How did he catch the cayman?

The cayman was caught with a baited hook on the end of a rope in the Essequibo River. In order to avoid shooting the large reptile, Waterton went out onto the river while seven helpers held on to the rope on dry land. He edged his canoe close to the cayman and jumped onto its back.

Later he wrote . . . fancying himself in hostile company, he began to plunge furiously, and lashed the sand with his long and powerful tail . . . it was the first and last time I was ever on a Cayman's back.

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