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876.
The Hunter's Feast. ;
(Carrarx Mayme Rer, in his “ Ifunter's Feast,” gives
‘the following graphic account of a thrilling adventure he
_ this by the sun; it was going down when I awoke,
ad on one of the American rivers. While in search of the
Scarlet Ibis, his boat floated away and left him on a barren
island. He tells his story thus ree
I nay ina stupor almost unconscious, how long
I know not; but many hours I am certain. . I knew
if I may so term the recovery of my sickened senses.
I-was aroused by a strange circumstance: I was:
surrounded by dark objects of hideous shape and
hue—reptiles they were, They had veen betore my |
eyes for some time, but I had not seen them.” I had,
only a sort of dreamy consciousness of their pre-
sence; but [ heard them at length: my ear was in
better tune, and the strange noises they uttered |
reached my intellect. It seemed like the blowing of:
great bellows, with now and then a note harder and!
louder, like the roaring of a bull. This startled me,
and I looked up, and bent my eyes upon the objects: '
they were forms of the crocodilide, the giant lizards
—they were alligators. Huge ones they were, some!
of them; and many werethey in number—a hundred |
at least were crawling over the islet, before, behind, !
and on all sides around me. Their long gaunt jaws}
and’ channelled snouts projected forward so as
almost to touch my body; and their eves, usually
leaden, seemed to glare. Impelled by this new dan-
ger, I sprang to’my feet, when, recognising the
upright form of man, the reptiles scuttled off, and
plunging hurriedly into the lake, hid their hideous
bodies under the water. . ia :
The incident in some measure revived me. I
saw that I was not alone: there was company even
in the crocodiles. I gradually became more myselt,
and began to reflect with some degree of coolness on
the circumstances that surrounded me. ~My eyes
wandered over the islet; every inch of it came under
my glance; every object upon it was scrutinized ; |
the moulten feathers of wild fowl, the pieces of}
they fied to return again, after a long interval. I
was a-leep when they returned; I had gone to sleep
in spite of my efforts to keep awake. I was startled
by the touch of something cold; and, half stitled by
the strong musky odor that filled the air, I threw
out my arms. My fingers rested upon an object
slippery and clammy; it was one of these monsters
~—one of gigantic size. He had crawied close along
side me, and was preparing to make his attack, as I
saw that he was bent in the form of a bow, and I
knew that these creatures assumed that attitude
when about to strike their victim. I was just in
time to spring aside and avoid the stroke of his
powerful tail, that the next moment swept the
ground where I had lain, -Again I fired, and he
with the rest, once more retreated to the lake, ~
All thoughts of going to sleep were at an end.
Not that I felt wakeful; on the contrary, wearied
with my day’s exertions—tor I had had a long pull
under a tropical sun—I could have laid down upon |:
the earth, in the mud, anywhere, and slept in an
instant. Nothing but the dread certainty of my
peril kept meawake. Once again. before morning,
I was compelied to battle with the hideous reptiles,
and chased them away with a shot from my gun.
Morning came at length, but with no change in
my perilous position. The light only showed me
my island prison, but revealed no way of escape from
it. Indeed, the change could not be called for the
better, for the fervid rays of an almost vertical sun
poured down upon me until my skin blistered. I
was, already speckled by the bites of a thousand
swamp-flies and musquitoes that ail night had
preyed upon me.’ There was not a cloud in the
heavens to shade me: and the sunbeams smote the
surface of the dead bayou with a double intensity.
Towards evening I began to hunger ; no wonder
st that. I had not eaten since icaving the village
settlement. To assuage thirst, I drank the water of
the lake, turbid and slimy as it was, I drank it in
large quantities, for it was hot, and only moistened
my palate without quenching the cravings of my
appetite. Of water there was enough: I had more
fear from want of food. What could I eat? The
Ibis. But how to cook it?. There was nothing
wherewith to make a fire—not a stick. - No matter
for that. Cooking is a modern invention, a luxury
for pampered palates. I divested the Ibis of its
was not wood enough to make a raft that would, brilliant plumage, and ate it raw. . I. spoiled my
have floated a frog. The idea of a raft was but} specimen, but at the time there was little thought
‘briefly entertained; such a thought had certainly | of that. There was not much of the naturalist left
crossed my mind, but a single glance around the|in me. I anathematised the hour I had ever pro-
islet dispelled it before it had taken shape. I paced | mised to procure the bird: I wished my friend up
my prison from’ end to end; from’ side to side I| to his neck inaswamp. The lois did not weigh
walked it over, I tried the water's depth; on all’ above three pounds, bones and all, | It served me for
sides I sounded it, wading recklessly in; every-| asecond meal, a breakfast; but at this dejeuner sans
where: it deepened rapidly as I advanced. Three | fourchette I picked the bones.
lengths of myself from the islet’s edge, and I was} What next? Starve? No-not yet. In the
upto my neck. The huge reptiles swam around,/ battles I had had with the alligators during the
sand, the fresh-water muscles (unias) strewed upon
the beach—all were examined. Still the barren
answer, no means of escape. - hed .
The islet was but the head of a sand-bar formed
_ by the eddy, perhaps gathered together within the
year. It was ere of herbage, with the exception
of a few tufts of grass. There was neither tree nor
-bush upon it; nota stick, A raft, indeed! . ‘There
., Snorting and blowing; they were bolder in this| second night, one of them had received a shot that
element. I could not have waded safely ashore,| proved mortal. The hideous carcase of the reptile
even had the water been shallow. To swim it—no lay dead upon the beach. need not starve; L
—even though I swam like a duck, they would could eat that, Such were my reflections. I must
have closed upon and quartered me before I could hunger, though, before I could bring myself to
have made a dozen strokes. orrified by their de- touch the musky morsel. ‘'wo days more fasting
monstrations, I turned back upon dry ground, and ‘ conquered my squeamishness, I drew out my knife,
paced the islet with dripping garments. I contin: | cut a steak from the alligator's tail and ate it—not
ued walking until night, which gathered round me | the one I had first killed, but a second; the other
dark and dismal. With night came new voices, | was now putrid, rapidly decomposing under the hot
the hideous voices of the nocturnal swamp; the | Sun—its odor filled the isk t.
qua-qua of the night-heron, the screech of the! The stench had grown intolerable. There was
swamp owl, the ery of the bittern, el-l-uk of the not a breath of air stirring ; otherwise I might have
great water-toad, the tinkling of the bell-frog, and|shunned it by keeping to windward. The whole
the chirp of the savaunah cricket, all fell upon my atmosphere of the islet, as well as a large circle
ear. Sounds still harsher and imore hideous were {round it, was impregnated with the fearful efflu-
heard around me—the splashing cf the alligator, and‘ Vium.: I could bear it no longer. With the aid of
the roaring of his voice; these reminded me that I my gun I pushed the hal decomposed carcase into
must not go to sleep. Tosleep! Idurst not have the lake. « Perhaps the current might carry it
slept for a single instant. Even when I lay for a! away. It did; I had the satisfaction to see it float
few minutes motionless, the dark reptiles came off. This circumstance led me into a°train of re-
crawling round me, so close that I could have put flections, Why did the body of the alligator float?
forth my hand and touched them. | ; . It was swollen, inflated with gases. Ha!
At intervals I sprang to my feet, shouted, swept An idea shot suddenly through my mind—one of
my gun around and chased them back to the water, these brilliant ideas, the children of necessity, I
into which they betook themselves with a sullen thought of the floating alligator; its intestines—what
‘plunge, but with little sermblance of fear, Ateach if I inflated them? Yes, yes! buoys and bladders,
fresh demonstration on my part they showed less floats and life-preservers! That was the thought.
alarm, until I could to longer drive them, either I would open the alligators, and make a buoy of
with shouts or threatening gestures, They only their intestines, and that would bear me from the
retreated a few feet, forming an irregular circle islet!: . :
round me. . | Idid not loose a moment's time; I was full of
Thus hemmed in, I became frightened in turn. energy: hope had given me new life. My gun was
I loaded my gun, and fired; I killed none, “They loaded—a huge crocodile that swam near the shore
are impervious to a bullet, except in the eye, or, received the shot in his eye. . I dragged him on the
under the fore arm. It was too dark to aim at beach; with my knife I laid open his entrails.
those parts; and my shots glanced harmlessly from Few they were, but enough for my purpose. A
the pyramidical scales of their hedies, The loud plume quill from the wing of the ibis served me
report, however, and the blaze frightened them, and: for a blow-pipe. I saw the bladder-like ckin ex
—
FRANK LESLIE'S NEW YORK JOURNAL.
pand, until I was surrounded by objects like great
sausages. ‘These were tied together, and fastened
to my body, and then with a plunge, I entered the
waters of the lake and floated downward. I had
tied on my life preservers in such a way that I sat
in an upright position, holding my gun with both
hands. This I intended to have used as a club in
case I should be attacked by the alligators; but I
had chosen the hot hour of noon when these crea-
tures lie in a half torpid state, and to my joy I was
not molested. Half an hour's drifting with the
current carried me to the end of .the lake, and I
found myself at the debouchure of the bayou. Here
to my great delight 1 saw my boat in the swamp,
where it had been caught and held fast by the sedge.
A few minutes more and I had swung myself over
the gunwale and was sculling with eager strokes
down the smooth waters of the bayou.
ae
Hints ro Porrcnomantacs.--(By a fashionz22s
Enthusrast.)—The Jady who devotes all her time to
potichomaniaing, may be said to be of that bold,
careless nature, that she would probably stick at
nothing. It is as well not to leave your dragons,
and mandarins, and flowers lying littered ready-
pasted about the room. * 1 knew a poor dear of an
talian greyhound, who, by rolling itself among
the pictorial scraps, came out, to the great horror of
its spinsterial mistress, a most ridiculous object,
for it was daubed all over, from its head to its tail,
with Chinese monstrosities and Dutch tulips. The
case of the mischievous little boy, who got hold of
his mamma’s large opera-glass, and stuck curious
little figures on the glasses inside, regularly poti-
chomaniaing it in fact, must still be fresh in the
recollection of every one. It is advisable after you
have been “messing ” with the different liquids to
wipe your fingers. It is very embarrassing to find
your hand fastened in the large fat digits of a stupid
gawky hoy, who has just dropped in to pay you a
visit. You try to get your hand away, and the
vain young puppy, fancying you have some motive
for leaving it there, goes on squeezing it tenderly.
I don't know of anything so awkward. In general
it may be said that potichomania is favorable to
table-cloth makers and carpet warehousemen,
. ‘Tite Horse Curstnut.—I know of no tree which,
when in bloom, affords a more magnificent spectacle
than the horse chestnut; nor is the pleasure con-
ferred by it confined alone to the eye; the nose is
delighted by its fragrance, and the ear with the
stirring hum of the bees that are attracted by the
nectared sweets contained in its blossoms; and last,
not least, the mind is led to. the contemplation of
the perfections of that wonderful Being who could
design such. a noble object, and to the reflection
that it should imitate the conduct of the busy in-
sects, in devoting its whole energies to the fultil-
ment of those duties for which men were placed
upon earth, ‘The fruit, or rather the seed, is much
valued in the south of Europe as food for fattening
sheep; and it has been used by some persons as a
substitute for coffee. Like the acorn, it possesses
an astringent principle, which exists likewise in
the bark ; and this latter part of the tree has been
recommended as a valuable febrifuge in intermittent
and other fevers. ‘his property’ has * already
rendered a decocticn of the bark serviceable in some
cases of gangrene, in which particular it resem*les
a nearly allied tree, the Tinguy, which is similarly
employed in Brazil to heal sores in horses caused
by stinging insects,
Cvuniositirs or New Yorx.—We make Mr, Tims
a present of the following ‘«* Curiosities.”- Ile is
perfectly at liberty to make use of them in the next
edition of his: interesting book:— A good cigar
bought at a betting shop. A play bill that spoke
the truth, A fresh laid egg that was less than a
month old. - A statue that was an ornament to the
metropolis. A stage that was not going to start
irectly, A bargain, bought at an “awful failure”.
store, that did not turn out a do. A policeman
with spectacles, A blue-coat boy on horseback.
A chimnéy sweep with an umbrella,” A quaker
with s bull-dog. A fountain that was not su-
premely ridiculous.. A Belgravian Jeames in a
hurry, A bishop carrying a baby.
‘Economy.—It is no small commendation to 1an-
age a little weil. He is a good wagoner that can
turn in a little room. To live well in abundance, is
the praise of the estate—not of the person. [| will
study more how to give a good account of my little,
than how to make it more. «
A Trrrorattsr objected to the study of geology,
because he heard it included quartz.
A Man who make dress his hobby, may be said to
ride a clothes-horse.