A NOCTURNAL VISITOR 



421 



One day I amused myself by taking a basketful of frag- 

 ments of meat beyond the line of ranchos, and drawing 

 the alligators towards me by feeding them. They behaved 



?retty much as dogs do when fed ; catching the bones 

 threw them in their huge jaws, and coming nearer and 

 showing increased eagerness after every morsel. The 

 enormous gape of their mouths, with their blood-red lining 

 and long fringes of teeth, and the uncouth shapes of 

 their bodies, made a picture of unsurpassable ugliness. 

 I once or twice fired a heavy charge of shot at them, 

 aiming at the vulnerable part of their bodies, which is 

 a small space situated behind the eyes, but this had no 

 other effect than to make them give a hoarse grunt and 

 shake themselves ; they immediately afterwards turned 

 to receive another bone which I threw to them. 



Every day these visitors became bolder ; at length 

 they reached a pitch of impudence that was quite in- 

 tolerable. Cardozo had a poodle dog named Carlito, 

 which some grateful traveller whom he had befriended 

 had sent him from Rio Janeiro. He took great pride 

 in this dog, keeping it well sheared, and preserving his 

 coat as white as soap and water could make it. We slept 

 in our rancho in hammocks slung between the outer 

 posts ; a large wood fire (fed with a kind of wood abundant 

 on the banks of the river, which keeps alight all night) 

 being made in the middle, by the side of which slept 

 Carlito on a little mat. Well, one night I was awoke by a 

 great uproar. It was caused by Cardozo hurling burning 

 firewood with loud curses at a huge cayman which had 

 crawled up the bank and passed beneath my hammock 

 (being nearest the water) towards the place where Carlito 

 lay. The dog had raised the alarm in time ; the reptile 

 backed out and tumbled down the bank to the water, 

 the sparks from the brands hurled at him flying from 

 his bony hide. To our great surprise the animal (we 

 supposed it to be the same individual) repeated his visit 

 the very next night, this time passing round to the other 

 side of our shed. Cardozo was awake, and threw a har- 

 poon at him, but without doing him any harm. After 

 this it was thought necessary to make an effort to check 

 the alligators ; a number of men were therefore persuaded 

 to sally forth in their montarias and devote a day to 

 killing them. 



The young men made several hunting excursions during 



