Raleigh’s New World: Hunting Sir Walter among the alligators
Above: How Native Americans coped with alligators 400 years ago Florida in August… Disneyland and beaches, hurricanes and alligators. Maybe it wasn’t the best time to visit the Sunshine State. It was humid and very, very hot. But the family wedding I attended, in between the devastations of hurricanes Harvey a nd Irma, was everything that the happy couple could wish for. And the rain held off, just about. There’s a close season for hurricanes but alligators are a year-round hazard in Florida. An unexpected meeting with of one of the creatures in a pond at Kanapaha State Park outside Gainesville reminded me of how they were tackled by the indigenous population four centuries ago. This celebrated engraving comes from a book published in 1590. It was entitled 'A briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia’, written by Thomas Harriot, and published in four languages with illustrations by the Flemish engraver and publisher Theodore de Bry....