false step or stumble. The sounds and
strange cries during the dark stillness of the night were very
remarkable. Whether caused by bird or insect I could not tell; but
one in particular, resembling the prolonged whistle of a locomotive
steam-engine, was frequently of more than a minute's duration without
ceasing, and of such volume and intensity that unless I had been aware
of the utter impossibility of a train being within hundreds of miles, I
would have almost sworn to so familiar a sound. The lights of Acupulco
at last came in sight, and our animals soon after deposited us safely,
after a somewhat trying but very agreeable trip....

On the 10th of May we left Acupulco and steamed quietly along the
Mexican coast in sight of land until we reached Manzanillo Bay, on
the southeast part of which are situated the few wretched huts that
constitute the village. The harbor is well protected from southerly
winds, but not from those directly from the westward. Behind the
village, and only a few hundred yards from the sea-beach, is a large
shallow lagoon which runs nearly forty miles into the interior, and at
the end of the dry season becomes almost empty. The exhalations at this
time rising from the mud and stagnant water are most dreadful, and even
at our anchorage the stench during the night was almost unbearable....

Next morning, before daylight, we started with Mr. D---- across the
lagoon to a place about an hour's row from the village, where he said
he was in the habit of getting wild duck. The lake was so shallow that
our boat often grounded, and the oars at each stroke disturbed the
black, ink-like mud that constituted the bottom. The sides were
beautifully wooded, and surrounded by ranges of hills extending far
into the interior, the edges of the water being fringed with a belt
of mangrove-trees, whose peculiarly bright green foliage contrasted
pleasingly with the sombre coloring of the leafless trees behind them.
The perfectly stagnant water was of a light-yellow tint, and as full of
alligators as it could well be....

After firing a good many shots, and gathering a somewhat miscellaneous
bag, Mr. D---- saw a large alligator asleep on some mud, lying half in
and half out of the water; and as I was the only one of the party who
had brought any bullets, he sent one of the guides to show me where it
lay, in hope that I might get a shot.

Slowly, and with the greatest caution, I waded through water until I got
within