enly I awoke to the fact that the moving thing,
whatever it might be, was near me. Mechanically, I released the
"safety" of my automatic pistol, and then realised that out of the
reeds near me was creeping a medium-sized alligator. He was making
straight for the water, and I do not know whether he was cognisant of
my presence or not. He was moving steadily, advancing a few inches,
stopping for a minute, then resuming the journey. I believe I was
not more than five feet from the head as it emerged from the fringe
of reeds. I raised my camera, secured a focus, and snapped the
shutter. The click of the apparatus and perhaps my movement drew
his attention. He stopped abruptly. The long jaws opened toward
me, displaying an enormous expanse of pink flesh and two rows of
shining teeth. I lost not a second in throwing aside the camera and
jumping back to a position of relative safety, whence I fired into
the open mouth of the beast. I killed him. On examining the carcass,
I noticed that he had unusually large eyes, indicating that he was
a young specimen.

A few days later I again went to this lake--which, from my remarks, had
now come to be generally called "Lago Innocencia"--to catch fish with
my Indian friend Joao. He carried a bow, four arrows with detachable
heads, and a harpoon six feet long. The little boat which we found
close to the outlet of the lake was pushed away from the shore, we
each seized one of the peculiarly decorated paddles, and were off,
looking for finny game. We paddled quietly along near the shore,
now and then receiving a bump from some concealed snag which nearly
upset us. It requires considerable skill to navigate one of these
poorly-made dugouts, the slightest move causing a disproportionate
amount of disturbance of equilibrium.

Suddenly Joao jumped up, his black eyes glowing with excitement. He
motioned me to keep quiet, but it was quiet superfluous for him to
do this, as I was unable to talk, or even look around, for fear the
canoe might upset. He seized the harpoon, and with a powerful swing
sent it into the water ahead of us, at the same time grasping the line
which was attached to the end. The spear sank deep into the water,
and then by the vivacity with which it danced around I could tell
there was something on the end of it. As he began to pull in the line,
the struggle became so violent that I crept forward on my knees in
the bottom of the canoe and helped him recover the spear. Only aft