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 
