314 Capture and Death of a large Alligator. 



its folds till the destroyer and destroyed seemed one ; and the 

 giant tree, which, year after year, had been rocked by the earth- 

 quake and had borne bravely against the whirlwind, slowly yield- 

 ing to its tenacious persecutor, stood at last lifeless within its green 

 and living shroud. 



Amidst the wonders of nature, animal life has its full share; 

 and in the tangled recesses of the woods, where exuberant vege- 

 tation has given the earth a covering almost impenetrable toman, 

 there live the deer, the boar, and that most desperate and danger- 

 ous enemy of the hunter, the wild buffalo, whose ferocity and 

 contempt of danger is only equalled by his hatred of the human 

 form. There is also the boa constrictor, sometimes seen of great 

 size, who crushes in his folds and devours whatever first comes 

 in his way ; and then, gorged and inactive, is easily despatched. 

 One with a large deer inside of him, was killed when I was there, 

 but had been cut up by the natives for food, before we were 

 aware of it. Since I left that country, I have been informed 

 that one thirty-five feet long has been destroyed, after killing 

 two Indians, who entered a cavern where he had retired, one of 

 whom he swallowed, and the other was found dead beside him. 



The deep, still inlets of the more retired parts of the lake, are 

 the lurking places of the alligators ; and one spot, remarkably 

 situated, was their favorite resort. Nearly opposite to the point 

 of Halahala, on the other shore, there issues from a mountain a 

 stream of so high a temperature that the natives use it for cook- 

 ing ; and the bones of fish and fowls, scattered at its sides and 

 in its bed. show how commonly it is availed of for that purpose. 

 Rude baths are constructed near it, which are found very ser- 

 viceable in chronic diseases, and are sometimes visited by invalids 

 from Manilla. Near this place is an island, in the centre of which 

 is a small, deep, black lake, surrrounded by hills, except at a 

 narrow opening, which is low and marshy. The sides, as they 

 slope to the margin, are thickly wooded, and the trees hang clus- 

 tering over the banks, their dense foliage drooping to the water. 

 Here reigns the stillness of death ; not a breath of wind pene- 

 trates the close barrier, and there is sound and motion on the 

 glassy surface, only when it is rippled by the alligators, who have 

 made the place their own. At other times they float like logs, or 

 stretched along the mingled masses of decayed wood and ex- 

 posed roots, enjoy the coolness and shade of this gloomy solitude. 



