The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1894-06-02
ALLIGATOR HUNTING.
aow the Sport Is Carried on in the Flo
Lila SAVANNA

dow the Sport Is carried on III the Flor
ida Swamps.
The n apparent purpose Of all who
Journey by boat in Florida is to see ALI.
gators, and to keep account of the
number 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 fretted blue walled
in tamcly with banks of low vegeta-
ton. There are only two types, hat
and the %tortuous narrow sort, running
like leafy lanes in cramped ribbons,
hedged close by trees. 1t is when the
st. Johns is compressed and squeezed
until it wriggles like q landed eel
that the search for gators be-
gins. ! had never seen q wild alligator
at large when ] made the voyage, and,
to tell the truth, ! had seen SO many
others like me, and such signs of n gem
eral slaughter of the ~saurians, their ba-
bies, and even their eggs, that / fam
cied | might leave Florida with the luck
of one who goes to Dakota to get n shot
at a buffalo. Hut | was wrong. Not
all the alligatorS are killed yet, thoug'.
thai contamination is not far off in TIA,
older PARTS of Florida. When we came
to the narrow end of the river W. saw
plenty of the amphihiars, and discov-
cred also that they are apparently the
only things that induce the captain to
raise his voice and to betray an inward
excitement
Alligator on the left bank. 0uickr'
he shouted 20 all the passengers AL
ligatnr-bis ne-on the left bank,
close ahead"
Sure enough, there was the huge
iizard-likc animal upon the low bank,
between the water and the trees, where
!le had been b~aSiiing until the approach
of the boat aroused him. Already,
with 4 snaki-li motion, he was moving
toward the river, his head sweeping in
one direction, AMI his thick. strong tail
in the other. There was time to see
that he was ten feet long, and to Won
der how the captain detected q thing SO
nearly the color of the earth it rested
upon, when. with n graceful giant
wri-glc, the beast slipped into the
river, and showed us only 4 black snout
and two buml-lilSe eyes ripping the
s~nrfacc of the ,trcam.
There were some persons among the
iassengtrs who Mi but ravci with de-
'iGht orcr The beauty of the scenery in
:hr narrow part of the river. Pretty
I is. but not extremely beautiful, and
he cNtravagant expressions of those
who find cXtramc beauty where others
see In!v ta!n":arss. or. at tho utmost,
NEE lr"ttiE-Es. inspire compassion for
all who h-': where nature is i'll
favored or .cl:DlS, as TN the plains,
for instance. The st. Johns was here
a pretty winding stream. curving
amid upre or les dense growthS Of
oak, cypress. AMI pllm Ito. Spanish
moss hung its CrccaisIl-gra.y tai!s
upon many of til, trees. and aug-
mcntci the stranrrncsS of the sen
"rv; for strange it would seem
to any American from beyond
the few states that border the
gulf of Mexico. 1t got its pref
tincsS from the fresh new green that
nature was lav!rfin- upon the treca
a2d the underground. 80 narrow was
the stream that the boat was seen to
, uSh the water ahead of it. and TO suck
a great biliow along behind it-a bill
low that crashed upon the W. banEs
and hurried the COWS ashore. the buE-
yards to flight. and the turtles and ALI
gators off th0ir r~rsting-placcS. The X
pcricuce suggested stcamhOating oa
some crooked narrow route like Pearl
street in New York: bu; sometimes the
loops in the stream! were 50 sharp that
steamers making the same course APP
Feared 20 be. and were, going in Oppn-
site directions. The turtles were anus
iny. Sometimes half a dozen would drop
from n projecting log to fall upon their
backs and scramble wildly into correct
positions. Lazy AMI beautiful cranes
we're seen at times, ani the bnlt passed
many huZZard rOostS. where the greet
Ugly birds were seen stalking AK
rardly on the earth, or roosiiug Ike
turkeys on I; ctrrc limbs. ISaT eleven
nii:gatnrS. mtav al than very large.
One favored INC with an exhibition Of
ais p.IrstTianissI hv turning into the
woods instead al ;he wafer. II was
worth seeing. lie HID his head AMI
six-srvcuthS of his tail above the ground
upon ungainiy legs that stood ont from
his body almost like Il spiders limbs.
Then he walked As If he had not
learned how. The customary man
with = gun. and with 4 general and
all-embracinS ambition 10 murder some.
thing, had come upon the boa to
kill an alligator. This he was forbid
den to 10. and I think | am right in
saying that from noStrambuat running
in Florida is shooting now permitted.
The captain explained why this was
when he said: eff passengers were al
lowed to shoot, they would h. apt to
alarm or angG.- the people ashore, Il
some of the crackers would be sure &c
turn and SEM Il fusillade Of bncllshnt
into the boat" Those who have fol-
lowed my experiences in other parts Of
the south will he interested in this fur
Their proof of the fact thst steamboat
ing there is not unlike managing n
travelling target for buctshot ~ ulian
Ralph, in lIarper's Magazine