406 GONAIVES. 



than that which the rain supplied was received ; and 

 rain does not commonly fall out of the season at 

 Gonaives. It was fed on the dead animals of the 

 plantation, and on sheep's entrails, but the people 

 frequently neglected it; and it did not seem that 

 in these intervals it got any food whatever, yet it 

 steadily continued its growth. This notice of the 

 penned-up reptile of Cocherel is most interesting for 

 the fact of its living deprived of water. This is 

 a circumstance, however, less remarkable of the Alli- 

 gator than of the Crocodile." 



The rapidity of growth in this reptile is mentioned 

 also in a note which I find in Robinson's MSS., and 

 which contains other interesting particulars. The 

 species alluded to we have no means of knowing ; 

 but the writer evidently supposed it identical with 

 the animal he was familiar with in Jamaica. " At a 

 place in Oxford Road, London, I saw a vigorous 

 young Alligator : I visited it several distinct times 

 after, and each time observed it surprisingly grown. 

 At first it might have been about 2~ ft. ; the last 

 time it was about 5 ft. long. It was kept in an open 

 wash-tub just covered with water: the mistress of 

 the house I saw feed it, which she did by opening 

 its jaws with her hands, and chucking in sprats, 

 which it swallowed instantly. It bore stroking or 

 any kind of handling most gently and patiently : 

 'twas as tame as any of her domestic animals. The 

 water, in the cold months, she informed me, she 

 made milk-warm for him to lie in ; yet, notwith- 

 standing, she assured me, this familiar creature would 

 several times in the day quit the tub, crawl to the 



