302 Natural-Historical Collections. 
““ The cayman is in length eleven feet three and a half inches, and in girth 
four feet. Teeth, thirty-six in the upper jaw, and the same in the under, not 
corresponding, but alternate; fore legs, fifteen inches long, with five toes, the two 
outer without nails; hind legs twenty-two inches, with four toes, three with 
strong nails, the outer ones without any. The belly and under jaw are white ; 
the rest of the body black. Many caymans are killed for the sake of their teeth 
and fat, which lies in a deep oblong mass on each side the tail, or along the pos- 
terior part of the spine. The cayman rnns fast in a straight direction, but can- 
not turn quickly. It travels far over land at night, to remove to other waters, 
for which it instinctively directs its course from great distances. In procuring 
its food, the cayman has the sagacity to lay the Tortuga on its back to prevent 
its escape, if not hungry. The large tigers (jaguar) fall sometimes a prey to the 
cayman in the water, but generally concuer on the land.- The strength of the 
tiger is So great, that he lacerates and lays open the side of the neck where the 
cayman is most vulnerable. ‘The battle between them when they meet on the 
land is said to be tremendous. There the jaguar makes the attack ; and the con- 
trary if they meet in the water. As the cayman lies basking his scaly carcase in 
the sun, his enemy often encounters him; on the contrary, if the tiger is seen 
swimming, the cayman plunges in after him, and pulls him under the water. The 
caymans, however, usually watch their prey in the water, submersing the whole 
body except the snout and eyes, which are prominent. 
A terrible encounter ensues when the cayman and camaiduor, or great water 
serpent, meet. ‘Their tumbling and splashing may be heard at a great distance. 
The serpent, when they meet on the brink of the water, avoiding the enormous 
jaws of the cayman, rapidly throws itself about his body, is often untwisted in the 
struggle, lashing the water with tremendous violence, and returns like lightning 
to the gripe, till he completely squeezes his antagonist to death, unless the cay- 
man succeeds in getting his jaws to bear upon him, in which case the battle is 
quickly decided. Mr. James Frazer, being in the river Waieny, on a tour to 
the Orinooko, in 1826, heard some loud noises, seemingly like the discharge of 
great guns at a distance; and all his Indian attendants said it was caused by the 
tail of a camudi thrashing the water in a battle with the cayman. 
The porpess is the natural enemy and entire master of the cayman, so much 
so, indeed, that the natives enter the water withont fear when the tonina (porpess) 
is in sight. It attacks the cayman wherever they meet. The cayman is driven 
into the water by other enemies, as the tiger; but it is made to scamper ashore 
by the porpess. The ideas of the ancients respecting the dolphin’s attachment to 
man, seem to be in some measure realized in this species of delphinus. It is 
well known that they accompany ships to considerable distances, as does the 
shark, but with different motives. This is doubtless a distinct species from the 
common porpess or the D. Phocena of naturalists, Phokaina of Aristotle. We 
even saw them in the Rio Maou and the Parima, whence they must make a jour- 
ney of many hundred miles to reach the ocean. 
Two caymans in combat make a dreadful noise, standing up chopping to- 
gether their jaws, tumbling down, and thrashing the water with great violence. 
An instance is related of an Indian caught by a cayman at the Lake of Ma- 
rawareta, procuring his release by having the presence of mind to stab the cay- 
man in the eyes with a knife, the water being shoal. This manceuvre is incul- 
cated from their infancy. This, or a similar occurrence, is related by Humboldt 
while at Angostura. 
At Metanza, the caymans are more shy than those of the Essequibo, and 
take to the water before one can approach them. These animals have become in- 
comparably more bold and ravenous than formerly in the Orinooko, since the 
feasting they have had on human flesh during the carnage of the late war. Be 
fore that time, they were scarcely dreaded, and up the Essequibo they would 
rarely attack a man, or endeavour to shun him, being, in those solitary retreats, 
quite unmolested. They were so numerous, that my travelling companion, Mr. 
Sertema, at the same time, and without changing place, stood and counted thirty 
