266 
EXCUESlOISrS AROUND EGA. Chap. IV. 
It will be well to mention here a few circumstances 
relative to the large Cayman, which, with the incident 
just narrated, afford illustrations of the cunning, cow- 
ardice and ferocity of this reptile. 
I have hitherto had but few occasions of mentioning 
alligators, although they exist by myriads in the waters of 
the Upper Amazons. Many different species are spoken 
of by the natives. I saw only three, and of these two 
only are common : one, the Jacare-tinga, a small kind 
(five feet long when full grown) having a long slender 
muzzle and a black-banded tail ; the other, the Jacare- 
uassu, to which these remarks more especially relate ; 
and the third the Jacar^-curua, mentioned in a 
former chapter. The Jacare-uassu, or large Cayman, 
grows to a length of eighteen or twenty feet, and 
attains an enormous bulk. Like the turtles, the alli- 
gator has its annual migrations, for it retreats to the 
interior pools and flooded forests in the wet season, 
and descends to the main river in the dry season. 
During the months of high water, therefore, scarcely a 
single individual is to be seen in the main river. In 
the middle part of the Lower Amazons, about Obydos 
and Villa Nova, where many of the lakes with their 
channels of communication with the trunk stream, dry 
up in the fine months, the alligator buries itself in the 
mud and becomes dormant, sleeping till the rainy 
season returns. On the Upper Amazons, where the dry 
season is never excessive, it has not this habit, but is 
lively all the year round. It is scarcely exaggerating 
to say that the waters of the Solimoens are as well- 
stocked with large alligators in the dry season, as a 
