The appearance of these animals in the water is very deceptious; they lie quite motionless, and resemble a branch of a tree floating with the tide; the snout, the eye, and some of the ridges of the back and tail being the only parts that are seen.

The animal that we fired at was noticed for some time, but considered to be only a dead branch, although we were looking out for alligators, and approached within six yards of it before we found out our mistake: the length of this animal was from twelve to fifteen feet; I do not think that we have ever seen one more than twenty feet long.
We reached the cascade by four o'clock and remained there until our boats arrived for a second cargo of water, which was at midnight; as soon as the casks were filled, we set off on our return, but did not reach the brig until eight o'clock in the morning.
July 29.
The fatigue and exposure which attended our watering at this place were so great that I was obliged to give up the idea of completing it now.

We had obtained, by the two trips, enough to last until the end of October, which, with the chance of finding more upon other parts of the coast, was sufficient for our intended mode of proceeding.

The boats were therefore hoisted in, and preparations made to leave the anchorage.
The river appears to abound with fish, particularly with mullet; and porpoises were observed as high as the first falls, a distance of fifty miles from the sea.

A curious species of mud-fish (chironectes sp.
Cuvier) was noticed, of amphibious nature, and something similar to what we have frequently before seen; these were, however, much larger, being about nine inches long.