The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1808-08-25 00:00:00

MIRACG'LOUS Pit ESERVATIO.V.

Dank between a Tiger and an Alligator ; or, wonderful in_
Masse of providential 'rem eatiuu, described iu a Irma
how dot taptaio of the LAW eitpri G 111114.11111111.

n Some time after my arrival at the Britbh fac- .
tory, Cape Cs,ta, on burrsi the Dar.apori Guinea-
man, I was scut for by the Commodore, who was
stationed in the Diana frigitte to protect the trade
of the place before-mentioned, and appointed by
him to command a sloop, employed on the service
of conveying slaves, teeth, (lums, cod other mer-
chandise, fvoin the company's factories, situated
wrens, hundred miles up the river Congo, down to
the principal rlei•wit ut the Cape. The sloop car-
ried six swivels, and wits manned with nine negroet,
and two north country seamen, named Johnson and
C'etroplie 11, the former of whom was nay mate.—
AftQr receiving orders relative to the duty in which
I was eillPlOYedt we proceeded on our voyage, and
;aid navigated near fitly leagues up the country,
when one morning the tweezes died away suddeul,
and we were compelled, by a strong current, run-
ning arthist us, to drop anchor within a
quarter of a Mile of the shore. In this
satiation the sloop remained for three days,
which time the circumstances fell out
I a n übatit to coutioutlicate ;--eircom,tatices so
improba!Je iu themselves, so manrellous, as almost
to bunter upon irusasibility, but tievertheless
declared be me, as a spectator, to he. most perfect
reality. To resume my narratives--the bosoiu of
the LlPei) appeared, ns it does in these parts, while
the calm intsatls, extremely tranquil, and the heat,
minas wastatcterable,Stul made us se Ini,:utd. that
abimst a general Irish m. reame us, on the approach
of the eveiiic:;, to Lithe in the water% of l'oa.:o;s-s
however, tu...,:t...ndJc.hosoti were deterred from it,
iron, the apprehension of sharks, many of which we
hail of b.erl is the progress of our voysr,e, and
those enorieniudy large. At length Campbell,
alone, who had been makitig too free with his liquor
case, was pletinately bent sot going overboard—
and although we used every means its our power 11/
person& him to the contrary,tlashed into the watery
!lenient, aid had swam some distance from the
vessel, when we on the deck discovered as alligator
In eking towards him from behiud a rock that stood
a short distance from the shore- His escape I now
considered impossible, his destruction inevitable,
and I applied to Johnson how we should act, who,
like myself, affirmed the impossibility to save him,
sod isstantly seised upon a loaded carbine to .root
the poor fellow, before he tell into tile jaws of the
monster. I did not, however, consent to this, but
waited with horror the tragedy we anticipated—yet
willitm to do all in my power I ordered the boat to
be hoisted, and we fired two shot at the approaching
alligator, Inst without etfeet, for they glided over ius
scaly coveriag like hail-stones on a tiled penthouse,
and the progress of the era are was by tie means im-
peded. The report of the peace and the noise of
the blacks iu the sloop, mask Camphelt stetinainted
with his danger, he saw the creature making for
him, and, with all the .intagth and skill he was mat-
ter of, mode far the shor.... Atid .tow the !eminent
'mired, in which a scene was ethihited beyond the
power of my humble poet perfectly to describe.—
On aoproachiiig withil a very short distance of
some rases and Anew, that covered the hank,
while closely puma' by the alhiator, a tierce trod .