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dom longer, although, as it grows in years, its 

 thickness and the size of its jaws and head become 

 greatly increased. It runs away on being encoun- 

 tered, and conceals itself; and it is only dangerous 

 if trampled upon by accident, or if attacked ; but 

 then its bite is a dreadful one, not only from its 

 tongue being armed with a sting (the venom of 

 which is very powerful, although not mortal), but 

 from its teeth being so brittle that they generally 

 break in the wound, and as it is hardly possible to 

 extract the pieces entirely, the wound corrupts, 

 and becomes an incurable sore of the most offensive 

 nature. Luckily, these reptiles are very scarce, 

 but nothing can exceed the terror and aversion in 

 which they are held by the negroes. This dead one 

 had been lying in the room for several hours, yet, 

 on my servant's accidentally stirring the board on 

 which the galli-wasp was stretched for my inspec- 

 tion, my little negro servant George darted out of 

 the room in terror, and was at the bottom of the 

 staircase in a moment. The skin of this animal 

 appeared to be like shagreen in looks and strength, 

 and was almost entirely composed of layers of very 

 small scales ; the colours were brownish-yellow 

 and olive-green, the teeth numerous and piercing, 

 and the claws of the feet very long and sharp : 

 altogether it is a hideous and disgusting creature. 

 As to the alligator of Jamaica, it is a timid animal, 

 which never was known to attack the human 

 species, though it frequently takes the liberty of 



