ENEMIES OF THE ALLIGATOR. 



639 



Band, leaving them to be hatched by the warm rays of the tropical sun. In some parts 

 of America, however, they have been observed to resort to a more ingenious metnod, 

 denoting a degree of provident instinct which could hardly have been expected in a 

 cold-blooded reptile. Raising a small hillock on the banks of the river, and hollowing 

 it out in the middle, they collect a quantity of leaves and other vegetable matters, in 

 which they deposit their eggs. These are covered with the leaves, and are hatched 

 by the heat extricated during their putrefaction, along with that of the atmosphere. 



The female Cayman continues for some time after their birth to watch over her 

 young with great care. One day, as Schomburgk, accompanied by an Indian, was 

 busy fishing on the banks of the Essequibo, he suddenly heard in the water a strange 

 noise, resembling the mewing of young cats. With eager curiosity he climbed along 

 the trunk of a tree overhanging the river, about three feet above the water, and saw 

 beneath him a brood of young alligators, about a foot and a half long. On his seizing 

 and lifting one of them out of the water, the mother, a creature of prodigious size, sud- 

 denly emerged with an appalling roar, making desperate efforts to reach her wriggling 

 and screeching offspring, and increasing in rage every time Schomburgk tantalized her 

 by holding it out to her. Having been wounded with an arrow, she retired for a few 

 moments, and then again returned with redoubled fury, lashing the waters into foam by 

 the repeated strokes of her tail. Schomburgk now cautiously retreated, as in case of a 

 fall into the water below, he would have had but little reason to expect a friendly re- 

 ception, the monster pertinaciously following him to the bank, but not deeming it ad- 

 visable to land, as here it seemed to feel its helplessness. The scales of the captured 

 young one were quite soft and pliable, as it was only a few days old, but it already had 

 the peculiar musk-like smell which characterizes the full-grown reptile. 



The young of the crocodiles have no less numerous enemies than those of the 

 snakes. Many an egg is destroyed in the hot sand by small carnivora, or birds, before 

 it can be hatched ; and as soon as the young creep out of the broken shell, and 

 instinctively move to the waters, the Ichneumon — a kind of weasel, to whom, on this 

 account, the ancient Egyptians paid divine homage — or the long-legged Heron gobble 

 up many of them, so that their span of life is short indeed. In the water they are not 

 only the prey of various sharp-toothed fishes, but even of the males of their own spe- 

 cies, while the females do all they can to protect them. Even the full-grown crocodile, 

 in spite of its bony harness, is not exempt from attack. Thus, in the river of Tabasco, 

 a tortoise of the genus Cinyxis^ after having been swallowed by the alligator, and, 

 thanks to its shelly case, arriving unharmed in its stomach, is said to have eaten its 

 way out again with its sharp beak, thus putting the monster to a most excruciating 

 death. Even man not only kills the hideous reptiles in self-defence, or for the sake of 

 sport, but for the purpose of regaling upon their flesh. In the Siamese markets and 

 bazaars, crocodiles, large and small, may be seen hanging in the butchers' stalls, instead 

 of mutton or lamb ; and Captain Stokes, who more than once supped off alligators 

 steaks, informs us that the meat is by no means bad, and has a white appearance like 

 veal. 



I have already mentioned, in the chapter on the Llanos, that in many tropical coun- 

 tries the aridity of the dry season produces a similar torpidity in reptile life to that 

 which is caused by the cold of winter in the higher latitudes. In Ceylon, when the 

 water-courses begin to fail and the tanks become exhausted, the marsh - crocodiles are 



