ENDURANCE OF THE ALLIGATOR. 305 



they are composed of elongated sections, bound firmly 

 together by strong sinews, like the many springs of a 

 cross-bow A gentleman, whose word was generally 

 believed, once asserted that he had seen the jaws of an 

 alHgator which, while the animal was alive, must have 

 possessed a gape of at least five feet. 



It would be quite impossible to form any idea of the 

 habits of the alligator from a study of the animal in a 

 state of captivity. Job himself could not be more 

 patient and gentle under affliction than this ugly reptile. 

 A naturalist, less humane than curious, once perma- 

 nently fastened open the mouth of one, and the animal 

 seemed perfectly satisfied to gape away its existence; 

 he then fastened it in the most helpless manner, and 

 then it made not the slightest resistance. After that he 

 tried to drown it by sinking it beneath great weights 

 under water, and still it remained passive. Another 

 experiment was to cram it with food, even going so far 

 as to thrust the huge meal down the animal's throat, 

 where it remained for several days without being acted 

 upon by the organs of digestion. By way of counter- 

 acting any evil that might have ensued from this, the 

 worthy man deprived it of all food for a space of several 

 weeks ; but the alligator refused to die, actually in- 

 creasing in size and fatness. Had it been well fed, it 

 would in all probability have gone into a decline. 



Sometimes, after having been most terribly wounded, 

 the alligator will escape, full of life and vitality, while 



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