412 
NICARAGUA. 
palms festooned and clustered with gaily-coloured 
bind-weeds, shadowed a little basin which collected 
the current of a spring that ran dashing and spark- 
ling from the rocks. The fountain was always cool, 
for it was constantly refreshed from the mountain. 
The sun’s rays played within the foliage ; and the 
Cayman lay on the sunny waters, indulging his soli- 
tary passion in dreamy quietness. The nightly dews 
dripping from the herbage, and the oozy rivulet 
winding among the shrubs, tempted the frogs at 
nightfall within his prowl ; for every morning saw 
the putrid food of the previous day devoured, and 
fresh carcases mangled and torn and stuffed into the 
crevices of the pond, and fresh pieces of meat in the 
Cayman’s mouth, to afford him the imaginative en- 
joyment of holding a struggling victim between his 
teeth while he quietly rested afloat and killed it. 
When I was looking on at the skinning of the 
Crocodile, I related the foregoing among other 
traits of instinct to the Mosquitan Consul, General 
M‘Chrysty, who was at this time a guest at the 
King’s House. He mentioned to me that this ex- 
plained what he had frequently seen on the Lake 
of Nicaragua. There he had observed the Caymans 
throw up into the air fresh-captured fish, which 
they afterwards caught in their mouth, and then 
threw up again. This they continued to do several 
times. This was another way of killing prey. It 
would be labour in vain to endeavour to drown a 
fish ; the Cayman therefore killed it by keeping it in 
the air. This incident had been mentioned to me 
before, but the object of it was not clearly made out. 
I now see that it was another application of instinct 
