Show alligators All tho use upper paraguay of course there being no hunters to kill them wild animals are very plentiful in paraguay it is not uncommon guars duars and deer even from the deck of the steamer but most of 0 all al alligators ligato abound when the waters are highest they roam over the flooded land seeking the small animals water birds and fish on which they live at that time they are not ot so common along the river channels and only now and then may one be seen in the shallows with but the top of his ugly head above the surface of the water in the dry season as the waters recede they gather in the rivers in such amazing numbers that I 1 can compare them only to tadpoles in a pond I 1 have counted over sixty on a small sand wind bank literally piled one over the other while all around the water was full of them they lie ile thus for hours basking in the sun and quite still but if a steamer approaches the mass be gins to move at once there Is a great rattling of scales as they bustle each oth other e r to reach the water and in a moment only five or six are am left who raise their heads and stare at the vessel until it has pas passed sea I 1 them t h em these more courageous fellows are gener brally eral lythe the larger ones and offer tempting shots I 1 am no sportsman but my brother inlaw in law who was traveling with roe me killed many from the steamers deck using only coarse shot it is not eo so easy to kill those that are seen on the surface of the water shot and even a bullet will v ill glance off from the hard skull unless the eye be hit lift the top of the eye socket is never net er more than two or three inches above the surface and as they are usually at rather long range even a skill ful marksman may be pardoned for a miss herbert 11 II smith in st nicholas |