TITALITV OF CROCODILES. 335 



in his power to assist him. Tlie screams of the poor fellow 

 were terrible, as the Cayman was running off with him. He 

 plunged into the river with his prey ; we instantly lost sight of 

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



Humboldt also relates that, during the inundations of the 

 Orinoco, alligators will sometimes make their appearance in 

 the very streets of Angostura, where they have been known to 

 attack and drag away a human prey. 



Even among each other, these ferocious animals frequently 

 engage in deadly conflict. Thus, Kichard Schomburgk once 

 saw a prodigiously large Cayman seize one of a smaller species 

 (Gha7npsa vallifrons) by the middle of the body, so that the 

 head and tail projected on both sides of its muzzle. Now both 

 of them disappeared under the surface, so that only the agitated 

 waters of the otherwise calm river announced the death-struggle 

 going on beneath ; and then again the monsters reappeared, 

 wildly beating the surface ; so that it was hardly possible to 

 distinguish here a tail, or there a monstrous head, in the 

 seething whirlpool. At length, however, the tumult subsided, 

 :*and the large Cayman was seen leisurely swimming to a sand- 

 [ bank, where he immediately began to feed upon his prey. 



The same traveller relates an interesting example of the 

 : Cayman's tenacity of life. One of them having been wounded 

 .with a strong harpoon, was dragged upon a sand-bank. Here 

 the rays of the sun seemed to infuse new life into the monster, 

 for, awakening from his death-like torpidity, he suddenly 

 snapped about him with such rage that Schomburgk and his 

 assistants thought it prudent to retreat to a safer distance. 

 -Seizing a long and mighty pole, the bravest of the Indians now 

 went towards the Cayman, who awaited the attack with wide- 

 extended jaws, and plunged the stake deep into his maw — a 

 morsel which the brute did not seem to relish. Meanwhile 

 two other Indians approached him from behind, and kept 

 striking him with thick clubs upon the extremity of the tail. 

 At every blow upon this sensitive part, the monster bounded 

 in the air and extended his frightful jaws, which were each 

 time immediately regaled with a fresh thrust of the pole. 

 After a long and furious battle, the Cayman, who measured 

 twelve feet in length, was at last slain. Another remarkable 

 instance of the vitality of the common crocodile is mentioned 



