314 Capture and Death of a large Alligator. 
its folds till the destroyer and destroyed seemed one; and the 
giant tree, which, year after year, had been rocked by the earth- 
quake and had tiene bravely against the whirlwind, slowly yield- 
ing to its tenacious persecutor, stood at last lifeless within its green 
and living shroud. 
Amidst the wonders of nature, animal life has its full share; 
and in the tangled recesses of the woods, where exuberant vege- 
tation has given the earth a covering almost impenetrable to man, 
there live the deer, the boar, and that most desperate and danger- 
ous enemy of the hunter, the wild buffalo, whose ferocity and 
contempt of danger is only equalled by his hatred of the human 
form. There isalso the boa constrictor, sometimes seen of great 
size, who crushes in his folds and devours whatever first comes 
in his way ; and then, gorged and inactive, is easily despatched. 
One with a large deer inside of him, was killed when I was there, 
but had been cut up by the natives for food, before we were 
aware of it. Since I left that country, I have been informed 
that one thirty-five feet long has been destroyed, after killing 
two Indians, who entered a cavern where he had retired, one of 
whom he swallowed, and the other was found dead beside him. 
The deep, still inlets of the more retired parts of the lake, are 
the lurking places of the alligators ; and one spot, remarkably 
situated, was their favorite resort. Nearly opposite to the point 
of Halahala, on the other shore, there issues from a mountain a 
stream of so high a temperature that the natives use it for cook- 
ing ; and the bones of fish and fowls, scattered at its sides ard 
in its bed, show how commonly it is availed of for that purpose. 
Rude baths are constructed near it, which are found very set- 
viceable in chronic diseases, and are sometimes visited by invalids 
from Manilla. Near this place isan island, in the centre of which 
is a small, deep, black lake, surrrounded by hills, except at @ 
narrow opening, which is low and marshy. The sides, as they 
slope to the margin, are thickly wooded, and the trees hang clus- 
tering over the banks, their dense foliage drooping. to the water. 
Here reigns the stillness of death; not a breath of wind pene- 
trates the close barrier, and there is sound and motion on the 
glassy surface, only when it is rippled by the alligators, who have 
made the place their own. At other times they float like logs, oF 
stretched along the mingled masses of decayed wood and eX 
posed roots, enjoy the coolness and shade of this gloomy solitude. 
