360 



humboldt's cuba. 



Two of the latter reached Havana alive, the oldest 

 being about four feet three inches long. Their cap- 

 ture had been very difficult, and they were brought 

 to the city muzzled, tied upon the back of a jack- 

 mule. They were strong and ferocious, and in order 

 to observe their habits and movements, we put them 

 in a large room, where, from the top of a high table, 

 we could see them attacked by dogs. 



Having been for six months on the Orinoco, 

 Apure, and Magdalena rivers, in the midst of coco- 

 drilos, we observed with renewed pleasure, before 

 our return to Europe, these singular animals, that 

 pass with an astonishing rapidity from a state of 

 complete immobility to the most impetuous motion. 

 Those which were sent to us from Batabano as coco- 

 drilos, had the snout as pointed as those of the 

 Orinoco and Magdalena (Crocodilus acutus, Cuv.) ; 

 their color was somewhat darker, being a blackish- 

 green on the back, and white on the belly, with yel- 

 low spots on the sides. I counted thirty-eight teeth 

 in the upper, and thirty in the lower jaw, as in the 

 true crocodile. Of the upper teeth, the ninth and 

 tenth, and of the lower, the first and fourth, were 

 the largest. The description which Bonpland and 

 myself made on the spot at Costa Firma, expressly 

 states that the fourth lower tooth projects freely over 

 the upper jaw ; the posterior extremities were fiat- 



