SIZE OF THE ALLIGATOR. 295 



thougli somewhat scientific, planters, who have actually 

 squirted the juice and blown the smoke of tobacco into 

 their eyes in order to test the truth of the old fable. 



Very few of the backwoodsmen, even if they kill an 

 alligator, trouble themselves to measure or examine it, 

 and thus the reports with regard to its size are very 

 conflicting. A gentleman, owning a plantation on the 

 Eed Elver, where alligators are very numerous, offered 

 a reward of one hundred dollars to anyone who would 

 bring him, dead or alive, an alligator twenty feet in 

 length. Although the game was plentiful, and there 

 was no lack of hunters, the reward was unclaimed, 

 though I have no doubt it might have easily been 

 obtained by anyone willing to devote a little time to 

 the pursuit. 



A man one morning hauled a live alligator which 

 measured fifteen feet in length into the market-place at 

 Gralveston. He had taken the animal on the borders 

 of a lake just below the town. A yoke of stout young- 

 oxen was required to drag the team along; but I am 

 certain I have seen specimens of greater length. 



In the breeding season the male alligators — bulls they 

 are called — utter a loud bellowing which can be heard 

 for miles ; by listening very attentively, a perceptible 

 vibration of the air can be felt. This sound will give 

 no idea how far distant the listener may be from the 

 reptile ; for, while at one moment the sonorous bass 

 rolls out clear and distinct as thunder, the next moment 



