alligators' antipathy to dogs. 385 



poisonous ; but I found it excellent, and never experi- 

 enced any bad consequences. It is white and firm, and 

 looks and tastes like fish, but the tail must be cut off 

 immediately, and the back-bone taken out, or it acquires 

 the musty smell peculiar to these animals. 



After this, I always took a companion with me, and 

 when one had fired, the other harpooned, which made 

 the work easier. However fearful the alligators may 

 be of white men, it is extraordinary how furiously they 

 will attack negroes and dogs, particularly the latter. I 

 was standing one afternoon, harpoon in hand, up to the 

 Avaist in water, and although plenty of alligators were 

 swimming about, none of them would come close 

 enough, when, acting on the impulse of the moment, I 

 attempted to attract them by imitating the bark of a 

 (log ; — fifteen or sixteen big fellows came straight 

 towards me, as soon as they heard it ! This was too 

 much of a good thing : standing so deep in water, I was 

 hardly master of my movements, and began to step out 

 as fast as possible for the shore, about a hundred feet 

 distant; I then recommenced my bark, but as I was 

 fully exposed to view, they were afraid of coming close, 

 though they kept swimming round at a respectable dis- 

 tance. 



The predominant religion in Louisiana is the Roman 

 Catholic, with this difference in the arrangements, that 

 the priest is chosen by the congregation, and the bishop 

 has nothing to say in the matter. Some, time since, 

 the people had dismissed their priest, being dissatisfied 

 with him ; but, as he had been invested by the bishop, 

 he maintained that the bishop alone could remove him, 

 and taking JVIr. Beattie for his advocate, he indicted 

 33 



