200 INDIAN GIRL—CROCODILES. 
years of age, quite naked, lying on her back, ex- 
hausted with fatigue and thirst, and with her eyes, 
nostrils, and mouth, filled with dust.. Her breath- 
ing was stertorous, and she was unable to answer 
the questions put to her. Happily one of the mules 
was laden with water, the application of which to 
her face aroused her. She was at first frightened, 
but by degrees took courage, and conversed with 
the guides. As she could not be prevailed upon to 
mount the beasts of burden, nor to return to Urituco, 
she was furnished with some water ; upon which she 
resumed her way, and was soon separated from her 
preservers by a cloud of dust. 
In the night they forded the Rio Urituco, which 
is filled with crocodiles remarkable for their ferocity, 
although those of the Rio Tisnao in the neighbour- 
hood are not at all dangerous. They were shown 
a hut or shed, in which a singular scene had been 
witnessed by their host of Calabozo, who, having 
slept in it upon a bench covered with leather, was 
awakened early in the morning by a violent shak- 
ing, accompanied with a horrible noise. Presently 
an alligator two or three feet long issued from under 
the bed, and darted at a dog lying on the threshold, 
but missing him ran toward the river. When the 
spot where the bench stood was examined, the dried 
mud was found turned up to a considerable depth, 
where the alligator had lain in its state of torpidity 
or summer sleep. The hut being situated on the 
edge of a pool, and inundated during part of the 
year, the animal had no doubt entered at that 
period and concealed itself in the mire. The In- 
dians often find enormous boas, or water-serpents, 
in the same lethargic state. 
