-DEATH OF THE ALLIGATOR.

Our manufactures of various sorts went on with unabated vigour. We had
already gained considerable skill in mat-making, and had tried various
substances,--some produced from different species of palms, and others
from grass and sedges growing on the banks of the neighbouring stream or
lake. We had also made a quantity of string, or what sailors call
sennit, which, twisted together, would serve as cordage for the vessel.
One of our great wants had been hammocks in which to sleep, they being
far cooler and more healthy than standing bed-places. There was an
objection, also, to sleeping on the ground: for we were liable to be
stung by insects; and indeed venomous snakes might enter and remain
undiscovered, coiled in the heaps of grass and dry leaves which formed
our mattresses.

After we had made a quantity of sennit, Peter cut out some netting
needles and pins, and set to work to net a hammock for himself. Others
followed his example, and soon each of us had a hammock slung in the
hut; which being stowed away in the daytime, gave us far more room than
we had before enjoyed. Arthur and I made a sort of cot for Marian, in
which she was able to sleep with more comfort than in the confined bunk
the kind captain had at first made for her.

Uncle Paul had not forgotten his intention of trying to supply us with
garments; but as we had so many things to attend to, he had not as yet
begun to make them. We had all, however, been supplied with straw-hats;
which, working as we were in the sun, were absolute necessities. The
Indians had also to make frequent excursions in search of game and fruit
to supply the community with food, so that we were never without an
abundance of what we considered the necessaries of life. Kallolo had
also manufactured some palm-wine and several refreshing beverages from
fruit, chiefly of palms. Occasionally, too, Uncle Paul with a companion
launched out into the lake on the smaller raft with hooks and lines, and
invariably returned with a good supply of fish.

One day when he and Arthur had gone out for that purpose, Marian asked
me to accompany her in search of a peculiarly elastic grass called the
"capim grass," and two or three other sorts which grew on the banks of
the stream. Tim and Sambo followed, to assist us in bringing back what
we might collect; and Kallolo and Maco, wishing to shoot some birds,
came with their blowpipes and bows and arrows.

We had got