; indeed, the whole community,
otherwise very sensible and not devoid of sentiment, seemed to regret the
circumstance much less than would have been expected.

It will be seen, Mr. EDITOR, from this account of the alligator, that I
can say nothing as to what habits he may form in after-life; what evil he
may learn, what original sins he may develope and mature; what temptations
his power and bloody instincts may present to him; what evil resorts he
may be driven to, in an ungrateful world, when he has become case-hardened
and impenetrable to outward impressions; or, in short, what contempt he
may acquire for the fiddlers and cabbage-leaves of his early days. And
what he may do in those vast lagoons where he is undoubtedly master, or in
the black depths of the St. Johns, where the water hides the blood he may
shed, and the long moss screens him from the tiger; what orgies he may
celebrate, what abominations he may practice, when there is none to call
him to account; all this I can only conjecture; but I conjecture on the
charitable side. In the upper waters of the St. Johns I have seen them in
their death-throes; huge animals, at least fifteen feet long; seen them in
scores at a time, some swimming about, some tumbling in clumsily, some
sprawled on shore, apparently asleep, and some raising their black claws
as if to call down vengeance upon us, gnashing their teeth, and lashing
the water in their death-agony; but the howlings and smothered thunder
that others tell of, came not to my ears; and the exhibition, so furious
to others, was to me only the involuntary muscular action of pain and
dissolution. Extravagant stories are told of their great strength and
tenacity of life, and wonderful exploits are recounted by the great mass
who have lived since Agamemnon. While staying over night, not in Egypt,
but at the plantation of Doctor W----, a short time before his place was
despoiled by the Indians, he related an encounter, which though not so
remarkable, is undoubtedly true to the letter.

The doctor in his earlier days had been in some sharp battles against
Napoleon, having been a staff-officer to one of the smaller kings of
Europe; and although an exceedingly kind and benevolent man, his
skirmishing faculties were still lively and unimpaired. In this fight,
which came off at Indian River, he of course commanded the engagement, but
as it proved, not with his usual success. The alligator, one of enormous
size, was so far f