THE ALLIGATOR'S LIFE HISTORY 65 



to the skull by the upper skin and held up by the small white 

 stick. 



It is very rare that alligator hunters bring to market the 

 skin of a really long alligator. The hunter is paid no more 

 for a twelve foot skin than for a seven foot skin, and is 

 paid very little more for a seven foot skin than for a six 

 foot or a five foot skin. It is generally the practice of the 

 alligator hunter, in order to get the most from a large 

 skin, to cut it diagonally in two, then each part will be 

 graded by its actual length. In other words If a hunter 

 kills a twelve foot alligator he cuts the skin so as to get two 

 seven foot pieces from the one by cutting the skin in a di- 

 agonal manner from a point forward of the front leg to such 

 a point on the tail that it will net him two seven foot pieces, 

 and the buyer pays full price for two seven foot skins. For 

 this reason, very few large whole alligator skins go to mar- 

 ket. During 1933 a hunter on Marsh Island killed a fifteen 

 foot alligator, the skin of which he cut in such a manner 

 that he got two seven foot and one six foot pieces of hide. 



