202 



WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



coming fast upon liim ; lie had been an able fellow in 

 bis younger days, and a gallant one too, for be bad a 

 large scar over bis eyebrow, caused by tbe stroke of a 

 cutlass, from anotber negro, wbile tbe Daddy was 

 engaged in an intrigue. 

 The back of ^be back of tbe cayman may be said to be 

 the Cayman, ^^jj^ost impenetrable to a musket ball, but 

 his sides are not near so strong, and are easily pierced 

 with an arrow ; indeed, were they as strong as tbe back 

 and tbe belly, there would be no part of tbe cayman's 

 body soft and elastic enough to admit of expansion after 

 taking in a supply of food. 



Tbe cayman has no grinders ; his teeth 

 are entirely made for snatch and swallow ; 

 there are thirty-two in each jaw. Perhaps no animal in 

 existence bears more decided marks in his countenance 

 of cruelty and malice than the cayman. He is the 

 scourge and terror of all the large rivers in South 

 America near the line. 



One Sunday evening, some years ago, as I was walk- 

 ing wdtb Don Felipe de Ynciarte, governor 

 of Angustura, on the bank of the Oroonoque, 

 " Stop here a minute or two^ Don Carlos," said he to 

 me, " while I recount a sad accident. One fine evening, 

 last year, as the people of Angustura were sauntering up 

 and down here, in the Alameda, I was within twenty 

 yards of this place, when I saw a large cayman rush out 

 of the river, seize a man, and carry him down, before 

 anybody had it in bis power to assist him. The screams 

 of the poor fellow were terrible as the cayman was run- 

 ning off with him. He plunged into the river with his 

 prey ; we instantly lost sight of him, and never saw or 

 heard him more." 



