"I camped here two years ago," he said, "An' the cave was alive with rock-rats, mice, snakes, horned-toads, lizards an' a big gila monster, besides bugs, scorpions' rattlers, an' as fer tarantulers an' centipedes-say!
"The Last of the Plainsmen"
Zane Grey
The difficulty arises out of the fact of the use, and probably the improvident use, by the whites above them, of the water of the gila River, by which they are deprived of all means of irrigating their lands.
"The Indian Question (1874)"
Francis A. Walker
Yes, there it squatted, an ugly, misshapen, figure, a cross between a toad and a gila monster, half man, half beast, with big red eyes-rubies probably-that gleamed in the repulsive golden face.
"Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders or, The Underground Search for the Idol of Gold"
Victor Appleton