PHOTOGRAPHING WILD LIFE 443 



developed well and the prints from it show the 

 wounded 'gator partly in the air and seventy- 

 three living alligators in whole or in part on the 

 water. 



It isn't all beer^and skittles in a mangrove 

 swamp for it is sometimes over warm and I have 

 met mosquitoes there. It was in such a place one 

 day that I found it necessary to refill my plate 

 holders. I improvised a dark room by lying 

 down on the marshy ground and being covered 

 as to head and body by a blanket and such gar- 

 ments as could be spared for the purpose of shut- 

 ting out such light as found its way even into the 

 dark recesses of the swamp. The light didn't 

 get in, but the mosquitoes did, a few million of 

 them, and a too-thick plate refused to go into the 

 plate holder and broke in my hand, cutting it 

 badly. Thereafter I had an enjoyable quarter 

 of an hour, with blood flowing from my hand and 

 sweat pouring from my face, none of which must 

 touch a plate. Then in half-suffocation I be- 

 came confused as to what plates had been ex- 

 posed and what had not. 



