A DEAD ALLIGATOR. 
75 
sent a party in quest of the man, but they could 
obtain no tidings of him. At length in crossing a 
stream, on their return from an unsuccessful search, 
they saw a dead alligator upon the bank with its 
jaws extended as if it had suffered a violent death. 
Upon examining the creature more closely, they found 
that it had been choked, as the throat was consider- 
ably distended. This they immediately proceeded 
to cut open, in order to ascertain the cause of a 
strangulation so very unusual, when the head of 
the unfortunate messenger was found completely 
choking up the passage. The animal had been evi- 
dently unable to pass it, and had in consequence died 
of suffocation. The turban was still on the man’s 
head, and, upon taking off the skull-cap, the answer 
to the lady’s letter was found under it perfectly un- 
injured. It was presumed that the poor fellow had 
attempted to swim across the stream, having first de- 
posited the letter under his turban, but was arrested 
and destroyed by the alligator before he could reach 
the opposite shore. 
A day or two after our arrival at Columbo we 
started upon a visit to the interior, and on the banks 
of the Calamy river had the gratifying opportunity of 
seeing a talipat palm in blossom, which is by no means 
a thing of common occurrence. The scene in which 
we witnessed this remarkable effort of nature was 
very novel and imposing. It opened upon a con- 
fined valley, through which the river winds its irre- 
gular way, and upon whose transparent bosom were 
several boats, pursuing their quiet course to the rough 
but not discordant song of the Cingalese mariner. 
