230 THE GULF COAST OF FLORIDA. 



minutes and he came up to take a look at me. I sent a ball 

 through his head and pulled him out. In a few minutes he 

 recovered from the shock and commenced thrashing the 

 ground at a lively rate. I cut his throat open and severed the 

 windpipe, but he would not lie still and tried very hard to 

 breathe. I opened his body and took out the lungs, heart 

 and all the entrails, and even then it was a full hour before 

 it would lie still enough for me to skin it. If a cat has nine 

 lives, this animal must have at least nineteen. 



I could give further details of this case more wonderful by 

 far than those I have mentioned, but I forbear, lest they should 

 prove offensive to some sensitive reader. 



Suffice it to say that the contortions and violent struggles 

 continued for at least three hours after what I have described 

 took place. I have heard some most marvelous accounts of 

 this animal's tenacity of life its post mortem powers, so to 

 speak. 



Will Webb told me that he killed a large one near their 

 house some years ago. He shot it through the head several 

 times with a rifle, and then took an ax and pounded its head 

 into a pulp. He took out several of its largest teeth to 

 preserve as specimens; then cut it open and took out a 

 quantity of the fat which is extensively used in this country 

 for gun oil. They then left the carcass lying, but what was 

 their surprise on going back the next day to bury it, to find 

 that it had actually crawled away ! They could see its trail, 

 plainly, where it had gone into the water. Such stories sound 

 incredible, but the facts can be corroborated by correspon- 

 dence or conversation with anyone who is familiar with the 

 nature and habits of the 'gator. 



We loaded our game and camp equipage into the cart and 

 about one o'clock P.M. reluctantly bade adieu to the enchant- 

 ing Myakka, with all its charming associations; its great live- 



