422 THE CAYMAN. 



settlements formed by the Spaniards, soon became acquainted with 

 the cayman, and on hearing the Spaniards exclaim Una lagarta 

 when this animal made its appearance, they, in their turn, called it 

 an alligator; for so the two Spanish words una lagarta sounded 

 in the English ear. I got this information many years ago from a 

 periodical of which I remember not the name. 



The little lizard which darts at a fly on the sunny banks along the 

 roads of Southern Europe, gives the spectator an excellent idea of 

 the cayman in the act of taking its prey in the tropics ; and, whilst 

 he views the pretty green creature turning sharply and quickly on 

 the ground before him, he may see in imagination the movements of 

 the cayman on the banks of the Essequibo, after the dry season has 

 set in. 



I once fell in with a fry of young caymans on dry land near the 

 river Essequibo. They were about a foot in length, and they twisted 

 and turned in all directions with the agility of rabbits. One of them 

 got entangled in the weeds. It fought fiercely before we succeeded 

 in capturing it, and Daddy Quashi had it for his supper. 



Crocodile is the eastern name, and cayman or alligator the western 

 name for this huge lizard. 



It is now high time to reject the many fabulous accounts of the 

 crocodile. Their shedding tears, and their devouring the young ones 

 as soon as hatched, are inventions only for the nursery fireside. 

 Master Swainson's assertion that the crocodile " conveys its food to 

 some hole at the edge of the water, where it is suffered to putrefy 

 before it is devoured," may suit an infant school, but it will be re- 

 jected with a smile of contempt by any one who has paid the least 

 attention to the anatomy of the crocodile's head. The dissector 

 would see that the mouth of this reptile is completely formed for 

 snatch and swallow. Now, any common observer of the habits of 

 animals with a mouth so formed must know, at first sight, that these 

 animals never eject food which has once entered the mouth. Down 

 the throat it goes immediately, unless there be some impediment, as 

 in the case of a stag's horns. Supposing for an instant (but no one 

 except a second Master Swainson could suppose such a manifest 

 absurdity) that the crocodile does really place his food in a hole until 

 putridity commences, pray how is the animal to secure it from his 



