
the different species, and found there were no less than thirty-five), we 
prepared to return, and the Indians, at my suggestion, secured one of the 
alligators with the view of letting it loose amongst the swarms of dogs 
in the village. An individual was selected about eight feet long: one 
man holding his head, and another his tail, whilst a third took a 
few lengths of a flexible liana, and deliberately bound the jaws and the 
legs. ‘Thus secured, the beast was laid across the benches of the boat, 
on which we sat during the hour and a half’s journey to the settlement. 
We were rather crowded, but our amiable passenger gave us no trouble 
during the transit. On reaching the village we took the animal into the 
middle of the green, in front of the church, where the dogs were con- 
gregated, and there gave him his liberty, two of us arming ourselves 
with long poles to intercept him if he should make for the water, and 
the others exciting the dogs. The alligator showed great terror, 
although the dogs could not be made to advance, and made off at 
the top of his speed for the water, waddling like a duck. We tried to 
keep him back with the poles, but he became enraged, and seizing the 
end of the one I held in his jaws, nearly wrenched it from my grasp. 
We were obliged, at length, to kill him to prevent his escape. 
These little incidents show the timidity or cowardice of the alligator. 
He never attacks man when his intended victim is on his guard ; but he 
is cunning enough to know when he may do this with impunity: of this 
we had proof at Caigara, a few days afterwards. The river had sunk to 
a very low point, so that the port and bathing-place of the village now 
lay at the foot of a long sloping bank, and a large cayman made his 
appearance in the shallow and muddy water. We were all obliged to be 
very careful in taking our bath; most of the people simply using a 
calabash, pouring the water over themselves while standing on the 
brink. A large trading canoe, belonging to a Barra merchant named 
Soares, arrived at this time, and the Indian crew, as usual, spent the 
first day or two after their coming into port in drunkenness and 
debauchery ashore. One of the men, during the greatest heat of the 
day, when almost every one was enjoying his afternoon’s nap, took it 
into his head, whilst in a tipsy state, to go down alone to bathe. He 
was seen only by the Juiz de Paz, a feeble old man who was lying in 
his hammock, in the open verandah at the rear of his house on the top 
of the bank, and who shouted to the besotted Indian to beware of the 
alligator. Before he could repeat his warning the man stumbled, and a 
pair of gaping jaws, appearing suddenly above the surface, seized him 
round the waist, and drew him under the water. A cry of agony, “ Ai 
Jestis!” was the last sign made by the wretched victim. The village 
was aroused: the young men with praiseworthy readiness seized their 
harpoons and hurried down to the bank: but of course it was too late ; 
a winding track of blood on the surface of the water was all that could 
