MARTIN RATTLER. 161

ugly snouts above the surface, and then disappearing
with a flourish of their powerful tails. During the
rainy season this lake was much larger, and afforded
ample room for its inhabitants; but at the height of
the dry season, which it was at this time, there was
little water, and it was much overstocked. When
alligators are thus put upon short allowance of water
they frequently bury themselves in the wet mud, and
lie dormant for a long time, while the water continues
to retire and leaves them buried. But when the first
shower of the rainy season falls, they burst open their
tomb and drag their dry bodies to the lake or river
on whose margin they went to sleep.

An hour or two later the Senhor Antonio arrived,
but as it was getting dark nothing could be done
until the following morning; so they slung their
hammocks under the wooden shed on the margin of
the lake, and, in order to save themselves as much as
possible from the bites of the tormenting mosquitoes,
went to sleep with their heads tied up in their hand-
kerchiefs and their hands thrust into their breeches
pockets! The occasional splash and snort of con-
tending alligators, about twenty yards off, varied the
monotony of the hours of darkness, while the frogs

and cranes and jaguars sang their lullaby.

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