outh of France, in
which countries they commit dreadful ravages both on man and beast;
whereas a prairie wolf, except forced by desperation, will seldom or
never attack a human being.

I have said that the danger that attends the traveller in the great
prairies is trifling; but it is very different in the eastern swamps and
mud-holes, where the enemy, ever on the watch, is also always invisible,
and where the speed of the horse and the arms of the rider are of no
avail, for they are then swimming in the deep water, or splashing,
breast-deep, in the foul mud.

Among these monsters of the swamps and lagoons of stagnant waters, the
alligator ranks the first in size and voracity; yet man has nothing to
fear from him; and though there are many stories among the cotton
planters about negroes being carried away by this immense reptile, I do
firmly believe that few human beings have ever been seized alive by the
American alligator. But although harmless to man, the monster is a
scourge to all kinds of animals, and principally to dogs and horses. It
often happens that a rider loses his track through a swamp or a muddy
cane-brake, and then, if a new comer in East Texas, he is indubitably
lost. While his poor steed is vainly struggling in a yielding mass of
mud, he will fall into a hole, and before he can regain his footing, an
irresistible force will drag him deeper and deeper, till smothered.
This force is the tail of the alligator, with which this animal masters
its prey, no matter how strong or heavy, when once within its reach. M.
Audubon has perfectly described its power: I will repeat his words:--

"The power of the alligator is in its great strength, and the chief
means of its attack or defence is its large tail, so well contrived by
nature to supply his wants, or guard him from danger, that it reaches,
when curled into a half-circle, to his enormous mouth. Woe be to him
who goes within the reach of this tremendous thrashing instrument; for,
no matter how strong or muscular, if human, he must suffer greatly, if
he escape with life. The monster, as he strikes with this, forces all
objects within the circle towards his jaws, which, as the tail makes a
motion, are opened to their full stretch, thrown a little sideways to
receive the object, and, like battering-rams, to bruise it shockingly in
a moment."

Yet, as I have said, the alligator is but little formidable to man. In
Western Louisiana and Eastern Texas, wher