bait, and then they saw his black head retreating from the board to the distance of a few yards, where it remained quite motionless. The monster did not seem inclined to advance again, and so they finished their supper. In about an hour's time he again put himself in motion, and took hold of the bait, but did not swallow it. They pulled the rope again, but with no better success than the first time. He retreated as usual, and came back again in about an hour. Thus the party watched till three o'clock in the morning, when, worn out with disappointment, they went to their hammocks, turned in, and fell asleep. When day broke, they found that he had contrived to get the bait from the hook, though they had tied it on with string. They had now no more hopes of taking a cayman till the return of night. The Indian went into the woods, and brought back a noble supply of game. The rest of the party went into the canoe, and proceeded up the river to shoot fish, where they got even more than they could use. man. At the end of this arrow was to be attached a string, which would be tied to the rope; and as soon as the cayman was struck they were to have the canoe ready, and pursue him in the river. They spent the best part of the fourth night in trying for the cayman, but all to no purpose. Waterton was now convinced that something was materially wrong. He showed one of the Indians the shark-hook, who shook his head and laughed at it, and said it would not do. When he was a boy, he had seen his father catch the cayman, and on the morrow he would make something that would answer. In the meantime they set the shark-hook, but it availed nothing; a cayman came and took it, but would not swallow it. Seeing it was useless to attend the shark-hook any longer, they left it for the night, and returned to their hammocks. Ere the Englishman fell asleep, a new idea broke upon him. He considered that, as far as the judgment of civilised man went, everything had been procured and done to ensure success. The second night's attempt They had hooks, and lines, and upon the cayman was a repeti- baits, and patience; they had tion of the first, and was quite spent nights in watching, had unsuccessful. They went fishing seen the cayman come and take the day after, and returned to the bait, and yet all had ended in experience a third night's dis- disappointment. Probably, he appointment. On the fourth thought, the poor wild man of day, about four o'clock, they the woods would succeed by began to erect a stage among means of a very simple process, the trees, close to the water's and thus prove to his more edge. From this they intended civilised brother, that, notwithto shoot an arrow into the cay-standing books and schools, there is a vast deal of knowledge to be picked up at every step. In the morning, as usual, they found the bait gone from the shark-hook. The Indians went into the forest to hunt, the white men took the canoe to shoot fish and get another supply of turtle eggs, which they found in great abundance. They then went to the little shallow creek and shot some young caymen about two feet long. When the arrow struck them, tiny as they were, they turned round and bit it, and snapped at the men when they went into the water to take them up. The day was now declining apace, and the Indian had made his instrument to take the cayman. It was very simple: there were four pieces of tough, | hard wood, a foot long, and about as thick as a little finger, and barbed at both ends; they were tied round the end of the rope in such a manner, that if the rope be imagined to be an arrow, these four sticks would form the arrow's head, while the other end expanded at equal distances round the rope. It was evident that, if the cayman swallowed this-the other end of the rope, which was thirty yards long, being fastened to a tree-the more he pulled, the faster the barbs would shut. Nearly a mile from where they had their hammocks, the sandbanks were steep and abrupt, and the river very still and deep; there the Indian fixed the machine, which hung suspended a foot from the water, and the end of the rope was made fast to a stake driven well into the sand. the The Indian then took empty shell of the land tortoise, and gave it some heavy blows with a stick. Waterton asked him why he did that, and he replied it was to let the cayman hear that something was going on. Having done this, the party went back to their hammocks, not intending to visit it again till morning. About half past five in the morning, the Indian stole off silently to take a look at the bait. On arriving at the place, he set up a tremendous shout. All now jumped out of their hammocks, and ran to him. They found a cayman, ten feet and a half long, fast to the end of the rope. Nothing now remained to do but to get him out of the water without injuring his scales. The whole party consisted of three Indians from the creek, Waterton's Indian servant Yan, a negro called Daddy Quashi, and a man named James. 'I informed the Indians,' says Waterton, 'that it was my intention to draw him quietly out of the water, and then secure him. They looked and stared at each other, and said I might do it myself, but they would have no hand in it; the cayman would worry some of them. On saying this, they squatted on the grass with the most perfect indifference. I knew enough of them to be aware that, if I tried to force them against their will, they to me, that if I went down upon would take themselves off, and one knee, and held the mast in leave me and my presents the same position as the soldier unheeded, and never return. holds his bayonet when rushing Daddy Quashi was for apply to the charge, I could force it ing to our guns, as usual, con- down the cayman's throat, should sidering them our best and safest he come open-mouthed at me. friends. I immediately offered When this was told to the to knock him down for his Indians, they brightened up, cowardice, and he shrunk back, and said they would help me begging that I would be cau- to pull him out of the river. tious, and not get myself worried, | Daddy Quashi hung in the rear. and apologizing for his own want I showed him a large Spanish of resolution. My Indian was knife, which I always carried in now in conversation with the the waistband of my trousers; others, and they asked if I it spoke volumes to him, and would allow them to shoot a he shrugged up his shoulders dozen arrows into him, and in absolute despair. thus disable him. This would have ruined all. I had come above three hundred miles on purpose to get a cayman uninjured, and not to carry back a mutilated specimen. I rejected their proposition with firmness, and darted a disdainful eye upon the Indians. Daddy Quashi was again beginning to remonstrate, and I chased him on the sand - bank for a quarter of a mile. Here then we stood in silence. They wanted to kill him, and I wanted to take him alive. I now walked up and down the sand, revolving a dozen projects in my head. The canoe was at a considerable distance, and I ordered the people to bring it round to the place where we were. The mast was eight feet long, and not much thicker than my wrist. I took it out of the canoe, and wrapped the sail round the end of it. Now, it appeared clear 'The sun was just peeping over the high forests on the eastern hills, as if coming to look on and bid us act with becoming fortitude. I placed all the people at the end of the rope, and ordered them to pull till the cayman appeared on the surface of the water, and then, should he plunge, to slacken the rope, and let him go again into the deep. I now took the mast of the canoe in my hand the sail being tied round the end of the mast-and sunk down upon one knee, about four yards from the water's edge, determining to thrust it down his throat, in case he gave me an opportunity. I certainly felt somewhat uncomfortable in this situation. The people pulled the cayman to the surface; he plunged furiously as soon as he arrived in these upper regions, and immediately went below again on their slackening the rope. They pulled again, and out he came. This was an interesting moment. I kept my position firmly, with my eye fixed stedfastly on him. By the time the cayman was within two yards of me, I saw he was in a state of fear and perturbation. I instantly dropped the mast, sprang up, and jumped on his back, turning half round as I vaulted, so that I gained my seat, with my face in a right position. I immediately seized his fore-legs, and by main force twisted them on his back; thus they served me for a bridle. He now seemed to have recovered from his surprise, and, probably fancying himself in hostile company, he began to plunge furiously, and lashed the sands with his long and powerful tail. I was out of reach of the strokes of it, by being near his head. He continued to plunge and strike, and made my seat very uncomfortable. It must have been a fine sight for an unoccupied spectator. The people roared out in triumph, and were so vociferous, that it was some time before they heard me tell them to pull me and my beast of burden farther inland. I was apprehensive the rope might break, and then there would have been every chance of going down to the regions under water with the cayman. The people now dragged us above forty yards on the sand: it was the first and last time I was ever on a cayman's back. Should it be asked how I managed to keep my seat, I would answer, I hunted some years with Lord Darlington's fox-hounds.' After repeated attempts to regain his liberty, the cayman gave in, and became tranquil through exhaustion. They now managed to tie up his jaws, and firmly secured his fore-feet; but they had another severe struggle for superiority before the huge monster was finally conveyed to the canoe, and then to the place where they had suspended the hammocks, where, after he was slain, the enthusiastic naturalist commenced dissecting him. THE ALLIGATOR AND THE BEAR. 'On a scorching day in the middle of June 1830, whilst I was seated under a venerable live oak, on the evergreen banks of the Teche, waiting for the fish to bite, I was startled by the roaring of some animal in the cane-brake a short distance below me, apparently getting ready for action. These notes of preparation were quickly succeeded by the sound of feet trampling down the cane and scattering the shells. As soon as I recovered from my surprise, I resolved to take a view of what I supposed to be two prairie bulls mixing impetuously in battle, an occurrence so common in this country and season. 'When I reached the scene of action, how great was my astonishment, instead of bulls, to behold a large black bear readers may doubt the tale on this account; but if it had been a bull-fight, no one would have doubted it, because every one reared upon his hind-legs, with his fore-paws raised aloft, as if to make a plunge! His face was besmeared with white foam, sprinkled with red, which, drop-knows what they are fighting for. ping from his mouth, rolled down his shaggy breast. Frantic from the smarting of his wounds, he stood gnashing his teeth and growling at the enemy. A few paces in his rear was the canebrake from which he had issued. On a bank of snow-white shells, spotted with blood, in battle array, stood Bruin's foe, in shape of an alligator, fifteen feet long! He was standing on tiptoe, his back curved upwards, and his mouth thrown open, displayed in his wide jaws two large tusks and rows of teeth. His tail, six feet long, raised from the ground, was constantly waving, like a boxer's arm, to gather force; his big eyes starting from his head, glared upon Bruin, whilst sometimes uttering hissing cries, then roaring like a bull. 'The combatants were a few paces apart when I stole upon them, the "first round" being over. They remained in the attitudes described for about a minute, swelling themselves as large as possible, but marking the slightest motions with attention and great caution, as if each felt confident that he had met his match. During this pause I was concealed behind a tree, watching their manoeuvres in silence. I could scarcely believe my eyesight. What, thought I, can these two beasts have to fight about? Some The same reasoning will not always apply to a man- fight. Men frequently fight when they are sober, for no purpose except to ascertain which is the better man. We must then believe that beasts will do the same, unless we admit that the instinct of beasts is superior to the boasted reason of man. Whether they did fight upon the present occasion without cause, I cannot say, as I was not present when the affray began. A bear and a ram have been known to fight, and so did the bear and the alligator, whilst I prudently kept in the background, preserving the strictest neutrality betwixt the belligerents. 'Bruin, though evidently baffled, had a firm look, which showed he had not lost confidence in himself. If the difficulty of the undertaking had once deceived him, he was preparing to resume it. Accordingly, letting himself down upon all fours, he ran furiously at the alligator. The alligator was ready for him, and throwing his head and body partly round to avoid the onset, met Bruin half way with a blow of his tail, which rolled him on the shells. Old Bruin was not to be put off by one hint. Three times in rapid succession he rushed at the alligator, and was as often repulsed in the same manner, being |