Chap. IV. 
ALLIGATORS. 
269 
appearance in the shallow and muddy water. We were 
all obliged to be very careful in taking our bath ; most 
of the people simply using a calabash, pouring the water 
over themselves whilst standing on the brink. A large 
trading canoe, belonging to a Barra merchant named 
Soares, arrived at this time, and the Indian crew, as 
usual, spent the first day or two after their coming in 
port, in drunkenness and debauchery ashore. One of the 
men, during the greatest heat of the day when almost 
every one was enjoying his afternoon's nap, took it into 
his head whilst in a tipsy state to go down alone to 
bathe. He was seen only by the Juiz de Paz, a feeble 
old man who was lying in his hammock, in the open 
verandah at the rear of his house on the top of the bank, 
and who shouted to the besotted Indian to beware of the 
alligator. Before he could repeat his warning, the man 
stumbled, and a pair of gaping jaws, appearing suddenly 
above the surface, seized him round the waist and drew 
him under the water. A cry of agony " Ai Jesus ! " 
was the last sign made by the wretched victim. The 
village was aroused : the young men with praiseworthy 
readiness seized their harpoons and hurried down to 
the bank ; but of course it was too late, a winding 
track of blood on the surface of the water, was all that 
could be seen. They embarked, however, in montarias, 
determined on vengeance : the monster was traced, 
and when, after a' short lapse of time, he came up to 
breathe — one leg of the man sticking out from his 
jaws — was dispatched with bitter curses. 
The last of these minor excursions which I shall 
