38 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



are mere long-stagnant pools— water left in the deeper 

 hollows of the bed when, after the last rainy season, the 

 river subsided. 



The largest of the real streams runs immediately 

 below me ; it flows along the base of the bank on which 

 the terrace is situated. This stream is sufficiently broad 

 and deep, indeed, to merit the appellation of a river, and 

 its current, though slow, is still quite easily apparent. 



On the other side of this stream there are a number 

 of melon gardens ; they extend along the margin of the 

 stream for a quarter of a mile or more, and form quite 

 a little oasis, and one most pleasant to contemplate. 

 Hardly anything can be prettier than the contrast of 

 the bright yellow of the melons and the deep, rich, cool 

 green of their great broad leaves. 



The chief interest of the river-bed lies, however, in its 

 animals. Although it is but a mere strip of sand and 

 stream, yet, as regards the living creatures that inhabit 

 it, it appears like another region, so many are the birds, 

 reptiles, and other forms of life upon it which are never 

 seen in the vast tracts of country that lie on either side. 



This afternoon, as I sit on the terrace, the creatures 

 most in evidence are a party of some five or six great 

 alligators. They lie basking on a sand bank not far 

 distant ; they lie with their bodies flat on the sand, much 

 resembling so many logs of timber, as large, as rough, 

 and quite as motionless. Three of them have their 

 mouths wide open ; the lower jaws stand out horizontally; 

 the upper jaws point upwards, almost perpendicularly, 

 to the sky. Long, narrow, sharp at the ends, they suggest 

 the idea of three enormous pairs of open scissors. 



