332 Capture and Death of a large Alligator. 



He made his way to the wandering negro tribes which roam 

 through a tract of mountain country, near the middle of the 

 island, and who, uninfluenced by the semi-civilization around 

 them, pass an erratic life without fixed habitations, gathering 

 their food from the wild fruit trees, and offering wide field for 

 conjecture on their origin and insulated position. 



The individual I allude to, returned from his interesting ex- 

 cursions, stored with most valuable information. His indefatiga- 

 ble spirit was undaunted at the great plan he had laid out before 

 him, and he left Manilla with the determination to penetrate to 

 the centre of Borneo — that unknown world, whose savage in- 

 habitants have not been overcome or softened, even by the cu- 

 pidity of commerce, and whose resources can only be imagined 

 from its magnitude, situation, and the exceeding fruitfulness of 

 its coasts. He had scarcely entered on his new discoveries, when 

 approaching too near a volcano, he slipped into the hot ashes of 

 its burning crater, which in a few days caused his death. 



If, in recurring to some of the incidents of my life in Luconia, 

 I have inclined to dwell on what may seem irrelevant to the ob- 

 ject of this communication, it is that I am fond of remembering 

 the days I have passed in the solitudes of that lovely land. The 

 dreams of fancy have never pictured scenes of more romantic 

 beauty than are there lavishly spread around ; — where the prin- 

 ciple of life is profusely scattered and every thing is glowing 

 with animated being — where the bland air makes mere existence 

 enjoyment ; and the day, with its mild sky and refreshing sea 

 breeze, gives place to the more serene night, with her clear 

 brilliancy, when the eye looks deep into heaven, and the stars 

 glitter with a radiance unknown in less genial climes — where the 

 land wind rises, and is felt, but not heard, for the stillness of 

 midnight is not broken as its soft breath comes from the untrod- 

 den depths of the wilderness, laden with the fragrance of the 

 spice tree and the wild flower. 



But in that luxurious region, nature at times shows herself in 

 the power and sublimity of her convulsions, and awes by the 

 earthquake, the tornado, and the thunder storm. Her hours of 

 anger are fearful, but are soon forgotten as she resumes her almost 

 permanent tranquillity. 



Buston, Feb. 12, 1840. 



