-'/» SPOKT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



Orleans avIio had the apparatus necessary for pro- 

 ducing the electric spark. This was a man named 

 Dantonnet, the first violoncello in the French theatre 

 there, and a very zealous hunter after the alligators. 

 I subsequently discovered the connexion between 

 his zeal for sport and his fondness for music. He 

 had discovered that the entrails of the alligator make 

 the most flexible and sonorous strings for a musical 

 instrument in the world, therefore he hunted them. 



One morning I started with M. Dantonnet, his 

 apparatus, wires, and all the rest of it. He was fol- 

 lowed by a nigger carrying a large deal box, a carpet- 

 bag, and a gun. I had already got on board the boat 

 which was to convey us to DeviVs Swamp all that I 

 required, and we soon floated up on the top of the 

 rising tide. We started at four o'clock in the morn- 

 ing, on a fine day of March, and arrived at Miro's 

 hut about eleven o'clock in the forenoon. It was a 

 charming and picturesque little cottage, and after 

 we had enjoyed a very hearty breakfast, my friend 

 Dantonnet made preparations for his great expe- 

 riment. They were as simple as possible. There 

 was a tin case, holding about three pounds of 

 powder, and this was sewn up into the belly of the 

 fowl that was to serve for the bait. A wire, about 

 the eighth of an inch in diameter, connected the tin 

 case with the shore. 



Dantonnet cried out " All right ! '' and, the bait 

 being thrown overboard, we rowed out into the open. 



