362 



humboldt's cuba. 



between the bay of Jagua, Batabano, and the isle of 

 Pines. It was at the latter that Dampier, so worthy 

 of eulogy as a physiological observer and intrepid 

 sailor, perceived clearly the great difference between 

 the cayman and the American cocodrilo. His state- 

 ments on this point, in his voyage to the bay of 

 Campeachy, might have excited the curiosity of the 

 learned a^century since, if zoologists would not so 

 often reject, with disdain, the observations of navi- 

 gators, and other travellers, who do not possess 

 scientific attainments, relative to animals. Dampier, 

 after having noticed many of the characteristics, 

 though not all with equal exactitude, that distinguish 

 the cocodrilo from the cayman, insists upon the 

 geographical distribution of these enormous sau- 

 rians. 



"In the bay of Campeachy," he says, "I have 

 seen only caymans or alligators; in the island of 

 Gran Cayman there are cocodrilos, and no alliga- 

 tors ; in the isle of Pines, and in the numerous 

 creeks of the coast of Cuba, there are cocodrilos 

 and caymans together." To these precious observa- 

 tions of Dampier I will add, that the true cocodrilo 

 (C. acutus) is also found in the Leeward Islands, 

 which are near to Costa Firma, as, for example, 

 Trinidad, Margarita, and probably also in Cura^oa, 

 notwithstanding the scarcity of fresh water. It is 



