406 
GONAIVES. 
than that which the rain supplied was received ; and 
rain does not commonly fall out of the season at 
Gonaives. It was fed on the dead animals of the 
plantation, and on sheep’s entrails, but the people 
frequently neglected it; and it did not seem that 
in these intervals it got any food whatever, yet it 
steadily continued its growth. This notice of the 
penned-up reptile of Cocherel is most interesting for 
the fact of its living deprived of water. This is 
a circumstance, however, less remarkable of the Alii' 
gator than of the Crocodile.” 
The rapidity of growth in this reptile is mentioned 
also in a note which I find in Robinson’s MSS., and 
which contains other interesting particulars. The 
species alluded to we have no means of knowing ; 
but the writer evidently supposed it identical with 
the animal he was familiar with in Jamaica. ‘‘ At a 
place in Oxford Road, London, I saw a vigorous 
young Alligator : I visited it several distinct times 
after, and each time observed it surprisingly grown. 
At first it might have been about ft. ; the last 
time it was about 5 ft. long. It was kept in an open 
wash-tub just covered with water: the mistress of 
the house I saw feed it, which she did by opening 
its jaws with her hands, and chucking in sprats, 
which it swallowed instantly. It bore stroking or 
any kind of handling most gently and patiently : 
’twas as tame as any of her domestic animals. The 
water, in the cold months, she informed me, she 
made milk-warm for him to lie in ; yet, notwith- 
standing, she assured me, this familiar creature would 
several times in the day quit the tub, crawl to the 
