52 THE WONDERS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



dagger in his hand pursued the robber. He overtook and fought the animal with such success as to 

 recover his wife, but unfortunately for her brave rescuer, she died before she could be brought to the 

 shore. 



On the other hand, however, we are informed by Dampier, that the alligators about the Bay of 

 Campeachy, probably from their having a full supply of food, are by no means so ferocious as they 

 are represented to be in other places. He never knew them attack a man, but he has often seen them 

 run away from the sailors. He has drank out of a pond full of them, where the water was not deep 

 enough even to cover their backs, and the pond itself was so small that he could get no water but by 

 going within two yards of an alligator's nose, the animals lying all the while with their heads towards 

 him. Dampier and some of his men were one day passing through a swamp, two or three feet deep 

 in water, when they perceived the strong musky scent of an alligator. Presently afterwards he stumbled 

 over one of these animals, and fell down; he called out loudly to his companions for assistance, but 

 they ran off as fast as their legs could carry them towards the woods. He had no sooner recovered 

 himself than he stumbled over the animal a second and afterwards a third time, but at last he got off 

 in safety. This adventure, however, had such an effect upon him, that he never again went through 

 any extensive water whilst he remained in the Bay of Campeachy. 



The voice of these animals is very loud and dreadful, and they have an unpleasant and powerful 

 musky scent. M. Pages saj's, that near one of the rivers in America, where the alligators were nume- 

 rous, their effluvium was so strong as to impregnate his provisions, and even to give them the nauseous 

 taste of rotten musk. This effluvium proceeds chiefly from four glands, two of which are situated in 

 the groin, near each thigh, and the other two at the breast, one under each fore leg. Dampier informs 

 us, that when his men killed an alligator, they generally took out these glands, and after having dried 

 them, wore them in their hats by way of perfume. 



It appears that the alligator, when caught young, may in some measure be domesticated. Dr. 

 Brickell saw one in a large pond before a planter's house. It remained there nearly half a year, during 

 which time it was regularly fed with the entrails of fowls and raw meat. It frequently came into the 

 house, where it would remain for a short time, and then return again to its shelter in the pond. It is 

 supposed at last to have stolen away to a creek near the plantation, for it was one day missing, and 

 from that time was never afterwards seen. 



When alligators are very numerous, they will sometimes endeavour to get into the canoes or boats 

 that pass their haunts during the night. M. de la Borde of Cayenne, says, he has often seen them 

 attempt to raise themselves against the sides of small boats in that river. He informs us also that the 

 alligators which inhabit the lakes of South America are sometimes left dry, in consequence of the water 

 evaporating. In this case, they subsist by catching birds or land animals, or even live a long time 

 without food. 



The teeth of the alligator are as white as ivory, and snuff-boxes, chargers for guns, and several kinds 

 of toys, are manufactured from them. The flesh of the young animals is said to be white, and 

 tolerably palatable, but that of the old ones, although it is eaten by many of the American tribes, is, 

 from its strong scent, extremely unpleasant to an European palate. 



As Providence seems to have appointed the lion to the dominion of the immense deserts of the 

 Torrid Zone, the eagle to ride as sovereign of the air, and has committed the government of the seas 

 to the whale, so it seems to have appointed the crocodile and the alligator to rule over the shores of the 

 immense rivers of tropical climates. Living, as it were, in the confines both of land and water, these 

 enormous animals extend their dominion equally over the inhabitants of both elements. Here they 

 enjoy an absolute rule, and dread none of the common dangers which assault other less powerful 

 animals. 



