May, 1918 
FOREST AND STREAM 
309 
that the vulture eats him when every other 
source of food fails.” 
Mr. King approached, with one of the 
camp utensils. 
“Have you seen a decent water hole?” he 
asked, “the water isn’t drinkable back in the 
sloughs—colored with muck and has a dis¬ 
agreeable odor. It often occurs that the 
water in the deep holes is clean and pure 
—if there’s not too much animal life pres¬ 
ent.” 
The three left the basin at its further 
rim and walked across a dry area, covered 
with short saw grass, tiny polished molluscs, 
and sun-baked top-soil that was half 
bleached muck and half sand. 
“Here’s a dandy,” called Catlow. 
They saw him bend over, where the grass 
was highest. And, all about, on three sides, 
the dead shrubbery had been padded down 
in a most peculiar manner. 
Catlew’s find proved to be an exception¬ 
ally large pocket of water. Unfortunately, 
however, it was black, mucky and unfitted 
for human consumption. Ungainly marine 
spiders danced upon its heavy surface, and 
a bewildering multitude of tiny fish darted 
close to the sandy banks, or, in wriggly 
schools, sucked upward at the air. Bubbles 
eddied to the top, chained together by slime, 
like frog eggs. Opposite to where the three 
stood a black and ooze-lined grotto disap¬ 
peared in the shaggy bank. 
“This,” explained King Sr.” is really a 
gator’ hole, and we will find no drinking 
water. See that cave—it is the muck cub¬ 
by of his Majesty. He sticks his impe¬ 
rial nose up into it, curls his body, in a sat¬ 
isfactory adjustment to the space and se¬ 
renely sleeps. If the day is warm, he comes 
out to chat with neighboring ‘gators.’ There 
is plenty of evidence of this in the condi¬ 
tion of the saw grass around the hole.” 
“Let’s fire in the cave and get him out,” 
suggested Catlow, “we might have ‘gator’ 
steak for a change. It will save supplies.” 
“The animal has gone to more moist 
country,” said Mr. King, “he evidently saw 
that this area was drying up. The water 
in the hole is so shallow that we could see 
some portion of him if he was there. All 
through the glades, although the general 
areas may be covered with water to a depth 
not exceeding five feet, the ‘gators’ locate 
in these holes or muck pockets. It makes 
a snug haven for them. Imagine trying to 
locate the animal, even in semi-transparent 
water, if he happened to be hiding back 
there under that muck ledge. They are 
death traps for anyone who happens to dive 
and gets into them.” 
“What causes these water holes?” in¬ 
quired Catlow, who was obviously fascin¬ 
ated by the forbidding appearance of their 
discovery, “Just natural?” 
“No,” said Mr. King, “the canals and the 
continued drought are largely responsible. 
As the muck dries and contracts, great fis¬ 
sures are left. Some of these gradually in¬ 
crease and are washed into basin-shape by 
the seeping water from the surrounding ter¬ 
ritory. But there is still another explana¬ 
tion for some of the pockets—I fancy that 
subterranean passages lead down past the 
limestone, to the ocean’s level. Thus the 
Glade water, draining into them, finally 
seeps through and leaves the pocket entirely 
dry. This very pocket is of the character 
mentioned. Note the water lines at various 
levels, on the muck. Ah, up come the bub¬ 
bles again!” 
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