206 
WANDERINGS IN 
THIRD 
JOURNEY 
Noise of 
the Cay- 
men. 
coverers of South America, it lias kept it ever since. 
It is a cruel, strong, and dangerous beast, but not 
so courageous as the Bengal tiger. 
We now baited a shark-hook with a large fish, 
and put it upon a board about a yard long, and one 
foot broad, which we had brought on purpose. This 
board was carried out in the canoe, about forty yards 
into the river. By means of a string, long enough 
to reach the bottom of the river, and at the end of 
which string was fastened a stone, the board was 
kept, as it were, at anchor. One end of the new rope 
I had bought in town, was reeved through the chain 
of the shark-hook, and the other end fastened to a 
tree on the sand-bank. 
It was now an hour after sunset. The sky was 
cloudless, and the moon shone beautifully bright. 
There was not a breath of wind in the heavens, and 
the river seemed like a large plain of quicksilver. 
Every now and then a huge fish would strike and 
plunge in the water ; then the owls and goatsuckers 
would continue their lamentations, and the sound of 
these was lost in the prowling tiger’s gi 4 owl. Then 
all was still again and silent as midnight. 
The caymen were now upon the stir, and at inter¬ 
vals their noise could be distinguished amid that of 
the jaguar, the owls, the goatsuckers, and frogs. It 
was a singular and awful sound. It was like a sup¬ 
pressed sigh, bursting forth all of a sudden, and so 
loud that you might hear it above a mile off. First 
one emitted this horrible noise, and then another 
answered him 5 and on looking at the countenances 
