1591.—"In this place I have seen very great water aligartos (which we call in English crocodiles), seven yards long."—Master Antonie Knivet, in Purchas, iv. 1228.
1593.—"In this River (of Guayaquill) and all the Rivers of this Coast, are great abundance of Alagartoes ... persons of credit have certified to me that as small fishes in other Rivers abound in scoales, so the Alagartoes in this...."—Sir Richard Hawkins, in Purchas, iv. 1400.
c. 1593.—
"And in his needy shop a tortoise hung,
An alligator stuff'd, and other skins
Of ill-shaped fishes...."—
Romeo & Juliet, v. 1.
1595.—"Vpon this river there were great store of fowle ... but for lagartos it exceeded, for there were thousands of those vgly serpents; and the people called it for the abundance of them, the riuer of Lagartos in their language."—Raleigh, The Discoverie of Guiana, in Hakl. iv. 137.
1596.—"Once he would needs defend a rat to be animal rationale ... because she eate and gnawd his bookes.... And the more to confirme it, because everie one laught at him ... the next rat he seaz'd on hee made an anatomie of, and read a lecture of 3 dayes long upon everie artire or musckle, and after hanged her over his head in his studie in stead of an apothecarie's crocodile or dride Alligatur."—T. Nashe's 'Have with you to Saffron Walden.' Repr. in J. Payne Collier's Misc. Tracts, p. 72.
1610.—"These Blackes ... told me the River was full of Aligatas, and if I saw any I must fight with him, else he would kill me."—D. Midleton, in Purchas, i. 244.