332 LEAVES FROM THE 



post. The reptile, coming round as usual every night, 

 seized the dog, was taken by the piece of wood, which 

 stuck across his throat, in his struggles drew the bed to 

 the window, and waked the people, ' who kill'd the alla- 

 gator which had done them much mischief.' Sir Hans 

 also records that there was ' a pottle of stones ' in the 

 belly of one nine feet long. Ravenous as the alligators 

 are, they are, like serpents and tortoises, capable of en- 

 during a very long'fast. Browne, in his Natural History 

 of the same island, which Sloane so ably illustrated, re- 

 marks that they are observed to live for many months 

 without any visible sustenance ; which experiment, he 

 says, is frequently tried in Jamaica by tying their jaws 

 with wire, and putting them, thus tied up, into a pond, 

 well, or water-tub, where they often lie for a considerable 

 time, rising to the surface from time to time for breath. 

 He also asserts, that on opening the animal the stomach 

 is generally found charged with stones of a pointed oval, 

 but flatted shape, to which they seem to have been worn 

 in its bowels. 



Doubtless (adds the worthy Doctor) it swallows them, not onlj' 

 for nourishment, which is evident fi'om the attrition and solution 

 of their surfaces, but also to help its digestion, and to stir up the 

 oscillations of the slothful fibres of its stomach, as many other 

 creatures do. Some people think it swallowed them to keep them 

 easier under water at times ; but how reasonable soever this con- 

 jecture may seem to some peo])le, it will not take with such as are 

 better acquainted with the natm'e of aquatic animals. 



Catesby* thus draws their portraits : — 



In Jamaica, and many parts of the continent, they are found 

 above twenty feet in length ; they cannot be more terrible in their 

 aspect than they are formidable and mischievous in their natures, 

 sparing neither man nor beast they can surprise, pulling them 

 under water, that, being dead, they may with greater facility, and 

 without struggle or resistance, devour them. As quadi'upeds do 

 not so often come in their way, they mostly subsist on fish ; but 



* Carolina, 



