146 Ancient Giants 



ing but the humble moss and other lowly vege- 

 tation could secure a foothold. I noticed sud- 

 denly a disturbance up-stream, and suspecting 

 that a dweller of this solitude was approaching 

 a specially seductive patch of rushes and horse 

 tails across the stream, I backwatered my boat 

 into the fringe of vegetation near the eastern 

 shore, until it was completely hidden in an am- 

 buscade of verdure. I anchored by means of a 

 large concretion attached to a rope, of the run- 

 ning vine already mentioned. Carefully crawl- 

 ing to the front of the boat where I had made a 

 small deck, I stretched at full length, and part- 

 ing the rushes had an uninterrupted view of the 

 bayou. Soon, I saw the white foam ripple off 

 the huge back and tail of a swimming reptile. A 

 duck-bill if you please, that was rapidly ap- 

 proaching. The huge elongated head and short 

 front webbed feet, the great body, and enormous 

 swimming tail, the last as long as the entire 

 body, made up a total length of about thirty-five 

 feet. The tail was nearly three feet high, where 

 it left the body, terminating in a small point over 

 sixteen feet away. It was the main propellor 

 that hurried him on his way to his pasture 

 ground, in graceful and powerful undulations, 

 aided by his paddle-like front limbs, feet and 

 great hind limbs ten feet long. The water gur- 

 gled, and foamed, little patches of foam, were 

 caught up by the passing breeze and carried to 

 leeward. Soon he passed at full speed within 



