University of Virginia Library

ALLIGATOR KILLING.

In the dark recesses of the loneliest swamps, in
those dismal abodes where decay and production
seem to run riot; where the serpent crawls from his
den among the tangled ferns and luxuriant grass, and
hisses forth its propensities to destroy unmolested;
where the toad and lizard spend the live-long day in
their melancholy chirpings; where the stagnant pool
festers and ferments, and bubbles up its foul miasma;
where the fungi seem to grow beneath your gaze;
where the unclean birds retire after their repast, and
sit and stare with dull eyes in vacancy for hours and
days together; there, originates the alligator; there,
if happy in his history, he lives and dies. The pioneer
of the forest invades his home; the axe lets in
the sunshine upon his hiding-places: he frequently
finds himself, like the Indian, surrounded by the encroachments
of civilization, a mere intruder in his
original domain, and under such circumstances only
does he become an object of rough sport, the incidents
of which deserve a passing notice.

The extreme southern portions of the United States
are exceedingly favourable to the growth of the alligator:
in the swamps that stretch over a vast extent
of country, inaccessible almost to man, they increase
in numbers and size, live undisputed monarchs of

their abodes, exhibiting but little more intelligence,
or exerting but little more volition than the decayed
trunk of the tree, for which they are not unfrequently
taken. In these swampy regions, however, are frequently
found high ridges of land inviting cultivation.
The log cabin takes the place of the rank vegetation;
the evidences of thrift appear; and as the running
streams display themselves, and are cleared for
navigation, the old settler, the alligator, becomes exposed,
and daily falls a victim to the rapacity of man.
Thus hunted, like creatures of higher organization,
he grows more intelligent, from the dangers of his
situation; his taste grows more delicate, and he wars
in turn upon his only enemy; soon acquires a civilized
taste for pork and poultry, and acquires also a
very uncivilized one for dogs.

An alligator in the truly savage state is a very happy
reptile: encased in an armour as impenetrable as that
of Ajax, he moves about unharmed by surrounding
circumstances. The fangs of the rattlesnake grate
over his scales as they would over a file; the constrictor
finds nothing about him to crush; the poisonous
moccasin bites at him in vain; and the greatest
pest of all, the musquitto, that fills the air of his
abode with a million stings, that burn the fleshlike
sparks of fire, buzz out their fury upon his carcass in
vain. To say that he enjoys not these advantages,
that he crawls not forth as a proud knight in his armour,
that he treads not upon the land as a master,
and moves in the water the same, would be doing
injustice to his actions, and his habits, and the philosophical

example of independence which he sets to
the trembling victims that are daily sacrificed to his
wants.

The character of an alligator's face is far from
being a flattering letter of recommendation. It suggests
a rude shovel; the mouth extends from the extreme
tip of the nose backwards until it passes the ears;
indeed, about one-third of the whole animal is mouth,
with the exact expression of a tailor's shears; and
this mouth being ornamented with a superabundance
of rows of white teeth, gives the same hope of getting
out of it, sound in body and mind, if once in, as
does the hopper of a bark-mill. Its body is short
and round not unlike that of a horse; its tail is very
long and flattened at the end like an oar. It has the
most dexterous use of this appendage, propelling
along, swiftly, and on land it answers the purpose of
a weapon of defence.

The traveller through the lonely swamp at nightfall
often finds himself surrounded by these singular
creatures, and if he is unaccustomed to their presence
and habits, they cause great alarm. Scattered about
in every direction, yet hidden by the darkness, he
hears their huge jaws open and shut with a force that
makes a noise, when numbers are congregated, like
echoing thunder. Again, in the glare of the campfire,
will sometimes be seen the huge alligator crawling
within the lighted circle, attracted by the smell
of food—perchance you have squatted upon a nest of
eggs, encased with great judgment in the centre of
some high ground you yourself have chosen to pass
the night upon. Many there are, who go unconcernedly

to sleep with such intruders in their immediate
vicinity; but a rifle-ball, effectively fired, will most
certainly leave you unmolested, and the dying alligator,
no doubt, comforts itself that the sun will not
neglect its maternal charge, but raise up its numerous
young as hideous and destructive as itself.

The alligator is a luxurious animal, fond of all the
comforts of life, which are, according to its habits,
plentifully scattered around it. We have watched
them, enjoying their evening nap in the shades of
tangled vines, and in the hollow trunk of the cypress,
or floating like a log on the top of some sluggish pool.
We have seen them sporting in the green slime, and
catching, like a dainty gourmand, the fattest frogs,
and longest snakes; but they are in the height of
their glory, stretched out upon the sand-bar, in the
meridian sun, when the summer heats pour down
and radiate back from the parched sand, as tangibly
as they would from red hot iron. In such places
will they bask and blow off, with a loud noise, the
inflated air and water, that would seem to expand
within them as if confined in an iron pipe, occasionally
rolling about their swinish eyes with a slowness
of motion, that, while it expresses the most perfect
satisfaction, is in no way calculated to agitate their
nerves, or discompose them by too suddenly taking
the impression of outward objects. While thus disposed
of, and after the first nap is taken, they amuse
themselves with opening their huge jaws to their
widest extent, upon the inside of which, instinctively
settle, thousands of musquittoes and other noxious insects
that infest the abode of the alligator. When

the inside of the mouth is thus covered, the reptile
brings his jaws together with inconceivable velocity,
gives a gulp or two, and again sets his formidable
trap for this small game.

Some years since, a gentleman in the southern part
of Louisiana, “opening a plantation,” found, after
most of the forest had been cleared off, that in the
centre of his land was a boggy piece of low soil covering
nearly twenty acres. This place was singularly
infested with alligators. Among the first victims
that fell a prey to their rapacity, were a number
of hogs and fine poultry; next followed most of a
pack of fine deer hounds. It may be easily imagined
that the last outrage was not passed over with indifference.
The leisure time of every day was devoted
to their extermination, until the cold of winter
rendered them torpid and buried them up in the
mud. The following summer, as is naturally the
case, the swamp, from the heat of the sun, contracted
in its dimensions; a number of artificial ditches
drained off the water, and left the alligators little else
to live in than mud, about the consistency of good
mortar: still the alligators clung, with singular tenacity,
to their native homesteads as if perfectly conscious
that the coming fall would bring them rain.
While thus exposed, a general attack was planned,
carried into execution, and nearly every alligator of
any size was destroyed. It was a fearful and disgusting
sight to see them rolling about in the thick
mud, striking their immense jaws together in the
agony of death. Dreadful to relate, the stench of
these decaying bodies in the hot sun produced an

unthought-of evil. Teams of oxen were used in vain
to haul them away; the progress of corruption under
the sun of a tropical climate made the attempt fruitless.
On the very edge of the swamp, with nothing
exposed but the head, lay a huge monster, evidently
sixteen or eighteen feet long; he had been wounded
in the melee, and made incapable of moving, and the
heat had actually baked the earth around his body as
firmly as if imbedded in cement. It was a cruel and
singular exhibition, to see so much power and destruction
so helpless. We amused ourselves in
throwing things into his great cavernous mouth,
which he would grind up between his teeth. Seizing
a large oak rail, we attempted to run it down his
throat, but it was impossible; for he held it for a
moment as firmly as if it had been the bow of a ship,
then with his jaws crushed and ground it to fine
splinters. The old fellow, however, had his revenge;
the dead alligators were found more destructive than
the living ones, and the plantation for a season had
to be abandoned.

In shooting the alligator, the bullet must hit just
in front of the fore legs, where the skin is most vulnerable;
it seldom penetrates in other parts of the
body. Certainty of aim, therefore, tells, in alligator
shooting, as it does in every thing else connected
with sporting. Generally, the alligator, when wounded,
retreats to some obscure place; but if wounded
in a bayou, where the banks are steep, and not affording
any hiding-places, he makes considerable amusement
in his convolutions in the water, and in his
efforts to avoid the pain of his smarting wounds. In

shooting, the instant you fire, the reptile disappears,
and you are for a few moments unable to learn the
extent of injury you have inflicted. An excellent
shot, that sent the load with almost unerring certainty
through the eye, was made at a huge alligator, and,
as usual, he disappeared, but almost instantly rose
again, spouting water from his nose, not unlike a
whale. A second ball, shot in his tail, sent him
down again, but he instantly rose and spouted: this
singular conduct prompted a bit of provocation, in
the way of a plentiful sprinkling of bits of wood, rattled
against his hide. The alligator lashed himself
into a fury; the blood started from his mouth; he
beat the water with his tail until he covered himself
with spray, but never sunk without instantly rising
again. In the course of the day he died and floated
ashore; and, on examination, it was found that the
little valve nature has provided the reptile with, to
close over its nostrils when under water, had been
cut off by the first shot, and thus compelled him to
stay on the top of the water to keep from being
drowned. We have heard of many since who have
tried thus to wound them, and although they have
been hit in the nose, yet they have been so crippled
as to sink and die.

The alligator is particularly destructive on pigs
and dogs, when they inhabit places near plantations;
and if you wish to shoot them, you can never fail to
draw them on the surface of the water, if you will
make a dog yell, or pig squeal; and that too, in
places where you may have been fishing all day,
without suspecting their presence. Herodotus mentions

the catching of crocodiles in the Nile, by baiting
a hook with flesh, and then attracting the reptile
towards it by making a hog squeal. The ancient
Egyptian manner of killing the crocodile is different
from that of the present day, as powder and ball have
changed the manner of destruction; but the fondness
for pigs in the crocodile and alligator, after more than
two thousand years, remains the same.