length; by which, like the shark, he sometimes severs the 
human body at a single bite: the annals of the Nile and 
Ganges, although wonderful, are not fabulous. The upper jaw only 
of the alligator was thought to be moveable; that is now com- 
pletely disproved: the eyes are of a dull green, with a brilliant 
pupil, covered by a transparent pellicle, moveable as in birds: from 
the heads of those of large size, musk is frecjuenlly extracted. 
The alligator sometimes basks in the sun-beams on the banks 
of the river, but oftener floats on its surface; there, concealing 
his head and feet, he appears like the rough trunk of a tree, both 
in shape and colour: by this deception clogs and other animals 
fearless^ approach, and are suddenly plunged to the bottom by 
their insidious foe: even the ro}^! tiger becomes his prey, quitting 
the cover to drink at the river; the wily alligator, concealed under 
water, steals along the bank, and suddenly emerging, furiously 
attacks the tiger, who never declines the combat: the alligator 
generally loses his eyes, and receives dreadful wounds on the head, 
but at length plunges his adversary into an unnatural element, and 
there devours him. 
The astonishing size and strength of the alligator and croco- 
dile render them very terrible: the small ones live chiefly on fish; 
and, far from attacking the human species, dive instantly on their 
approach: the female sometimes lays three or four hundred eggs, 
which she covers with sand to be vivified by the sun; in about 
a month the brood break the shell and instinctively take to the 
water. I kept a small one several months in a garden pool, 
but growing large and destructive to my poultry, I set h im at 
iibertcu 
