The record-union., 1893-03-10
ALLIGATOR HUNTING
On Florida misunderstanding the Am
Dhibiau.

phibian.
The one apparent purpose of all who
journey by boat in Florida is to see alll-
gators, and TO keep account OF the num-
ber they have seen, as desperate Indians
in yellow-covered books tote up the sum
of the scalps they have lifted. At first
the st. Johns River is of the broad type
of Floridian streams-a wide eXpanse OF
iretted blue walled in tamely with banks
OF low vegetation. There are only two
types. that and the tortuous narrow sort,
running like leafy lanes IN cramped rib
bons, hedged close by trees. 1t is when
the st. Johns is compressed and squeezed
until it wriggles like landed eel that the
search for gators begins.
| had never seen a wild alligator at
large when l made the voyage, and, to
tell the truth, had seen so many others
like me, and such signs of a general
slaughter of the saurians. their babies,
and even their eggs, that / tancied L
might leave Florida with the luck OF one
who goes to Dakota to get shot at buff
falo. But l was wrong. Not all the alli-
gators are killed yet, though that con-
summation is not FAR off in the older
parts of Florida. When we came to the
narrow end of the river we saw plenty OF
the amphibians, and discovered also that
they are apparently the only things that
induce the Captain to raise ms voice and
to betray an inward excitement.
Alligator on the lett bank! QuickW
he shouted to all the passengers. "Alli-
gator-big one-on the left bank, close
aheadr'
Sure enough, there was the huge lizard
like animal upon the low bank, between
the water and the trees, where he had
been basking until the approach of the
boat aroused him. Already, with snak-
ish motion, he was moving toward the
river, his head sweeping in one direction,
and his thick, strong tail in the other.
There was time to see that he was ten feet
| long and to wonder how the captain de-
tected thing so nearly the color OF the
earth it rested upon, when, with grace
full giant wriggle, the beast slipped into
the river, and showed us only Il black
snout and two bump-like eyes ripping
the surface of the stream.
| There were some persons among the
| passengers who all but raved with de-
| light over the beauty of the scenery in
the narrow part of the river. Pretty it is,
| but not extremely beautiful, and the eX-
| travagant expressions OF those who find
extreme beauty where others see only
tameness, or, at the utmost, mere pretti-
ness, inspire compassion for all who live
| where nature is ill-tavored or tedious, rs
on the plains, for instance. The St
Johns was here pretty, winding stream
| curving amid more or less dense growths
of Oat, cypress and palmetto. Spanish
moss hung its greenish-gray tails upor
many OF The trees, and augmented The
strangeness OF the scenery; for strange i
would seem to any American from be-
youd the few States that border the Gul
of Mexico. 1t gets its prettiness from the
fresh new greer that nature was lavish
ing upon the trees and the underground
So narrow was the stream that the boa
was seen to push the water ahead of i
and to suck great billow along behinC
it-a billow that crashed upon the low
banks and hurried the COWS ashore, The
buzzards to flight and the turtles and alli
gators off their resting places. The eX
perience suggested steamboating on SOM
crooked narrow route like Pearl stree
in New York, but sometimes the loops il
the stream were so sharp that steamer
making the same course appeared to be
and were, going in opposite directions
The turtles were amusing. Sometime
half dozen would drop from a project
ing log to fall upon their backs ant
scram ble wildly into correct positions.
Lazy and beautiful cranes were seen a
times, and the boat passed many buzzar,
roosts, where the great ugly birds wer