Huge "knees" could be distinguished shooting up like cones or trees that had been broken off leaving their broken trunks in the ground.

Sometimes a huge creeper, a foot or more in diameter, stretched across these gloomy aisles, as though a monster serpent were passing from tree to tree.
The lake was alive with alligators.

These could be seen basking along the low banks, or crawling away into the dark and shadowy swamp.

Some were floating gently on the surface of the stream, their long crests and notched backs protruding above the water.

When not in motion these hideous creatures resembled dead logs of wood; and most of them were lying quiet--partly from their natural disinclination to move about, and partly waiting for their prey.