A YOUNG NATURALIST. 293 



place ; and though TEncuerado, with his pole, shoved us onward 

 with energy, the numerous bends hindered our progress, and it 

 seemed as if night would surprise us still afloat. At last, the 

 palm trees became more crowded, and the stream emerged 

 from the forest, to cross a prairie ; here the raft was moored 

 under a canopy of creepers. 



Our first care was to stretch the tigers' skins on the heated 

 ground, and, whilst I was helping I'Encuerado, Sumichrast and 

 Lucien went off in quest of our dinners. The fire had been for 

 some time burning, when we heard a distant gunshot. 



Sumichrast returned laden with a green iguana, and Lucien 

 was dragging by a string a little alligator, about thirty inches 

 long. 



" Look, M. I'Encuerado," cried the boy ; " here is an alligator 

 or cayman, a relation of the lizards and an enemy of man. This 

 ugly young beast has only baby-teeth, so cannot bite much. 

 It feeds on fish, otters, calves, and many other animals. It is an 

 amphibious being, M. I'Encuerado, a creature that lays eggs like 

 fowls, but buries them in the sand, where the sun has to hatch 

 them ; it is a brute, too, which is so fond of man, that it eats 

 him whenever it has a chance. 



" Take care it does not bite you," said I to the boy ; " how did 

 you manage to catch it 1 " 



" I pursued it, thinking it was a big lizard ; M. Sumichrast 

 called out to me not to handle it, and then tied this creeper 

 round its neck." 



" You don't intend to take it away with you, I hope." 



" No ; it is an ill-tempered creature, and is always anxious to use 

 its teeth. I shall just show it to Master Job, and then let it go." 



Neither Job nor his companions seemed flattered by this in- 

 troduction, and the boy was disappointed when he deposited it 

 at the water's edge ; for instead of plunging in, as he expected, 

 it made a semicircle, and ran off towards the forest. 



" Don't young alligators know how to swim % " he asked. 



"Yes, Ghanito ; but they do not go into the water till they are 

 old enough to defend themselves against the big males which 

 would devour them." 



