At the head of the amphibious animals stands the crocodile, which
exceeds all the rest in the slowness of its motions, and the size of its
body. The young creature, when it breaks its shell, resembles a small
lizard, such as is commonly seen in European gardens, scarce more than
half a span in length. In the course of years it grows by degrees to an
enormous size. Crocodiles ten feet long are very common in Paraguay.
When a two years' drought had exhausted many of the lakes and rivers in
Paraguay, among other aquatic beasts we found numbers of crocodiles
roaming about the plain, which died of thirst from being unable to get a
sufficiency of water. I am of opinion that most crocodiles reach to
extreme old age from the advantage of a singular nature, by which they
are so effectually fortified, that it is exceedingly difficult to kill
them. I will give you a description of this animal. It has a large, flat
head, a very wide mouth, armed on each side with extremely sharp, but
unequal teeth, and large, round grey eyes, with a black pupil. It has no
tongue, but the place of one is supplied by a little immoveable
membrane. Its feet, which are furnished like birds' claws with four
fingers, and nails, it uses, sometimes in walking slowly on the shore,
sometimes in swimming. Its body, which resembles a huge trunk,
terminates in a long tail, like the point of a weapon, at the extremity
of which lies a small black ball, closed on every side, the
distinguishing mark of the female sex, for the males are not furnished
with this ball. Its rough skin, covered with very hard scales, which are
elegantly variegated with black and white, like shells, forms a mail
which renders its head, back and tail impenetrable to all weapons.
Softer scales adorn rather than arm its belly, sides and feet, where
circular or square figures, distinguished at intervals by a colour
partly yellow, partly dusky, project, like shells, from the surface of
the skin. The tail is composed of blackish rings, and a little
denticulated fin which it moves in swimming. The skin of the neck is
softer, and very easily wounded. Crocodiles on being attacked by tigers,
kill them by a stroke of their tail. They are themselves killed if their
neck or belly, both which are covered with softer skin, is wounded by
the horns or claws of beasts, by a bullet, a spear, or an arrow; on
these occasions they take to swimming, but the Indians generally swim
after them, and bring them back to shore. During a pretty violent south
wind crocodiles are rendered torpid by the cold at night, from being
immersed in pools; but when the sun is risen, they lie, like logs of
wood, on the sunny shore to warm themselves, and their limbs being
stiffened, and their senses almost gone, are pierced with spears by the
Abipones, without danger or trouble. Leaving their bodies, they carry
away nothing but the teeth, and the little bones of the spine, which,
being as hard as iron, as sharp as awls, and at the same time elastic,
are used by them for the purpose of pricking their limbs, at drinking
parties. Crocodiles' teeth, which are thought by the Indians extremely
efficacious in curing or preventing the bites of serpents, they wear
themselves, or sell to the Spaniards. The flesh of crocodiles is tender,
and so white that it can hardly be distinguished from that of sturgeon.
Many American nations, especially those which inhabit the islands of the
Orinoco, and others, are said to feed on it. But in Paraguay, excepting
the Payaguas, who live near rivers, scarce any other nation eats them,
because that country abounds in cattle, and wild animals, as well as in
vegetables and fruits. But I think that no European would dislike the
flesh of the crocodile, unless it were on account of the musk which it
has both in its jaws and testicles. Provident priests hang up a small
particle of the glans, to which that musk adheres, wrapped in a piece of
gold, or silk stuff, in the sacred coffer of the great altar, where the
Eucharist is kept, in order to keep off worms, which, in so moist and
hot a climate, are otherwise bred in the sacred wafer.
When you hear it said that crocodiles abound in venom, pray account it
an old wife's fable; for it is very certain that they are eaten by the
Indians, and would be eagerly sought by all Europeans also, were it not
for their musk. Crocodiles' teeth grow very deep in the head, are hollow
at the root, but where they terminate in a point, extremely solid, and
capable of tearing the hardest substance. It is a terrible circumstance
that whatever this beast gets within its teeth it never lets loose of.
In the new kingdom of Granada, if a crocodile catches hold of the arm of
a swimming Indian with his jaws, those who come to his assistance
immediately cut it off, to preserve the rest of the body, as the man
would otherwise lose his life. I will now describe to you their manner
of breeding. The females, almost every day, lay about thirty eggs,
cylinder-shaped, and as large as those of ducks; these eggs are buried
under the sand, and when heated by the sun, bring forth creatures like
our lizards. As crocodiles have short feet, and sweep the ground with
their vast bellies, they crush a number of eggs whenever they move: for
if Providence had not ordered it thus, there would be no room left
either for beasts or fishes in America. Crocodiles' eggs are in high
esteem amongst the Indians. In the town of Concepcion two crocodiles, a
male and a female, newly hatched, were brought by an Abipon to my
companion, at whose request I undertook the care of rearing them. To
prevent them from escaping, I shut them both up in a very wide and deep
wooden mortar, frequently poured fresh water on them, and threw in mud,
little fishes, and very small pieces of meat for them to feed upon. This
was their habitation, this their food, during seven months. I sometimes
took them out of the water, and allowed them to walk up and down the
court-yard of the house. The Abipones were delighted to see the little
creatures playing on the grass, or striving together with gaping mouths
and erected bodies. I had a young dog, which, as was natural to his age,
was extremely playful. He imprudently rushed barking upon the
crocodiles, when one of them laid hold of his nostrils with its very
sharp teeth. Unable by any means to get rid of this disagreeable
appendage, he at length came to me and implored my assistance, when by
the hands of the by-standing Abipones, who were laughing heartily at the
adventure, the pertinacious crocodile was torn from his nose. It was
evident that these beasts were extremely quick of hearing, for they
heard the slightest noises, such as would escape human ears—perceived
thunder from a cloud at a great distance below the horizon, and
acquainted me with the circumstance by repeatedly murmuring ù ù ù ù. At
seven months of age, when scarce a span long, they were killed by the
cold, in a journey of one and twenty days, taken with the Spanish
soldiers, to change the situation of the colony. A sharp frost, for it
was the winter season, killed these pupils of mine. Had they enjoyed
their natural liberty and food, I have no doubt they would have grown
more in so many months.
Much has been written concerning the ferocity of crocodiles towards
mankind. I contradict no one. But it would be wronging the Paraguayrian
crocodiles to complain of them, for during the two and twenty years of
my residence in that country, I never heard of a single creature's being
killed or hurt by a crocodile. Almost all the Abipones, men, women, boys
and girls, daily cooled themselves during the heat of the sun, by
bathing in rivers, pools, streams and lakes, all which are frequented by
crocodiles; yet no one ever received any injury from these animals, no
one suspecting the danger of such a thing. They are generally scared
away by the noise which the Indians make in swimming, especially the
black ones; for the red are considered more bold and more dangerous by
the Abipones. But I myself have found that crocodiles of any colour,
whether in the water or on dry land, are perfectly harmless. Crossing
rivers in a bull's hide, or low boat, I have often seen crocodiles
swimming past, with erected heads, sparkling eyes, and gaping mouths;
but knowing them to be harmless, I beheld them with the utmost
unconcern. In the town of the Rosary, scarce a gun-shot from my house,
there was a pool swarming with crocodiles. The town of St. Joachim was
surrounded with lakes. About sun-set we often went out to breathe the
fresh air, and in our walk always met with crocodiles of every age and
species, but never received any injury from them, though unarmed, and
perhaps on that account more safe: for it is my opinion that crocodiles
have been injurious chiefly to those by whom they have been themselves
injured. They spare those that spare them. I do not in the least wonder
that in the territories of Quito, and Nuevo Reyno, and in certain parts
of Asia and Africa, crocodiles have shown the utmost fury towards men,
when they are daily tormented, taken, and slain, by the inhabitants, who
feed regularly upon their flesh.
Different nations make use of different artifices in hunting and killing
crocodiles. Some go upon the river in boats, and throw into the water a
piece of wood, to which flesh or fish is fastened with a long rope. The
crocodiles swallow the wood along with the flesh, but as it is crossed
in their jaws, are unable to throw it up, and being dragged to the bank
by means of the rope, are presently killed. Others take a long, sharp,
pointed piece of timber, and when the crocodile approaches thrust it
deep into the animal's jaws, by which means it is killed without danger.
The Abipones generally pierce those crocodiles with a spear which they
find lying basking in the sun quite stiffened with cold. An arrow,
though extremely strong, unless it touch the neck of the crocodile,
where the skin is softer, always proves a weak and precarious instrument
of death. The same may be said of bullets. Though crocodiles are
perfectly harmless to mankind in Paraguay, they are in like proportion
destructive to fishes, which are either consumed or put to flight by
them. They are useful in medicine. Wounds inflicted by a crocodile are
happily cured by being smeared with the fat of the same animal. One of
their intestines, when dried and reduced to powder, is a remedy for the
pain of the stone. Little stones, like common flint, found in the
stomach of the crocodile, are said to be very efficacious in curing
quartan agues, and stone in the kidneys, if reduced to powder and drunk.
I have observed elsewhere that envenomed wounds of snakes are both
healed and prevented by crocodiles' teeth, and shall tell you many
things relative to the use of this remedy, in their proper place.
If I have been too prolix in my remarks on this prince of amphibious
animals, the reader will excuse it, for I shall aim at brevity in
treating of more ignoble creatures.