alligator was pulled in, and half a dozen fish harpoons were stuck into his back. With the toggle in his throat and the harpoons in his back, he was dragged to the landing-place. The men jumped ashore with the lines, and the canoes were removed for safety. As soon as the alligator touched ground the battle commenced. On land an alligator's most dangerous weapon is his tail, and with it this one lashed out furiously, doing, however, no harm to anyone. He made desperate efforts to turn towards the water, but the men held him steadily. Then he tried charging his opponents, but, as they retreated, this manoeuvre only brought him farther ashore. The captors called on the women to come and beat him, bidding some men, who were going to help, leave off and let the women do it. These set to with ungoverned fury, and, armed with sprits and boat-poles and blocks of firewood, they gave the creature a bad quarter of an hour, not, however, without considerable risk to some of them, who were pushed over by the crowd or fell near the beast by their own awkwardness. For although it was harpooned in the head, neck and shoulders, and held tight by the lines, it was not possible to prevent it from making furious lunges from side to side, and snapping at the people with its immense mouth. At last the men lost their temper, not at the slow death of the alligator, but because the women had broken many of the valuable hardwood poles, which are much prized. Several men then came among the women and forced them back, taking the poles from them. A strong man hit the beast a crushing blow on the head with a heavy billet used for skidding canoes, and this put an end to all conscious struggles, though it still continued to lash its tail and open its jaws. Its head was then cut off with an axe to save the teeth, and the body was pushed into the water, towed about a mile away, and left there. This was a very large alligator. I do not remember the length, but it was probably 18 feet.

ESCAPE FROM AN ALLIGATOR

155

Once, when staying at Quamwatla Lagoon, I had to take a canoeload of goods up the Toongla River to the mahogany works there. We left the village in the afternoon. There were three Indians and myself in the pitpan, which was loaded with provisions and goods, protected from the weather by a thatching of waha leaves, laced down with cords to the skids on which the goods rested.

We paddled along gaily while it was daylight, and soon entered a narrow deep creek, by which the Prinzawala River communicates with the lagoon. The creek was walled in and overshadowed by lofty forest, which, as the night came on, made it very dark. We paddled wearily along this intricate creek till near midnight, when we suddenly emerged on the broad main river, when, being very tired and sleepy, we tied the pitpan to a snag and disposed ourselves to sleep. The men took the thwarts and their paddles, laid them on the bottom of the canoe, and covering themselves with their bark blankets, called toonoos, were soon fast asleep. I endeavoured to find a place in a similar position, but the bottom being dirty and wet, I lay down on my back on the top of the pile of luggage and goods, and, covering myself with my blue woollen blanket, was soon asleep also. After sleeping some time, I was awakened by feeling a shower of water over my face, and heard a plunge in the river. I sat up suddenly, and thought one of the men had fallen overboard, when the man in the stern, who was sitting up, said to me very calmly, 'If I had not waked in time, you would have been killed by an alligator.' All were now awake, and sat up to listen to what had occurred.

The man in the stern then said that he had wakened and raised himself to see if dawn was coming. All was dark and still, but he noticed what he took to be a drift log in the river, and while he gazed dreamily at it, he saw that it was approaching the canoe, and presently came close to it. He then noticed that I was sleeping on my back, and that

my

left foot was hanging over the side close to the water. The alligator came up to within a foot of it, when the man suddenly recognised the danger I was in, and gave the side of the canoe a bang with his hand. Hearing this, the alligator lashed his tail, sent the water all over us, and disappeared. Thus, by the most providential accident, I was saved from a horrible death.

[ 157 ]

CHAPTER IX.

Charming the wind-Smoo Indians—' Thunder's mooring-post '-PiakosMaya-Story-telling-Night scene-Sucked by bats-Jaguar ad

venture.

WE paddled on till midnight, and then slept on a pebbly island, where nothing disturbed us; but towards morning it rained heavily. The Indians, hearing the rain coming by the noise in the distant bush, vainly tried to keep it off by blowing with their mouths and driving the breath away on either side of their faces. They also spoke to the rain, telling it of the uselessness of its coming to wet them, thus: 'Pass on-pass on; we are all wet already. You need not come here; pass on to the head of the river. powder and tinder lying uncovered on the rocks. A man is burning a plantation there; pass on quickly, lest another shower wet it before you.' They believe these incantations send away the rain. Often when they hear a shower coming they push their canoe quietly under a thick bush to hide till the rain passes, and are much annoyed if you talk or make a noise.

There is gun

This may seem very silly, but it is no more so than whistling for the wind and invoking 'Sant Antonio,' as Catholic sailors do. However, their invocations were useless, and we were drenched as we lay. sun, which soon dried our clothes, and we went on our way. We passed numerous plantations of plantains and Indian

Daylight brought the

corn (maize) belonging to the coast Indians, and noticed that the peccaries and tapirs had done much damage to the crops. Coming upon a large drove of monkeys, we killed five, and landed at a large plantation to cook them.

While seated on the ground with our waha leaves in front of us, we heard the noise of paddles coming down the river, and hailed the strangers, who pulled up beside our canoes. They were twenty men of the Smoo tribe, who were taking two rough canoes to the King as tribute. One of these was a splendid boat, 36 feet long and 7 feet beam, without a crack in it, and most of the sapwood cut away; it must have been a grand cedar-tree.

The quiet, docile manners of these Indians were a striking contrast to those of the Mosquito men I had with me, who were boisterous, alert, and self-assertive. These Smoos had their faces painted black and red in stripes and diamonds, and wore only waist-cloths. They were rather short and thick-set, with the usual extraordinarily high chests of Indians. Their limbs were muscular were muscular and beautifully modelled. They had the stolid wooden look so characteristic of the river Indians, yet their eyes gleamed from their half-closed lids like beads of jet. They had hair reaching to the shoulders and tied in a queue. Their headman was a quiet old fellow of few words, who sat in the middle of his pitpan, dressed in a long shirt of thick cotton cloth of their own weaving, without sleeves, and striped with red, orange, black, and white stripes. This was evidently a reception dress, and he must have prided himself upon it when he saw the old faded calico shirts of such of our men as had shirts on.

Their pitpans were loaded with plantains, bananas, sugarcane, cassava, and pineapples, with many oosnoos (withe baskets) of soopa palm fruit. They had also quantities of deer and tiger skins, and great cakes of indiarubber. Each man had beside him a large roll of waha leaves to lie on,