THEIH TEKOCITT. 
155 
every zone, in America as in Egypt, this animal attains the 
same size. The species so abundant in the Apure, the 
Orinoco,* and the Itio de la Magdalena, is not a cayman, 
but a real crocodile, analagous to that of the Nile, having 
feet dentated at the external edges. When it is recollected 
that the male enters the age of puberty only at ten years, 
a »d that its length is then eight feet, we may presume that 
the crocodile measured by M. Eonpland was at least twentv- 
ei ght years old. The Indians told us, that at San Fernando 
scarcely a year passes, without two or thrco grown-up 
persons, particularly women who fetch water from the river, 
! >eing drowned by these carnivorous reptiles. They related 
P 0 ns the history* of a young girl of (Jritucu, who by singular 
intrepidity and presence of mind, saved herseli from the jaws 
°t a crocodile. When she felt herself seized, she sought the 
e )' e s of the animal, and plunged her lingers into them with 
s Ucli violence, that the pain forced the crocodile to let her 
after having bitten off the lower part of her left arm. 
Ihe girl, notwithstanding the enormous quantity of blood she 
lost. 
reached the shore, swimming with the hand that still 
remained to her. In those desert countries, where man is 
Pv er wrestling with nature, discourse daily turns on the best. 
‘ Qe ans that may be employed to escape from a tiger, a boa, or 
‘l Orocodile ; every one prepares himself in some Bort lor the 
.ngers that may await him. “I knew,” said the young 
gni of Uritucu coolly, “that the cayman lets go his hold, if 
y° u push your fingers into his eyes.” Long after my 
tetur n to Europe, I learned that in the interior of Africa the 
negroes know and practise the same means of defence. Who 
t P es not recollect, with lively interest, Isaac, the guide of 
e- unfortunate Mungo Park, who was seized twice by a 
^ocodile, and twice escaped from the jaws of the monster, 
e avin g succeeded in thrusting his lingers into the creature’s 
>us while under water. The African Isaac, and the young 
nimricaa girl, owed their safety to the same presence of 
nd, and the same combination of ideas, 
a, i 16 movements of the crocodile of the Apure are sudden 
.1 ra pid when it attacks any object; but it moves with 
e slowness of a salamander," when not excited by rage 
* if • 
India" lS tllC arua of tlie Tamanac Indians, the amana of the Maypurs 
ns , the Crocodilus acutus of Cuvier. 
