Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-11-26
ALLIG ATORs AS NAVIG ATORS.
How They Occasionally Manage TO
Reach the Bahamas.

from science
Catesby, in his Natural History OF
Carolina, Florida and the Bahama
islands, published about a century ago,
speaks of having seen alligators on the
island of Andres in this group. At pres
ent there are none, and with the object of
finding out if there was any tradition
current bearing upon the subject 1 made
inquiries through the medium of the
Nassau Guardian. In answer to my
questions l lately received from the rec
tor of 1nagua, at the extreme south
east OF the group, letter, in which
he mentions that stories of alliga-
tors having been drifted on logs of m ahog-
any and thrown up on the shores of the
island are common, but that be had not
been able to verify any of them. How
ever, few days previous to the date Of
the letter, while on visit to one of the
was shown the skin of an alligator eight
feet long from Tip to Zip, which had been
shot on shore day or two before by a
man who's name is given. Many logs OF
mahogany had been cast up on the
shores of Inagua about that time,
but the alligator had not been OBJ
served to land. and had been seen
on shore several times before it was shot.
There seems, however, to be no reason
able doubt that the alligator was drlfted
by the current from the southeast to
Inagua on log OF mahogany from san
Domingo, the nearest place in which alti-
gators are found. This means that it
travelled distance of from 100 to 100
miles. With regard to the occurrence of
allgators on Andres, Catesby was very
accurate observer, and there seems TO be
no reason for doubling his statement.
These anigators would appear TO have
been carried on drift-wood from the north
west coast OF Cuba, distance OF 800
miles. by the Gulf stream, and cast on the
edge of the great Bahama bank, whence
local currents, aided by the wind, might
have carried them to the west coast OF
Andros. The absence OF traditions on
the subject may be owing to the fact that
the present inhabitants OF Andres are
principally descendants of persons who
settled there at q period subsequent TO
Catesby's visit.
These instances OF the dispersion Ol
large animals by means of oceanic cur
rents may be of interest to those of your
readers who study the question OF the
geographical distribution of animals.
While on the subject OF Andres may
be allowed to mention two rather curiou s
CuIicub
tants of that interesting island? The in
terror of the northern part of the island
consists of swamps and lakes, inter-
| spersed with patches of rocky ground, on
which the Banana pine ?. bahamensis
grows thickly. The negroes have great
dislike to entering these pine woods alone,
| or even in small companies, for they say
that a peculiar race of malevolent beings,
| called 'little people," inhabit the trees.
These creatures are said to be like tiny
men covered with hair. They sit on the
pine bOughs, and If a man notices them
and points them out to his companions
the whole party is rendered immoyable
for day and a night, but il fire is thrown
at the ''liJtle people" they disappear
| without doing any harm.
The other superstition also relates to
pine woods. Creatures like enormous
hairy men, called by the negroes ''yahoos,"
are said to march about the woods in
| schools" the largest coming first; and
| ''when dey cotch you, dey tear you"
These beings are naturally much more
dreaded than the 'slittle people" 1t looks
as il their name had been given by some
traveller familiar with "Gulliver's Trav-
els" and struck with the resemblance be-
tween them and the terrible creatures OF
Swifps imagination.
Both these superstitions would appear
to be traditions of the land from which the
negroes originally came. The "little peO-
| pie" are. probably a recollection OF the
| small arboreal monkeys, while the IVA
hoos" represent the gorrillas of West
A frfna