420 THE CAYMAN. 



not wait at Cayenne for the period of neap tides, there being an 

 American brig just on the point of weighing anchor for Paramaribo, 

 the capital of Surinam; and I did not wish to lose the opportunity, 

 knowing that opportunities from Cayenne to Paramaribo occurred 

 but very rarely. 



Cervantes remarks, that where one door is shut against us another 

 is opened to us. Some six months after this, in my passage home 

 across the Atlantic, on board the Dee, West Indiaman, commanded 

 by Captain Gray, we saw phaeton sitting on the wave, within gunshot 

 of the ship a rare occurrence. I fired at him with effect; and as 

 he lay lifeless on the water, I said (without any expectation of re- 

 covering the bird), "A guinea for him who will fetch the bird to 

 me." The vessel was then going smartly through the water. A 

 Danish sailor, who was standing on the forecastle, instantly plunged 

 into the sea with all his clothes on, and swam towards the bird. Our 

 people ran aft, to lower down the jolly boat, but it was filled with 

 lumber, and had been well secured with lashings for the passage 

 home. Our poor Dane was now far astern ; and in our attempt to 

 tack ship, she missed stays, and we were obliged to wear her. In 

 the meantime, we all expected that the Dane had gone down into 

 Davy's locker. But, at last, we fortunately came up with him; and 

 we found him buffeting the waves, with the dead bird in his mouth. 



I dissected it, and prepared it, and have kept it ever since ; nor do 

 I intend that it shall leave my house, as the sight of it often brings 

 to my remembrance an occurrence of uncommon interest, now long 

 gone by: for it is twenty years and more since I received the tropic 

 bird from the cold and trembling hand of our adventurous Dane. 



THE CAYMAN. 



" The crocodile, in fact, is only dangerous when in the water. Upon land it is 

 a slow-paced and even timid animal ; so that an active boy, armed with a small 

 hatchet, might easily despatch one. There is no great prowess, therefore, required 

 to ride on the back of a poor cayman after it has been secured, or perhaps wounded 



