CHAPTER XIV. 



REPTILES. 



ALLIGATORS. 



|LONG the river-banks, in every igarape, stream, and 

 pool, the hideous and ravenous alligator lurks for 

 its prey. It is greatly dreaded by the natives for 

 its treachery and cunning, numbers falling victims to its 

 powerful jaws. The largest, the jacare-uassu, or great cay- 

 man, is often found from fifteen to twenty feet long, and of 

 enormous bulk. 



There is a smaller species, the jacari-tinga, which has a 

 long slender muzzle, and black banded tail. This, when full- 

 grown, is about five feet long. 



A still smaller one exists, said to be found only in shallow 

 creeks. It does not attain, when full-grown, a length of more 

 than two feet. Its eggs are rather larger than those of a 

 hen, and oval in shape, the shell having a rough, hard sur- 

 face. So numerous are they, that Bates observes "it is scarcely 

 exaggeration to say that the waters of the Solimoens are as 

 well stocked with alligators in the dry season, as a ditch in 

 England is in summer with tadpoles." 



