336 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE. 



for a week, when an Irishman of the party going into the 

 water during the day, stumbled upon an alligator, which 

 seized him by the knee. His cries alarmed his companions, 

 who fearing he had been seized by the Spaniards, to whom 

 the island belonged, instead of affording assistance, fled from 

 the huts which they had erected. The Irishman seeing no 

 appearance of help, with happy presence of mind (a quality 

 which the natives of that country possess in an eminent 

 degree) quietly waited till the alligator loosened his teeth to 

 take a new and surer hold; and when it did so, snatched 

 away his knee, interposing the butt-end of his gun in its 

 stead, which the animal seized so firmly that it was jerked 

 out of the man's hand and carried off. He then crawled 

 up a neighbouring tree, again shouting after his comrades, 

 who now found courage to return." Mr. Waterton in his 

 " Wanderings" says, " One Sunday evening, some years ago, 

 as I was walking with Don Felipe de Ynciarte, governor of 

 Augustura, on the bank of the OroSnque, 'Stop here a 

 minute or two, Don Carlos,' said he to me, ' while I recount 

 a sad accident. One fine evening last year, as the people 

 of Augustura were sauntering up and down here, in the 

 Alameda, I was within twenty yards of this place, when I 

 saw a large Cayman rush out of the river, seize a man, and 

 carry him down, before any one had power to assist him. 

 The screams of the poor fellow were terrible as the Cayman 

 was running off with him ; he plunged in the river with his 

 prey; we instantly lost sight of him, and never saw or heard 

 him more.'" 



A Tame That the Alligator is amenable to kindness is 

 Alligator, shown by the following account of a tame specimen, 

 which we quote from Mr. Jesse. He says, " The most singular 

 instance of attachment between two animals, whose nature 

 and habits were most opposite, was related to me by a 

 person on whose veracity I can place the greatest reliance. 

 Before he took up his abode at Hamoden-court, he had 



