228 



THE ISl^HMtr^a 



the alligators^ I undressed and jumped in. The 

 boy assured me that they hardly ever came up so 

 high as Cruces ; though he showed me a place 

 lower down^ where he said a man who was im- 

 prudently swimming across the Chagres^ lost his 

 leg by a bite from one of these voracious mon- 

 sters. They haunt the fresh waters of the isth* 

 mus^ and indeed all the rivers on the Pacific 

 side of South America, within the tropics, 

 abound with them. I was informed at Panama, 

 that, in one of these rivers, an alligator of 

 enormous size, had attacked and overset a 

 canoe ; that they had been known to watch their 

 prey from the banks, and as the canoe moved 

 through the stream, to plunge in after it and 

 seize the body of the rower. 



I had settled to go down the Chagres as early 

 as possible the following morning, and with the 

 determination of not fatiguing myself any more, 

 but of retiring to rest in good time, I returned 

 to the house for the remainder of the evening. 

 I spent much of the time in discoursing with 



