Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-10-10
Alligator muntinE Ecuador.


Since have been at Guayaquil there is moth
ing have enjoyed better than good shooting
excursion had recently 1t was not for deer,
wild turkey, pigeons, ducks, &C., but to shoot
some of the Notwithstanding, monStrous alliga-
tors, or caymen, that infest the Rio de Guaya-
quill. Some little time ago, Senior Basadro,
(deputado de Tacua,) Senior Carnavaro, Captain
Bening and myself left Guayaquil at II O'Clock
at night with four men TO pull our boat, armed
with three tirst-class repeating rifles, provisions
and blankets, and in fact all we required The
night was very dark, and we passed the time
talking and relating anecdotes until about =
o'clock in the morning, when we had arrived
alongside of balsa or raft, made fast to the
bank of the river This balsa was rooled over,
and had walls of cane split and nailed perpen-
dicularly upon the sides of the house, which was
well ventilated and had plenty of room for rats
and even mosquitoes to get in, large as they are
in this part of the country. 1t was in this In
dian NOah's ark that at three in the morning
we laid down and tried to sleep a little before
daylight, but were prevented by little game
that was being played by fifteen or sixteen
pigs, several goats, number oil dogs ana cats,
and one or two monkeys that were chasing each
other around the ROOM Sometimes large pig
or goat would playfully alight on would-be
seeper's face, which would of course gently
arouse him, and if it was balsero or raftsman
that was reused up, he would swear very lit
tie, composedy roll up cigarette, smoke IT,
anu OIL 10 sltGp u3dlll dui ouAS
that if cigarette was consumed every time any
one was awoke land | have reason to believe
that to be the case) it must have required mil
lions of them during the year, as there were
twenty-four persons on the balsa. They were
all of the same family, father, son and grand
son, all married. All had children With them,
who were sleeping on the balsa, which was di
vided into two rooms. After having been
aroused at least dozen times we concluded at
d'e O'Clock to start for the scene of the days
sport, which was about three miles distant. 1t
was still yerv dark, the tide very low, and the
boat was deeply laden with ten persons in it.
We arrived at the grounds, where proposed to
ay until daylight, but as we saw small hut on
the bank of the creek, we decided to stop there
to take coffee and something to eat before we
went to work numbering the crocodies. As
soon as daylight appeared we pushed off from
shore, and found that we had arrived at place
swaTming with the hideOus monsters. Although
! have been up the bayous of the Mississippi and
in Florida both famed as hauntS of the alliga-
tor, never saw at either of the above places so
many or such enormous specimens as | saw at
the place where our boat was making for the
shore. In a few moments the boat grounded on
a mud bank about two hundred feet from the
bank of the bayou where the hut was situated,
and as my companions were very anxious TO get
on shore, we called to the Indians TO bring
a canoe. My friends went and | stopped
alone in the boat The canoe had
scarcely gone fifty feet from tie boat before it
was upset, Through the stupiditv OF one OF our
boatmen) and nine people were thrown into the
water. They splashed and shrugged and made
so much noise, until they were in the canoe
again, as TO excite little fear that they would be
molested bv the algatOrs. Clothing dried,
coffee taken, and we commenced our onslaught
in earnest The FIRST we saw was fine, full
grown fellow on the bank of the creek, about
three feet above the level of the water. We all
fired together, at distance Of only twenty-five
yards, and lodged four balls from our Spencer
and Henry rifles into his enormous skull and
shoulders which killed him at once. Measur-
ing him we found him to be fifteen feet long,
with a body as large in circumference as that OF
q full grown bullock. Leaving bin there, we
proceeded up small creek that lies on the left
Of BOca Huagnache, and about a half mile
inside the BOca we managed TO get within twen-
~ yards Of a group Of thirty, all lying side by
side. We kept up q continual fire upon them
from our repeating rifles until twenty-five of
them were dead or wounded, the remaining five
escaping, we supposed, uninjured. The wound
ed, as soon as hit by ball, would make des-
peTate rush for the water, leaving a bloody spot
in the mud behind them, while the untouched
would steal, or rather sneak, into the water as
slowly as possible, and although the balls would
splash the mud all around them, still they would
not accelerate their movements, but would slide
easily down the soft mud until their yellow grey
ish eyes only were above the water, and there
they would wait and watch you. We put many
a ball that day into their ugly, scaly yisages as
they foated on the surface of the muddy
stream and glared at US. In one instance we
killed an immense fellow with about fifteen
balls, and tried to cut off his head as a trophy,
but found il too tough for the sharpest knives,
About a mile still further up this creek, we saw
the water fairly covered with mud-colored heads
of the monstrous brutes. Had not witnessed
the spectacle before could hardly have believed
that there were as many alligators in all South
America as [ saw in this little bayou. In another
place we counted fifty-iour Of the largest | have
ever seen, and we singled out the largest of
them as a mark for our rifles. The great fellow
rose up from among the group as soon as he saw
US, and craWled silently into the water, and
swan or foated away. This huge fellow we sup
posed was the king of the group, as the Others
Immediately afterwards followed him. We had
better luck with the queen, supposed to have
been, as she rose soon after her royal husband
had taken to the water, but seven bullets went
crushing through her head, and she fell dead a
few feet from the water, covered with blood. We
pushed in the boat to see five could not get her
into the water, but she was such an enormous
brute, we could not move her head. II the mean-
time the aliigators' ugly shouts were appearing
in the water outside fthe boat in great numbers,
and so fast did they rise that for the first time
we became alarmed for our safety, and feared
that they would attack the boat. We loaded and
fired our repeaters as rapidly as we could. The
water soon became dyed with blood. while the
brutes dashed it in their agony with their tails
until il foamed. Finally they were driven off,
and we started for Guayaquil with a dead alli-
gator in tow, after the best days sport | ever
experienced. MALECoS.