322 Capture and Death of a large Alligator. 
He made his way to the wandering negro tribes which roam 
through a tract of mountain country, near the middle of the 
island, and who, uninfluenced by the semi-civilization around 
them, pass an erratic life without fixed habitations, gathering 
their food from the wild fruit trees, and offering wide field for 
conjecture on their origin and insulated position. 
he individual I allude to, returned from his interesting ex- 
cursions, stored with most valuable information. His indefatiga- 
ble spirit was undaunted at the great plan he had laid out before 
him, and he left Manilla with the determination to penetrate to 
the centre of Borneo—that unknown world, whose savage in- 
habitants have not been overcome or softened, even by the cu- 
pidity of commerce, and whose resources can only be imagined 
from its magnitude, situation, and the exceeding fruitfulness of 
its coasts. He had scarcely entered on his new discoveries, when 
approaching too near a volcano, he slipped into the hot ashes of 
its burning crater, which in a few days caused his death. . 
If, in recurring to some of the incidents of my life in Luconia, 
J have inclined to dwell on what may seem irrelevant to the ob- 
ject of this commuuication, it is that Lam fond of remembering 
the days I have passed in the solitudes of that lovely land. The 
dreams of fancy have never pictured scenes of more romantic 
beauty than are there lavishly spread around ;—where the prin- 
eiple of life is profusely scattered and every thing is glowing 
with animated being—where the bland air makes mere existence 
enjoyment; and the day, with its mild sky and refreshing sea 
breeze, gives place to the more serene night, with her clear 
brilliancy, when the eye looks deep into heaven, and the stars 
glitter with a radiance unknown in less genial climes—where the 
land wind rises, and is felt, but not heard, for the stillness of 
midnight is not broken as its soft breath comes from the untrod- 
den depths of the wilderness, laden with the fragrance of the 
spice tree and the wild flower. 
But in that luxurious region, nature at times shows herself in 
the power and sublimity of her convulsions, and awes by the 
earthquake, the tornado, and the thunder storm. Her hours of 
anger are fearful, but are soon forgotten as she resumes her almost 
permanent tranquillity. 
Boston, Feb, 12, 1840, 
