The Indian bravely attacks the huge alligator, fearless of its enormous
jaws, sometimes shooting it with arrows from his bow. The arrows are
fitted in the same way as those used for killing turtle--the head
remaining in the body of the animal, while the shaft, secured to it by a
line, floats on the surface; which showing the direction taken by the
saurian, it is chased and transfixed by either lances or arrows till it
dies from exhaustion. On these occasions it is often attacked, it is
said, by the caribes, and partially devoured, before it can be dragged
on shore.
The creatures are also caught by another device. A piece of hard wood,
pointed at both ends, is covered up with a large fish or lump of meat,
and then thrown into the water, with a strong rope attached to the
middle. The instant it is seized, the hunters, who have hold of the
other end, drag the creature on shore, and despatch it with clubs or
darts.
A story is told of a Llanero, who, accustomed to desperate encounters
with savage bulls and fierce jaguars, determined on one occasion, when
compelled to cross the river, to brave the risk of an attack from an
alligator known to infest it. Plunging into the stream, with his saddle
on his shoulders to prevent its being wetted, and his sharp dagger in
his teeth, he swam on his horse's back. As those who saw him expected,
the crocodile soon appeared. Boldly facing the creature, he approached
its jaws, and, throwing his saddle at it, the alligator jumped partly
out of the water to catch it. At that instant the daring Llanero
plunged his dagger up to the very hilt into the arm-pit--the most vital
part of the monster--when, with a tremendous splash, it instantly sank
beneath the waves.
The tenacity of life exhibited by these monsters is often marvellous.
Sir Robert Schombergh gives an account of shooting one when ascending
the River Berbice. The snout was taken off by one ball, and another
entered the hinder part of the skull, when the Indians, attacking it
with their clubs, appeared completely to have knocked out every spark of
life. It was at last hauled up and placed on the bow of the corial.
While the corial was being drawn across the rapids, two of the Indians
took up the cayman in order to lay it in a more convenient position.
Scarcely had they done so, when at one bound it jumped into the river
and disappeared. They could never afterwards be persuaded to touch a
cayman.