KATIVJ5 SANG-FROID. 
5 
P unge under the water. The slave bore his expiring master 
° j'.p ®bore; but all succour was unavailing to restore him 
0 life. He had died of suffocation, for his wounds were not 
■ ®®P- The crocodile, like the dog, appears not to close its 
Mmly while swimming. 
The inhabitants of the banks of the Orinoco and its tri- 
streams discourse continually on the dangers to 
^ ich they are exposed. They have marked the manners of 
le crocodile, as the tm'ero has studied the manners of the 
tl^ f assailed, they put in practice, with 
^ a,t presence of mind and that resignation which charac- 
erize the Indians, the Zamboes, and copper-coloured men in 
general, the counsels they have heard from their infancy. 
II countries where nature is so powerful and so terrible, 
an IS constantly prepared for danger. We have mentioned 
he °^?f***® answer of the young Indian girl, who delivered 
1 from the jaws of the crocodile — “ I knew he would 
b 1 go if I thrust my fingers into his eyes.” This girl 
liaVf to the indigent class of the people, in whom the 
1 s of physical want augment energy of charilcter ; but 
cn.^ Y® ‘ii’oid being surprised, to observe in the countries 
pro ■ b.T terrible earthquakes, on the table-land of tlie 
1 Vince of Quito, women belonging to the highest classes 
display in the moment of peril, the same calm, the 
onl ®.^®o®oting intrepidity? I shall mention one example 
support of this assertion. On the 4th of February, 
min 35,000 Indians perished in the apace of a few 
crvincf*’ ^ y^ung mother saved herself and her children, 
whon'^th'^^ them to extend their arms at the moment 
Whe fk' ground was ready to swallow them up. 
■ftus e^ <5ourageou8 woman heard the astonishment that 
answ . ut a presence of mind so extraordinary, she 
jjjPj^j^®®d).with great simplicity, “I had been told in my 
yours^^f ^ earthquake surprise you in a house, place 
amrfrn under a doorway that communicates from one 
the a-r another ; if you be in the open air, and feel 
^ ound opening beneath you, extend both your arms, 
Thus ™ support yourself on the edge of the crevice.” 
ouent savage regions, or in countries exposed to fre- 
hpnafo ^^^nfriuns, man is prepared to struggle with the 
o the forest, to deliver himself from the jaws of 
