22 WILD SPORTS IN THE SOUTH. 



nest, sometimes to the number of an hundred. The heat en- 

 gendered by the sun, and by fermentation, hatches out the young, 

 which are about six inches in length, and when hatched they 

 immediately take refuge in the shallow waters. When young they 

 are prettily barred in yellow and chocolate colours, and provide for 

 themselves the moment they are hatched ; and the mother, who 

 during incubation constantly lies by the nest, then leaves it and 

 seeks other enjoyments. 



On Sapelo Island one winter day the negroes were draining a 

 pond when they found an alligator ten feet in length, buried in 

 the mud, hybernating. They hitched a log chain around his tail, 

 and, fastening the other end to the traces of a team of mules that 

 was employed in the work, drew the animal out of his retreat, and 

 proposed to pull him up to the house. The friction of the warm 

 sand revived him, and he spread out his feet and commenced to 

 pull in the other direction. The mules turned their heads to see 

 what stopped their progress. They gave but one look at their 

 load, then jumped as only a mule can ; the traces broke, and 

 the mules ran one way to their home, while the alligator ran the 

 other way to his home in the bayou. 



