ALLIGATORS 



359 



behind the reptile's tail, bathers were obliged to beat a 

 quick retreat. I was never threatened myself, but I often 

 saw the crowds of women and children scared whilst bath- 

 ing by the beast making a movement towards them ; a 

 general scamper to the shore and peals of laughter were 

 always the result in these cases. The men can always 

 destroy these alligators when they like to take the trouble 

 to set out with montarias and harpoons for the purpose, 

 but they never do it unless one of the monsters, bolder than 

 usual, puts some one's life in danger. This arouses them, 

 and they then track the enemy with the greatest pertin- 

 acity ; when half killed they drag it ashore and despatch 

 it amid loud execrations. Another, however, is sure to 

 appear some days or weeks afterwards, and take the vacant 

 place on the station. Besides alligators, the only animals 

 to be feared are the poisonous serpents. These are cer- 

 tainly common enough in the forest, but no accident 

 happened during the whole time of my residence. 



I suffered most inconvenience from the difficulty of 

 getting news from the civilized world down river, from 

 the irregularity of receipt of letters, parcels of books and 

 periodicals, and towards the latter part of my residence 

 from ill health arising from bad and insufficient food. The 

 want of intellectual society, and of the varied excitement 

 of European life, was also felt most acutely, and this, instead 

 of becoming deadened by time, increased until it became 

 almost insupportable. I was obliged, at last, to come to 

 the conclusion that the contemplation of Nature alone is 

 not sufficient to fill the human heart and mind. I got 

 on pretty well when I received a parcel from England 

 by the steamer once in two or four months. I used to 

 be very economical with my stock of reading lest it should 

 be finished before the next arrival and leave me utterly 

 destitute. I went over the periodicals. The Athenceum, 

 for instance, with great deliberation, going through every 

 number three times ; the first time devouring the more 

 interesting articles, the second, the whole of the remainder ; 

 and the third, reading all the advertisements from beginning 

 to end. If four months (two steamers) passed without a 

 fresh parcel, I felt discouraged in the extreme. I was 

 worst off in the first year, 1850, when twelve months 

 elapsed without letters or remittances. Towards the end 

 of this time my clothes had worn to rags ; I was barefoot, 

 a great inconvenience in tropical forests, notwithstanding 



