418 lyson's estate. 



" There was so much disparity between the tem- 

 perature of the springs we visited, as they welled out 

 and jetted up at the foot of great-grown and em- 

 bowering Ceiba Cotton-trees, and that of the chill 

 morning air (a difference of some dozen or fourteen 

 degrees), that the surface of the stream reeked again. 

 Folds of vapour rising through the sedges, and curl- 

 ing away in thin fleeces of clouds, prepared us to 

 hear that the numerous Caymans which inhabit this 

 river found its banks a very successful lurking-place 

 for prey. We were shown a weir across the water- 

 course, just within reach of the sea, which a large 

 Cayman a day or two previously had been seen 

 deliberately battering to pieces, by laying himself 

 broadside against it, and lashing his tail at the 

 stakes. The stockade fell slanting, making a sort of 

 chevaux-de-frise. The Cayman was unable to get 

 over in this position ; so he bethought himself, in his 

 new difficulty, of regaining the land, and passing the 

 weir by the bank, re-entering the stream, and taking 

 the river upward, after all his toilsome mischief." 



The following is the repetition of a well-known 

 and deservedly celebrated exploit : — 



*' Some time in the spring of 29 or 30 (most pro- 

 bably in March, 1830), a Cayman from the neigh- 

 bouring Lagoons of Lyson's Estate in St. Thomas's 

 in the East, that used occasionally to poach the ducks 

 and ducklings, having free warren about the Water- 

 mill, was taken in his prowl, and killed. All sorts of 

 suspicion was entertained about the depredator among 

 the ducks, till the Crocodile was surprised lounging 

 in one of the ponds after a night's plunder. Downie, 



