The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-11-28

many tracks close together that it
looks as If the gators had
been having a walking match. What trut h
there may be IN the geaerally-sccepted
belief that alligaVOrs are particularly fond
of colored boys and dogs | cannot say. but
colored boys and most colored men have a
great dread of them; aud a dog chained
where there are any gators about, probably
warned by the scent, keeps up a continual
howilng, and thus assists his own fate by
calling up the alligators. | often wanted TO
see little encounter of this kind between
dog and an alligator, but it WAS always like
Mark Twaia's dog in the cave OF the seven
sleepers-when there was dog about there
was no alligator, and when there was an
alligator there was no dog.
We were moving farther and farther all
| the time into the alligator country, and
| they were growing thicker and thicker
| From the way they were dropping from
the banks into the water on both sides of
us, that part of the Malatee river would
| be particularly unwholesome place for a
swim, II they do attack persons in the
water In some places where the banks
were six or eli hit feet higher than the
/ water, the startled gators had no hesitation
! about diving of, of course making great
| splash. They had in every instance as
Mr.. Warner had told us, the head toward
the water, rea iy for spring.
Now, when we reach good place to
| land, will try to kill one of these fellows"
Mr.. Warner said, and then we can 20
ashore and examine him at our leisure"
We had to watch some little time for
| such an opportunity, for all places were not
| good landing places, aud all the alhgators
were not in favorable positions for being
shot. The eye and just back of the foreleg
are the only vulnerable places, even for u
rifle ball. When bullet struck one in the
hnr,l 80 ID . l., Il
| against a rock. | had been peppering them
all the afternoon with u revolver, AMI with
| every shot | brought down an alligator
| This was not, however, on account OF
| fine craftsmanship, but because wher-
| ever it hit him, or probably if it did
not hit him at all, the shot alarmed him.
| and he sprang into tue water. The small
! eye of an alligator is not very good target
at fifteen or twenty PAGES, and Mr. Warner
made several efforts before he bagyed any
game. At length, hoyyever, he struck one
| square in the eye, aud the gator was dead
before he had n chance to flop himself into
the water. Not dead SO quick, either, but
| 50 discouraged that in his few moments of
| tail-lashing and terrible struggling he
worked himself still further away from the
water. As soon as he lay quiet we landed
and went as close to him as proper respect
| for his size warranted. The brute might
4
| powerful tail would break a mans leg. He
! lay on his back. and we soon became
familiar enough with him to poke him with
sticks, and then there was no doubt that lie
wss as dead as he would ever be. He was
an inch or two over seven feet long, and
think that any one who saw the Shiny, re
pulsive creature lying there would not care
in the future to put his feet into pair OF
alligator boots. His jaws were large enough
and no doubt powerful enough to snap a
mans leg off, and ne would have been all
ugly fellow TO encounter in fair fight.
Are alligatOrs edible! To see that fellow
lying dead and Shiny, the answer would be
an uuhesitatinG no. Even the hunters do
not class them among the luxuries, for they
are always tough, aud the flavor of musk is
not Inviting. But when provisions give
out and the settlements are far away, ALI
gators have sometimes been used for food
There are paris near the base of the tail
that are said to yield passably good steaks
flor very hungry man, and the soft
places just behind the front legs can be cut
with sharp knife and digested by "a good
stomach.
We saw that day more aligatorS than
ever saw before. 1t was a good alligator
day, and we were in the heart of the ALI
gator country. There Were thousands
more further on that, OF course, we did not
see, being satisfied with the thousands thai
we did SEQ. We went up the river as far as
Fort Hamer, where the last traces of an old
fort disappeared ages ago, leaving nothing
but open sand lots and returned to Palma
Sola in time for supper.