CANINE STRATAGEM. 401 



unused to devour. The inhabitants, aware of its 

 timidity, fearlessly cross streams even when num- 

 bers are swimming around ; but this is not done 

 without some ruse. The Alligator, they say, is 

 greedily partial to dogs, and surprises them often 

 when they come to drink at the river. The voice 

 of the dog will always draw them away from an 

 object when prowling. Those who would cross a 

 a river without any risk from their attacks, send a 

 scout down the stream to imitate the canine bark, 

 yelp, or howl, when away swim the Alligators for 

 their prey, leaving an unmolested ford for the tra- 

 veller higher up. Instinct has taught the dog to 

 secure himself by a similar expedient. When it has 

 to traverse a stretch of water, it boldly goes some 

 distance down the stream, and howls and barks. On 

 perceiving the Alligators congregating in eager cu- 

 pidity to the spot, it creeps gently along the banks 

 higher up, and swims over the water without much 

 fear of being pursued. 



" This fact is universally asserted, and is unques- 

 tionably true, but I doubt the conclusion. The 

 well known habit of the Alligator, never to eat its 

 food until in a state oi putridity, negatives the sup- 

 position that it has any particular choice in the flesh 

 of its victim. The fishes on which it preys, it probably 

 devours immediately after it has caught them ; but 

 all other things else, as soon as they are slain, are 

 torn and mangled, limb by limb, and left to putrefy- 

 in the river, or in the sedge about its lurking place. 

 It can have no particular preference, therefore, for 

 the dog as food. I am disposed to ascribe this sus- 



