NATIVE SANG-FJJOIIX 5 



plunge under the water. The slave bore his expiring master 

 to the shore ; but all succour was unavailing to restore him 

 to life. He had died of suffocation, for his wounds were not 

 deep. The crocodile, like the dog, appears not to close its 

 jaws firmly while swimming. 



The inhabitants of the banks of the Orinoco and its tri- 

 butary streams discourse continually on the dangers to 

 which they are exposed. They have marked the manners of 

 the crocodile, as the torero has studied the manners of the 

 bull. When they are assailed, they put in practice, with 

 that presence of mind and that resignation which charac- 

 terize the Indians, the Zamboes, and copper-coloured men in 

 general, the counsels they have heard from their infancy. 

 In countries where nature is so powerful and so terrible, 

 man is constantly prepared for danger. We have mentioned 

 before t!ie answer of the young Indian girl, who delivered 

 herself from the jaws of the crocodile " I knew he would 

 let me go if I thrust my fingers into his eyes." This girl 

 belonged to the indigent class of the people, in whom the 

 habits of physical want augment energy of character ; but 

 how can we avoid being surprised, to observe in the countries 

 convulsed by terrible earthquakes, on the table-land of the 

 province of 'Quito, women belonging to the highest classes 

 of society display in the moment of peril, the same calm, the 

 same reflecting intrepidity ? I shall mention one example 

 only in support of this assertion. On the 4th of February, 

 1797, when 35,000 Indians perished in the space of a few 

 minutes, a young mother saved herself and her children, 

 crying out to them to extend their arms at the moment 

 when the cracked ground was ready to swallow them up. 

 When this courageous woman heard the astonishment that 

 was expressed at a presence of mind so extraordinary, she 

 answered, with great simplicity, " I had been told in my 

 infancy : if the earthquake surprise you in a house, place 

 yourself under a doorway that communicates from one 

 apartment to another ; if you be in the open air, and feel 

 the ground opening beneath you, extend both your anna, 

 and try to support yourself on the edge of the crevice.' 1 

 Thus, in savage regions, or in countries exposed to fre- 

 quent convulsions, man is prepared to struggle with the 

 beasts of the forest, to deliver himself from the jaws of 



