Captyre and Death of a large Alligator. 313 
Art. XIV.— Account of the Capture and Death of a large Ali- 
gator. Communicated for this Journal at the request of the 
Editors, by a gentleman concerned in the affair. 
TO THE EDITORS. 
Tue interest you have manifested in the head of the alligator, 
deposited in the room of the Society of Natural History in this 
city, (see the annexed drawing, ) and the request you have made 
that I would acquaint you with the circumstances of its capture, 
induce me to offer you the following sketch.. Whatever imper- 
fections may appear in it, must be attributed to the time that has 
passed since my enki at saasenwes near which place the alli- 
gator was killed. 
The lake, from which flows the river on which Manilla is sit- 
uated, is about twenty miles from that place. It is of irregular 
form, and from many points looks like three distinct bodies of - 
water of about equal dimensions, caused by a long island nearly 
in the centre, and a wide tract of land parallel to and about eight 
miles from it. The latter, called Halahala, was a plantation 
which I occasionally visited, and was the property of a French 
gen distinguished for his hospitality, and for a strength of 
character which had led him to establish himself successfully, 
alone and unaided, amidst a barbarous people, whose respect and 
love he had secured by his uniform courage, justice, and benevo- 
lence. A small part of the estate was cultivated by the hired 
Indians, whose huts formed a picturesque little village near the 
house me the proprietor, and the remainder, embracing a circuit of 
fifteen or twenty miles, gave every variety of natural beauty. 
A chain of high hills ran through the centre, whose summits 
Were covered with grass so luxuriant as often to rise over the 
head of a man on horseback; and the forests on either side, ex- 
tending in many places to the lake, were the growth of centuries. 
The axe had never thinned them, and they stood in their massive 
magnificence as nature had planted and reared them; some in 
fantastic forms, which gave them so much the appearance of 
works of art, as to be distinguished by the names of things they 
were supposed to resemble; some, vanquished by the creeping 
plant, which strangles in its close and deadly embrace what at 
first it clings to for support and protection, had struggled against 
Vol. xxxvir1, No. 2.—Jan.-March, 1840. 
