THE ALLIGATOR'S LIFE HISTORY 79 



were sold, beginning at the western part of the State, were 

 Lake Charles, Abbeville, New Iberia, Morgan City, Houma 

 and New Orleans. It would be interesting to know how 

 many alligator skins were marketed from these towns from 

 the period between 1880 and 1933. I fully believe the 

 number would reach at least three to three and one-half 

 million. 



The carcasses of the alligators were, of course, made no 

 use of, but were thrown into the stream where they floated 

 until eventually they either decomposed or were eaten by 

 crabs or buzzards. Some few hunters piled the heads on 

 the bank and went back later in the year to gather up 

 the teeth, which had a small market value. 



Up to about 1898, this was the only method used in 

 taking alligators in Louisiana. About 1898 the large alli- 

 gators inhabiting the streams became scarce, and as the 

 price for the skins was good, the hunters began going into 

 the marshes for them and getting them out of their lairs 

 or dens. It must be understood that a great many alligators 

 do not come to the streams at any time during their lives, 

 but stay in small ponds or landlocked lakes in the swamps 

 and marshes. These alligators were captured by an entirely 

 different method. 



The first thing the marsh hunter does, is to set fire to the 

 grass and burn off a large area of the wet prairie. These 

 men usually hunt in pairs. They proceed over the marsh, 

 each man armed with a fifteen to eighteen foot pole made 

 of a straight cypress or Tupelo gum sapling, and very oc- 

 casionally with a pole worked down from a piece of cut 

 timber. The length of these poles is never less than twelve 

 feet and sometimes is as much as eighteen feet in length. 

 The pole is as near straight as possible, and about two and 

 one-half inches in diameter. One end of the pole has firmly 

 attached to it a hook made of a strong iron rod about one- 

 half inch in diameter, turned so that it will measure about 

 three inches across the curve, and very sharply pointed. 



