STRENGTH OF THE ALLIGATOR'S TAIL. 299 



teeth into very pretty little trinkets, making powder- 

 measures with which they charge their rifles, hanging 

 them round their necks with a buckskin thong. 



The alligator uses his long flexible tail not only to 

 assist him in his rapid movement through the water, 

 but as an offensive and defensive weapon. I have 

 often witnessed its great power. While hunting one 

 day in company with a man named Steadman, amongst 

 some tall flags w^hich grew along the banks of a small 

 bayou, my companion observed some deer feeding upon 

 the other side of the creek. He at once determined to 

 try and get a shot at them from the shelter of the flags 

 on the other side, and for that purpose dismounted, 

 handinsf me the bridle of his horse to hold, while he 

 waded through the mud and water. I waited im- 

 patiently expecting to hear his rifle ; but in a few 

 minutes I saw him returning with a corpse-like coun- 

 tenance and a limping gait. The unlucky hunter told 

 me that he had by accident stepped upon or touched an 

 alligator, who had resented the unintentional insult by 

 a severe blow with its tail. Several days passed be- 

 fore he recovered from the effects of that knock-down 

 blow. 



On another occasion an alligator had been shot, and 

 was supposed to be perfectly dead, when an inex- 

 perienced hunter, wishing to test the strength and 

 hardness of its scaly plate-armour, attempted to drive 

 his knife into the animals foreshoulder. Eound came 



