Along the river-banks, in every igarape, stream, and pool, the hideous
and ravenous alligator lurks for its prey. It is greatly dreaded by the
natives for its treachery and cunning, numbers falling victims to its
powerful jaws. The largest, the jacare-uassu, or great cayman, is often
found from fifteen to twenty feet long, and of enormous bulk.
There is a smaller species, the jacari-tinga, which has a long slender
muzzle, and black banded tail. This, when full-grown, is about five
feet long.
A still smaller one exists, said to be found only in shallow creeks. It
does not attain, when full-grown, a length of more than two feet. Its
eggs are rather larger than those of a hen, and oval in shape, the shell
having a rough, hard surface. So numerous are they, that Bates observes
"it is scarcely exaggeration to say that the waters of the Solimoens are
as well stocked with alligators in the dry season, as a ditch in England
is in summer with tadpoles."
Like the turtle, the large alligator has its annual migrations. During
the wet season it retreats to the interior pools and flooded forests,
and descends to the main river in the dry season. During the hot
months, when the pools are dried-up, and the alligator cannot reach
water, it buries itself in the mud, and becomes dormant, sleeping till
the rainy season returns.
As the alligator cannot turn its head, it is little feared on shore, as
a person can easily leap out of its way; but he must beware of its tail,
which, when angry, it will lash about in a furious manner, sufficient to
break a limb. The alligator never attacks human beings when on their
guard, but, lying in wait, seizes them when he can venture, to do so
with impunity. These savage saurians are called indiscriminately,
though improperly, alligators, crocodiles, and caymans.
The real alligator is distinguished by having its toes only partly
webbed--the outer ones being free. It will never willingly seek an
encounter, and shows great terror, even, when attacked by dogs. The
creatures are often killed by jaguars, who pounce upon them, and with
their powerful claws tear out their entrails. But when aroused to anger
it blindly attacks all opponents, and is then a truly formidable foe.
With a single blow of its tail it can overturn a canoe. The instant it
seizes its prey it sinks with it below the surface, to devour it at its
leisure. It usually feeds on fish, fowl, turtle, or any creature it
finds floating on the surface of the water; but when these fail, it lies
concealed among the sedges on the banks, waiting for any land animal
which may approach to drink. Sometimes it thus retaliates on the
jaguar, and seizing the fierce brute, drags it down below the surface,
where it is soon drowned.
The great alligator usually lays fifty or sixty eggs, rather oblong than
oval, and about the size of those of a goose,--covering them up with
sand, and allowing them to be hatched by the heat of the sun. The
mother, however, does not desert her young, but conducts them to the
water, and watches over them till their scales have hardened, and their
limbs have gained sufficient strength to enable them to take care of
themselves.
Waterton relates an anecdote showing the daring ferocity of the creature
when pressed by hunger. It was on the banks of the Orinoco, near the
city of Angostura. The tale was told him by the governor of that place.
"One fine evening, as the people of the city were sauntering up and down
the alamada by the banks of the river, a large cayman rushed out of the
water, seized a man, and carried him down, before any person had it in
his power to assist him. The screams of the poor fellow were terrible
as the cayman was running off with him. The monster plunged into the
river with its prey, and we instantly lost sight of him, and never saw
or heard of him more."
Bates also relates that a native crew, having arrived at Egga, got
drunk, when one of the men, during the greatest heat of the day, while
everybody else was enjoying an afternoon nap, took it into his head,
while in a tipsy state, to go down alone to bathe. He was seen only by
a feeble old man, who was lying in his hammock in the open verandah at
the rear of his house, at the top of the bank. He shouted to the
besotted Indian to beware of an alligator which had of late taken to
frequenting the neighbourhood. Before he could repeat his warning, the
man stumbled, and a pair of gaping jaws, appearing suddenly above the
surface, seized him round the waist, and drew him under the water. A
cry of agony--"Ai Jesus!"--was the last sound made by the wretched
victim. The young men of the village, going in search of the monster,
came up with it when, after a little time, it rose to breathe, with one
leg of the man sticking out from its jaws. It was immediately
despatched, with bitter curses.
One night Bates and his party were asleep in their hammocks in an open
shed on the banks of the river, with a fire made up in the centre. He
was awoke by his attendants hurling burning firewood, with loud curses,
at a huge cayman which had crawled up the bank, and passed beneath his
hammock towards the place where a little dog lay asleep. The dog had
raised the alarm in time. The reptile backed out, and tumbled down the
bank into the water, the sparks of the brands hurled at him flying from
his back and sides. Notwithstanding this, the next night he repeated
his visit.
The alligator, in its daring attempts to seize human beings, does not
always come off victorious. An Indian and his son had gone down to the
water, when the boy, whilst bathing, was seized by the thigh, and
carried under. The father, rushing down the bank, plunged after the
rapacious beast, which was diving away with its victim. He followed it
unarmed, and overtaking the creature, thrust his thumb into its eye, and
forced it to release its booty. The lad, who was present when the story
was told, exhibited the marks of the alligator's teeth in his thigh.
On another occasion an alligator was shot by one of the passengers on
board a steamer, and hauled up on deck. When the knife was applied, it
showed that it still possessed some sparks of life, by lashing out its
tail, and opening its enormous jaws, sending the crowd of bystanders
flying in all directions. It is extraordinary how tenacious the
creature is of life, and what a prodigious amount of battering it may
receive and still live.
Fortunately for other animals, the young alligators have numerous
enemies, even the males of their own kind occasionally gobbling them up;
while they are terribly persecuted by wild beasts and birds of prey,--
the latter esteeming their soft bodies delicate morsels, and frequently
pouncing down into their midst and carrying them off.
The alligator, far from being a silent animal, as is generally supposed,
makes a hideous noise at times, bellowing with so singular a cadence and
loud a din, that he can even outroar the jaguars and mycetes.
Sir Richard Schombergh describes the way in which the alligator seizes
its prey. He secured a bird or fish to a piece of wood, and then turned
it adrift on the river. No sooner was it seen than a cayman, slowly and
cautiously approaching--without even rippling the surface of the water--
and then curving its back, hurled its prey by a stroke of its tail into
its wide-extended jaws.
It makes also a loud sound, by clacking its teeth, and lashing its tail
on the water. It has a voice not readily to be distinguished from that
of the animals of the forest. It is similar to a hollow suppressed sigh
bursting forth on a sudden, loud enough to be heard a mile off. First
one gives vent to this fearful sound, then another answers from a
distance; and from up and down the river, and across the current, these
horrible noises are heard, showing that the hideous saurians are in a
lively mood, watching for their suppers. It is supposed that when once
they have tasted human flesh they will always endeavour again to procure
it.
Humboldt mentions another instance, where an Indian, landing on the
banks of a shallow lagoon, was seized by a cayman. With wonderful
presence of mind the Indian searched for a knife, but not finding it, he
pressed his fingers into its eyes. The monster, however, did not let
go, but dragged the unfortunate man down into deep water, and, to the
horror of several spectators, was seen swimming off with the poor fellow
in its jaws, to devour him on a neighbouring island.
Humboldt states that during the inundations of the Orinoco, alligators
have been known to crawl into the streets of Angostura and carry off
human beings.
Schombergh once saw an enormous cayman seize one of a smaller species,
and bear it away--not, however, without a desperate struggle. In a
short time the monsters reappeared, wildly beating the surface with
their tails. Now a huge head rose up, now a tail, indistinctly seen in
the seething whirlpool. At length, however, the larger was beheld
swimming off to a sand-bank, where it immediately began to devour its
prey.