CHAP, the cayman; trot' tfik Spanifh failors;;*remarkingtheir
, VIL . great refemblance to that little7 reptile, they ca?Eed the:
jirft of theirr'whick' .they GmiJagariQ, ors#zard. * When
our countrymen arrived, and .heard that name, they
called the creature a-tagarto, whence is derived the word
ialligato, or* alligator. __
The great advantage of fuch repofitories of Natural
Hiftory as the Britifh Mufeumis,-.that they enable, the
lover of nature and truth to be fatisfied by liis owh.eyes
of the extraordinary and almoft incredible produ&rons of
nature. In the above-named colle&ion1 may be'feen. a
crocodile, differing in fome particulars, but chiefly in.lts
dimenfions, from the creatures of the. fame name in
other parts of India. Though fo numerous, in Bengal, I
never heard upon good • authority o f one much .larger:
than this* which meafures above twenty-one| fe*et. nit
was taken in the river Indus> but mot till it had; received)
on many parts of its body feveral ^three-pound: .ba'SsJ
many of which could not penetrate, or produce the. leaft
effedt againft his fcales.
As I cannot fo eafily produce my voucher, I mu ft
pledge my veracity for another Ipecimen, which I have
myfelf feen; which proves to me that there have been
fome of this fpecies of more than twice the fize of that
which may: be meafured in the Mufeum.
At Maejlricht, in 1781, I faw the head of a' crocodile
petrified, which had been dug out of Mount Saint Pierre;
1 the
the body of which,f by calculation, muft have’ meafured chap.
above fixty feet| in length.—Query, when* or how, did VIL
this animal co;me 'there f -Yet then? with aftonifhment I
beheld it, wx. the pofleffion of a prieft, who frnce fent it to
Paris as a very great curiofity.
. In :Guiana'there' are faid to be lizards of the fize of
five m ;fix >feety but that. fpecies which, is here called the.
iguana, and by th e; Indians ,the woyamaca, is feldoin
ahoy© three: feet long. jj From, the head- to the extremity
of, the tail,: it: if covered over with fmall fcales^refledling
very 'btilliant « colpiars in the fun ; the hack and legs are
■of.a dark blue&thp fides and belly.of a yellowilh; hind of
green, as, abb the .bag or loOfe; ikin which hangs under
its; R is fpotted in many parts with brown ,
apd black, and its eyes.are a beautiful-pale- red, while the
cj^iws are of .a deep chefnut colour.;.
i?jrFfiis* lizard, like the alligator, has its back and tail
indented*. both which are formed into a. fharp edge- It
f e in ts egg^:innthet fand, and is often.feen among the
fhrubs and plants, where the Indians fhoot it with their
hows and arrows. Thefe people efteem its flefh, which is
very.yhfiev as a great delicacy; it is fold dear at Paramaribo,
and bought as a dainty by many of the white
inhabitants. This creature’s bite is extremely painful,
but feldom attended with bad confequences.
But to return to my negro Caramaca, I acknowledge
his account at firft difcouragcd me from the
Yol« I. U 2 plan