Several species of Saurians are common in the Central and Lower Putumayo, such as the Alligator cynocephalus, which is frequently from eight to ten feet long; the Alligator palpebrosus, smaller but equally voracious; and the Crocodilus sclerops, or spectacled alligator, so called on account of his horrible red eyes, projecting outwardly like a pair of glasses on his snout. This brute, which attains a length of from twelve to fifteen feet, lays its eggs in the warm sand, where in due time they are hatched. These alligators, or _caymanes_, rarely attack man, and feed chiefly on fish and small animals, such as river-seals, capivaras, &c. Returning to the canoe, we thought that it would be an excellent idea to remove our shoes and socks and go barefoot, for the sand was loose and soft and inconvenienced us by getting in the tops of the shoes. We had no sooner taken off these articles, however, than we discovered that the sand was burning hot from the blazing rays of the sun--so hot, in fact, that we hastened to put them on again at once. While I busied myself preparing dinner Perkins went to work cleaning up our rifle, which we had neglected and allowed to become very rusty. By the time dinner was ready he had polished it up and it was as good as ever, which made us feel a little more at home, for we had heard most bloodcurdling tales of the ferocity of the jaguars and tigers so common in this region. The jaguar, ounce, or American tiger,[81] is almost as large and ferocious as the tigers of Asia, often measuring over six feet in length, exclusive of the two-feet-long tail. It attacks nearly all animals, and sometimes man himself. Its sleek coat is of a bright tan colour on the back and white underneath, and on its flanks four rows of black rings, surrounding small black dots, are to be observed. This is the most common kind met with. Other species are: the black jaguar,[82] known to the Indians as the _jaguareté_, which is very ferocious; the puma, _cougar_, or American lion,[83] whose coat is of a uniform tan, and which often measures four feet in length; the grey tiger,[84] which is only about two feet long; and the _maracaja_ tiger,[85] which has a coat of different shades of black, white, and grey, and is still smaller than the preceding one.