Читать книгу Some Curious Flyers, Creepers, and Swimmers - Celia Thaxter - Страница 10
ОглавлениеTHE KING OF TROPICAL WATERS.
1. The Matiyure River is celebrated for the number and size of its crocodiles. As I sat sketching on the banks, I could perceive them gliding slowly under the still waters, the upper part of the head alone visible, and seeming to watch me with an evil eye. The beach being strewed with their egg-shells, I concluded this to be a favorite resort with them during the breeding-season. The female lays about forty eggs in a hole which she digs in the sand, leaving to the hot sun the care of hatching them. These eggs, twice as large as those of the turkey, are considered a great delicacy by the Indians and jaguars, who frequently purloin them before they are hatched.
Head of Florida Crocodile, from Life.
2. There is another enemy of young crocodiles, attacking them as they come out of the shell. After they betake themselves to the water, the older ones, prompted, no doubt, by motives of family pride to keep them within their own circle, swallow these tender members—thus preventing all other intimacies. Notwithstanding this admirable provision of Divine Wisdom, and a constant war maintained by man and beast against them, they are so numerous in some parts of the river that, if stationary, their bodies would completely bridge its surface from bank to bank.
3. Despite their great voracity, the mother exhibits some degree of tenderness toward her offspring. Possessed, in this case, with an instinct almost infallible, she returns at a period when incubation is completed, and assists her young in extricating themselves from the shell. Unlike the eggs of birds, crocodiles' eggs are soft and pliable as those of the turtle, yielding, when handled, to the pressure of the fingers, yet so tough that it is difficult to break them, and in appearance resembling white parchment.
4. At the very moment of liberation, the young crocodiles display their savage nature in a wonderful degree, biting at every object within reach; also the same vicious propensity is exhibited by those extricated even before the completion of incubation.
5. I was once greatly amused in watching a struggle between two—and one of these youngsters not larger than a good-sized lizard. Each time the birds made a dash at him, this little saurian, grunting savagely, darted forward with wide-open jaws, looking for all the world like a young dragon. During ten minutes the struggle continued without decided advantage on either side, when one of the assailants, changing his tactics, suddenly seized the crocodile by the neck with his sharp claws and soared triumphantly with him into high air. There loosing his hold, the bird followed his descent with wonderful rapidity, prepared, when he reached the ground, to repeat the blow; but, already half stunned, the victim soon yielded to superior cunning.
6. When the savannas are overflowed, these carnivorous and malicious reptiles spread themselves over the face of the country, committing great havoc among young animals. So destructive have they proved to the calves and foals on this estate, that the owner offered, on one occasion, a reward of half a dollar a head for every crocodile killed upon his lands, it being sufficient for the claimant to produce, in evidence of success, the two great tusks of the upper jaws. The result of this ukase was, that before the expiration of a month more than four hundred crocodiles had been destroyed, yet no sensible diminution was observable, neither did the persevering dragonade against them quench in the least their boldness.
7. This expedient proving useless, they had been suffered to remain unmolested until our arrival at Los Laureles, when we determined to exterminate those at least which infested that pass of the river where we performed our daily ablutions and watered the horses. Accordingly, one day a party of us started for a bend of the river where the water appeared to be very still and deep. None of the usual angling implements were required in this sport; we used only a strong lasso and a hoop about three feet in diameter made from a light vine common on the banks of these rivers. Around this hoop the fresh lungs of a bullock, cut in thin strips, were twisted and securely fastened. The running noose of the lasso was then laid over the bait and tied there with tendrils from the same vine.
8. All being ready, this simple decoy was launched in the middle of the stream, we retaining on shore the other end of the lasso. Aroused by the splash, two large crocodiles appeared and rushed for the bait with open jaws. The successful one, in his eagerness to escape with his prize, burst the slender vines that secured the noose to the hoop, which last projected beyond his snout, and the noose on its recoil sliding over, firmly lassoed his upper jaw. With shouts of exultation we hastened to the assistance of the man who held the lasso, seeing him unable to cope with the monster, more than a match for half a dozen men.
9. By our united efforts we finally succeeded in dragging him to within a few feet of the embankment; when, catching sight of our earnest faces watching him over the cliff, he tossed up his head with such sudden violence as to pull the thong through our hands to its full length, and retreated in triumph to the middle of the stream. The tough hide, however, from which the thong was twisted, proved equal to the emergency, and with one more strenuous effort we succeeded in landing him upon the beach.
10. The Indians of the Orinoco River, where the crocodiles are said to be still larger and more savage than those of its tributary streams, make use of other devices for ridding themselves of those at least that infest the places frequented by them. One of these contrivances is as novel as most of the productions of their fertile imaginations for ministering to their wants, and consists in shooting at the monster's eyes arrows tipped with a wild cane, said to be very poisonous to crocodiles—so much so that, a few minutes after, they are seen floating on the water quite dead. Another device, equally effective, consists in securing a strong rope, or lasso, to the middle of a stout stick of hard wood, which is then covered up with a large fish or piece of meat, and thrown in the water; not many minutes elapse before the crocodile seizes and swallows the bait, stake and all, when it is quickly hauled on shore by means of the lasso in the hands of the Indians.
11. By way of sport, these people avail themselves of the same artifice to capture a crocodile on shore, when sunning itself; but this time without bait, as the man alone is sufficient allurement to rouse the monster's appetite, especially if it is a man-eater; the only improvement made on the stake being that of sharpening it at both ends. The Indian now seizes the stick by the middle and fearlessly approaches the crocodile, which at once makes a dash at its antagonist, with its jaws wide open; but the native easily evades the onset by stepping aside a little, as the reptile, on account of the configuration of its spine, can not turn round upon him, except after describing a long circle; a second and a third onset are equally unsuccessful, as the sportsman purposely avoids the collision by moving off when the animal comes up close to him. Having by this time proved his dexterity, the Indian gives it the final blow by plunging the stick in a vertical position into the ghastly jaws of the fierce monster, which, feeling confident of crushing its enemy this time between its powerful tusks, shuts them with a crash, which only assists in forcing both ends of the stake into the upper and lower jaws; thus transfixed, the once terror of the river becomes the sport of the Indian boys, who eagerly seize upon the thong, and ignominiously drag the reptile powerless over the sand.
