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Age Se Se 
210 CROCODILES AND CHIGUIRES. 
passes at San Fernando without two or three per- 
sons being drowned by them, and related the his- 
tory of a young girl of Urituco who, by singular 
presence of mind, made her escape from one. 
Finding herself seized and carried into the water, 
she felt for the eyes of the animal, and thrust her 
fingers into them ; when the crocodile let her loose, 
after biting off the lower part of her left arm. Not- 
withstanding the quantity of blood which: she lost, 
she was still able to reach the shore by swimming 
with the right hand. Mungo Park’s guide, Isaaco, 
effected his preservation from a crocodile by employ- 
ing the same means. ‘The motions of these animals 
are abrupt and rapid when they attack an object, al- 
though they move very slowly when not excited. In 
running they make a rustling noise, which seems to 
proceed from their scales, and appear higher on their 
legs than-when at rest, at the same time bending the 
back. They generally advance in a straight line, but 
ean easily turn when they please. They swim with 
great facility, even against the most rapid current. 
On the Apure they seemed to live chiefly on the chi- 
guires (Cavia capybara), which feed in herds on the 
banks, and are of the size of our pigs. ‘These crea- 
tures have no weapons for defence, and are alter- 
nately the prey of the jaguars on land and of the 
crocodiles in the water. 
Stopping below the mouth of the Cano de la 
Figuera, in a sinuosity called La Vuelta del Joval, 
they measured the velocity of the current at its sur- 
face, which was only 3:4 feet in a second. Here 
they were surrounded by chiguires, swimming like 
dogs, with the head and neck out of the water. 
A large crocodile, which was sleeping on the shore 
