510 ALLIGATORS. 



ing Up and down the alamada by the banks of the river, a 

 large cayman rushed out of the water, seized a man, and 

 carried him down, before any person had it in his power to 

 assist him. The screams of the poor fellow were terrible as 

 the cayman was running off with him. The monster plunged 

 into the river with its prey, and we instantly lost sight of 

 him, and never saw or heard of him more." 



Bates also relates that a native crew, having arrived at 

 Eo:a;a, o'ot drunk, when one of the men, durino- the oreatest 

 heat of the da}^, while everybody else was enjoying an after- 

 noon nap, took it into his head, while in a tipsy state, to go 

 do^Ti alone to bathe. He was seen only by a feeble old man, 

 who Avas lying in his hammock in the open verandah at the 

 rear of his house, at the top of the bank. He shouted to the 

 besotted Indian to beware of an alligator which had of late 

 taken to frequenting the neighbourhood. 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 cr}^ of agony — 

 '" Ai Jesus ! " — was the last sound made by the wretched vic- 

 tim. The young men of the village, going in search of the 

 monster, came up with it when, after a little time, it rose to 

 breathe, with one leg of the man sticking out from its jaws. 

 It was immediately despatched, with bitter curses. 



One night Bates and his party were asleep in their ham- 

 mocks in an open shed on the banks of the river, with a fire 

 made up in the centre. He was awoke by his attendants 

 hurling burning firewood, with loud curses, at a huge cayman 

 which had crawled up the bank, and passed beneath his ham- 

 mock towards the place where a little dog lay asleep. The 

 dog had raised the alarm in time. The reptile backed out, 



