Chap. IV. ALLIGATORS. 269 



appearance in the shallow and muddy water. We were 

 all obliged to be very careful in taking our bath ; most 

 of the people simply using a calabash, pouring the water 

 over themselves whilst standing on the brink. A larere 

 trading canoe, belonging to a Barra merchant named 

 Soares, arrived at this time, and the Indian crew, as 

 usual, spent the first day or two after their coming in 

 port, in drunkenness and debauchery ashore. One of the 

 men, during the greatest heat of the day when almost 

 every one was enjoying his afternoon's nap, took it into 

 his head whilst in a tipsy state to go down alone to 

 bathe. He was seen only by the Juiz de Paz, a feeble 

 old man who was lying in his hammock, in the open 

 verandah at the rear of his house on the top of the bank, 

 and who shouted to the besotted Indian to beware of the 

 alligator. Before he could repeat his warning, the man 

 stumbled, and a pair of gaping jaws, appearing suddenly 

 above the surface, seized him round the waist and drew 

 him under the water. A cry of agony " Ai Jesus ! " 

 was the last sign made by the wretched victim. The 

 village was aroused : the young men with praiseworthy 

 readiness seized their harpoons and hurried down to 

 the bank ; but of course it was too late, a winding- 

 track of blood on the surface of the water, was all that 

 could be seen. They embarked, however, in montarias, 

 determined on vengeance : the monster was traced, 

 and when, after a short lapse of time, he came up to 

 breathe — one leg of the man sticking out from his 

 jaws — was dispatched with bitter curses. 



The last of these minor excursions which I shall 



