WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 247 



lass, from another negro, while the Daddy was 

 engaged in an intrigue. 



The back of the cayman may be said to be al- 

 most impenetrable to a musket-ball, but his sides 

 are not near so strong, and are easily pierced 

 with an arrow; indeed, were they as strong as 

 the back and the belly, there would be no part of 

 the cajTuan's body soft and elastic enough to ad- 

 mit of expansion after taking in a supply of food. 



The cayman has no grinders ; his teeth are en- 

 tirely made for snatch and swallow; there are 

 thirty-two in each jaw. Perhaps no animal in 

 existence bears more decided marks in his coun- 

 tenance of cruelty and malice than the cayman. 

 He is the scourge and terror of all the large 

 rivers in South America near the line. 



One Sunday evening, some years ago, as I was 

 walking with Don Felipe de Ynciarte, governor of 

 Angustura, on the bank of the Oroonoque, ' ' 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 Angustura 

 were sauntering up and down here, in the Ala- 

 meda, 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 anybody 

 had it in his power to assist him. The screams 

 of the poor fellow were terrible as the cayman 

 was running off with him. He plunged into the 

 river with his prey; we instantly lost sight of 

 him, and never saw or heard him more." 



T was a day and a half in dissecting our cay- 

 man, and then we all got ready to return to 

 Demerara. 



