CANINE STKATAGEM. 
401 
unused to devour. The inhabitants, aware of its 
timidity, fearlessly cross streams even when num- 
bers are swimming around ; but this is not done 
without some ruse. The Alligator, they say, is 
greedily partial to dogs, and surprises them often 
when they come to drink at the river. The voice 
of the dog will always draw them away from an 
object when prowling. Those who would cross a 
a river without any risk from their attacks, send a 
scout down the stream to imitate the canine bark, 
yelp, or howl, when away swim the Alligators for 
their prey, leaving an unmolested ford for the tra- 
veller higher up. Instinct has taught the dog to 
secure himself by a similar expedient. When it has 
to traverse a stretch of water, it boldly goes some 
distance down the stream, and howls and barks. On 
perceiving the Alligators congregating in eager cu- 
pidity to the spot, it creeps gently along the banks 
higher up, and swims over the w^ater without much 
fear of being pursued. 
This fact is universally asserted, and is unques- 
tionably true, but I doubt the conclusion. The 
well known habit of the Alligator, never to eat its 
food until in a state of putridity ^ negatives the sup- 
position that it has any particular choice in the flesh 
of its victim. The Ashes on which it preys, it probably 
devours immediately after it has caught them ; but 
all other things else, as soon as they are slain, are 
torn and mangled, limb by limb, and left to putrefy 
in the river, or in the sedge about its lurking place. 
It can have no particular preference, therefore, for 
the dog as food. I am disposed to ascribe this sus- 
