420 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



supper of fish on which he had set his mind. After a short time 3 

 paddled his boat again to the middle of the lagoon, caught a 

 handsome dish of trout, and a second time returned to the 

 shore. As he was preparing the fish for supper, he looked up 

 and saw a gigantie alligator coming from the water, and 

 preparing to spring at him ; he instantly drew back, and the 

 disappointed monster retreated, sweeping several of the cap- 

 tured fish into the water by the flourish of his tail. 



But the grandest scene is yet to come: " How," says 

 Bartram, " shall I express myself so as to convey an adequate 

 idea of it to my readers, and at the same time avoid raising 

 suspicions of my veracity? The river, in this place, from 

 shore to shore, and perhaps nearly half a mile above and below 

 me, appeared to be one solid bank of fish of various kinds, 

 pushing through the narrow pass of St. Juan's into the little 

 lake on their return down the river, and the alligators followed 

 them in such incredible numbers, and so close together from 

 shore to shore, that it would have been easy to have walked 

 across on their heads had the animals been harmless. What 

 expressions can sufficiently declare the shocking scene that for 

 some minutes continued, whilst this mighty army of fish were 

 forcing the pass ? Thousands, I may say hundreds of thou- 

 sands of them, were caught and swallowed by the devouring 

 alligators. I saw an alligator take up several great fish at a 

 time out of the water, and just squeeze them between his jaws, 

 while their tails flapped about his ears and eyes ere he could 

 swallow them. The horrid noise of their closing jaws, their 

 plunging amid the broken banks of fish, and rising with their 

 prey some feet upright above the water, the floods of blood and 

 water rushing from their mouths, and the clouds of vapour 

 issuing from their wide nostrils, were truly frightful." 



We seriously recommend the Floridas to the attention of 

 our valued friend, the author of the Letters of Delta; we 

 particularly call his attention to " Crocodile Lick," as we 

 presume the spot in question is now named. It is all very 

 well for him to talk of the wonders of South America, but here 

 we have a plain simple history by a man of strict veracity, an 

 humble-minded Quaker, employed by the late Dr. Fothergill, 

 of London, to collect facts in natural history in this unex- 

 plored region. Waterton the Wanderer has been disbelieved 

 because he states a few particulars about a solitary cayman, 



