CHAPTER XVII 



THE ALLIGATORS OF GUIANA 



Floating branches and logs are a common sight on the 

 waters of the creeks and rivers of Guiana, and about one in 

 every three of these logs is an alligator. Common in many 

 places and actually abundant in a few, these great saurians 

 are far less conspicuous than their infinitely smaller relatives 

 the lizards which everywhere scamper up tree-trunks or 

 barge clumsily through the fallen leaves. Several negroes 

 in Georgetown make a living collecting and stuffing young 

 alligators and one man who had constantly followed this line 

 of work for twenty years had acquired a very thorough 

 knowledge of the ways of life of these giant reptiles. Among 

 the natives generally, they are feared and avoided, and are 

 ( mistakenly) accredited with great longevity, of one or two 

 hundred years. 



Caimans or crocodiles are not found on the coast, and 

 in fact live only above the first falls or rapids on the rivers 

 whence mythical giant crocodiles are occasionally reported 

 by the Indians. 



Alligators occur in most of the rivers, creeks and even 

 trenches along the coast, and nests are found in Georgetown 

 itself, about a hundred eggs being gathered in the Botanical 

 Gardens each season. The female alligators, when full 

 grown, measure from three and a half to five feet, while the 

 males, in exceptional cases, attain a length of nine feet. 



The actual nesting season begins in May and reaches 

 its height in June. Nests and eggs are still to be found in 

 lessening numbers in July and August, but no eggs have 

 been taken either in April or September. The number laid 

 by each female varies from twenty to forty, each weighing 

 about three ounces. They require at least seventy-five days 



