ALLIGATOR KILLING. 



In the dark recesses of the loneliest swamps — in those 

 dismal abodes where production and decay run riot- 

 where the serpent crawls from his den among the tan- 

 gled ferns and luxuriant grass, and hisses forth, unmo- 

 lested, his propensities to destroy — where the toad and 

 lizard spend the livelong day in their melancholy chirp- 

 ings where the stagnant pool festers and ferments, and 



bubbles up its foul miasma — where the fungi seem to 

 grow beneath your gaze — where the unclean birds retire 

 after their repast, and sit and stare with dull eyes in 

 vacancy for hours and days together ; — there originates 

 the alligator ; there, if happy in his history, he lives 

 and dies. 



But, alas ! the pioneer of the forest invades his home 



the axe lets in the sunshine upon his hiding-places : — 



and he frequently finds himself, like the Indian, sur- 

 rounded by the encroachments of civilization, a mere 



