The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-04-19

eyes and nostrils visible above it. The
| eyes OF course furnished the target and
| for few minutes after we rounded
/ that bend the fusillade was incessant.
! With the first volley there had been a
| terrific commotion as the gators
turned tail-from two to six feet Of it
| and plunged for deep water. After that
| it was snap shooting of the Snappiest
| sort. For a moment only, when the
great beasts came up to breathe, the
surface of the water would be gently
| broken and an eye and a noStril would
appear and that was our target. You
may think you have tried some difficult
shooting in your day, but fancy stand
ing up in a skiff along with three other
men in the middle of a rapidly flowing
stream and shooting with a rifle at a
| black patch an inch in diameter any
where from twenty to one hundred and
fifty yards away. 1t was exciting be-
| cause when a gator was struck he did
founder beautifully and there was lust
enough of chance always of having
your boat upset into those thickly pop
ulated waters to add a tang of interest
to the situation; but the results in the
way of dead alligators were not partic-
ularly fiattering to our pride as marks
men.
presume we fired 400 rounds of am
munition and all 1 can personally
vouch for is grand total of two
dead alligators. One of these was a
little sfx-fOoter which Auditor Harper,
bank and killed with a single shot
The other measured nearly 10 feet and
was the joint game of six of the hunt
ers, who filed him so full of lead that
he sank and drowned. The chances
are that more were killed, for a shot
that really entered the eye would be
instantly fatal and the beast would
sink to the bottom just as man
would and be swept away by the swift
current. But it was sport rather than
game we were after, and we certainly
did have plenty of sport. For nearly
three hours our native oarsmen pad
died our boats slowly up and down
the river while we stood with vigil
ant eyes and with nerves at concert
pitch scanning the waters for the rip
pie which announced that a gator
occasional breath. Then there would
be a quick volley, a hurried explana-
ton from each of the hunters to
just how far he missed and why, and
then the programme would be repeat
ed with another victim. Finally, along
about o'clock. the tide came in and
with it our little steamer. Her shaded
deck looked cool and inviting and we
were glad enough to leave the little
open boats and get away from the
scalding water and out of the heating
sum- There was a long lovely ride
along the bewitching coast, past tiny
birds, through a sea lively enough for
an occasional wave to send its spray
dashing across the deck, home at last
to LaBoca as the sun dropped back
into the Pacific from which we had
seen it rise in the morning.-and then
a good deal sun-burned and somewhat
weary but a very contented little
crowd, thoroughly satisfied with a day
which had given them an uncommon
and unusual experience, rejoined their
friend at the TivoH hotel and Dragged
and Dragged and Dragged of the CORY
havoc they had wrought!
TN - s-,N@ = hot
the catching of alligators for their
hides is one of the somewhat import
ant industries of Panama. 1t hardly
needs to be said, however, that the
rounds of expensive ammunition on
one alligator. Their method of hunting
them is to go out onto the river at
night with a chicken tied to the end
of d pole. This chicken is pushed out
from the boat and made to squawk
and fiutter upon the surface of the
water. The alligator attracted thereby
comes after his prey which is drawn in
so close to the boat that as the gator
open his great jaws to seize it the hunt
er thrusts into his mouth a stout fork
ed stick to which a rope is attached.
The alligator attempts to close his
jaw and in doing so pinions them to-
gether with the forked stick. There
upon the hunter anchors him to con-
venient tree, and goes out for another
victim. In the course of a night two
or three industr natives may cap
ture 20 or 80 alligators in this way. In
the morning the tide has gone out,
the reptiles are helpless in the mud
and the natives dispatch them with a
knife or spear. The final killing is
prosaic enough but we should think
there would be just one fraction of
moment as the native thrusts his fork
ed stick between the jaws of the beast
when the question as to whether he
was going to get his arm out in time,
might afford him a little sportsman
like thrill or two.
WITH, VISIT ETTROPFE