The Indians on the banks of the Oronoko assert, that previously to an
alligator going in search of prey, it always swallows a large stone,
that it may acquire additional weight to aid it in diving and dragging
its victims under water. A traveller being somewhat incredulous on this
point, Bolivar, to convince him, shot several with his rifle, and in all
of them were found stones, varying in weight according to the size of
the animal. The largest killed was about 17 feet in length, and had
within him a stone weighing about 60 or 70 pounds.
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