SOUTH AMERICA. 
207 
of the people round me, I could plainly see that they third 
1 - 1 • 1 JOURNEY. 
expected to have a cayman that night. - 
We were at supper, when the Indian, who seemed 
to have had one eye on the turtle-pot, and the other 
on the bait in the river, said he saw the cayman 
coming. 
Upon looking towards the place, there appeared 
something on the water like a black log of wood. 
It was so unlike any thing alive, that I doubted if 
it were a cayman; but the Indian smiled, and said, 
he was sure it was one, for he remembered seeing a 
cayman, some years ago, when he was in the Esse- 
quibo. 
At last it gradually approached the bait, and the 
board began to move. The moon shone so bright, 
that we could distinctly see him open his huge jaws, 
and take in the bait. We pulled the rope. He im¬ 
mediately let drop the bait; and then we saw his 
black head retreating from the board, to the dis¬ 
tance of a few yards; and there it remained quite 
motionless. 
He did not seem inclined to advance again; and 
so we finished our supper. In about an hour’s time 
he again put himself in motion, and took hold of 
the bait. But, probably, suspecting that he had to 
deal with knaves and cheats, he held it in his mouth, 
but did not swallow it. We pulled the rope again, 
but with no better success than the first time. 
He retreated as usual, and came back again in 
about an hour. We paid him every attention till 
three o’clock in the morning j when, worn out with 
