The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1839-07-24

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During the heat OF noon in winter. and at all
times in summer, they may be seen lying up
on the sand bars Of the rivers aud lakes dei-
sure-loying monsters y enjoying the repose
Of almost perpetual silence and warmth In
different 10 all wars and political tumults sa-
vagely DESTROYS Of young negroes; laughing
at bullets, and accounting them as stubble.
and with dignified disgust" turning from tne
crack Of rife as though il we're but the snan
voice ofa pop gun.
They are the enemies oil bathers. boy
nom one Of the towns lying on the Southern
rivers, while bathing, was attacked by ono OF
these ugly insects" as they were laughingly
termed by an :. ancient mariner" OF our ac-
qualntance. The advances of the monster
were unforeseen. shout from the compa-
mons of the endangered youth failed TO warn
him from the spot-and-my blood freezes
while | write--he rushed into the very jaws Of
the water-demon before him. Oh God what
an awful moment to the young spectators was
that! They saw their companion struggling
In the waves, his head locked in the very jaws
OF the enemy. The combatants sunk. With
admirable adroitness, the youth seized the
alligator by the eye-holes, forcing the balls in.
stanly from the sockets. With fiend-like
howl, the monster retreated to the bottom Of
the river, while the unlucky cuth, blinded and
drenched with blood. staggered TO the shore.
This Is no fancy sketch II occurred near
Darien, in Georgia. Other encounters Of
this kind were Communicated to us. One
more relation shah conclude our present re.
marks upon this subject.
alligator rersus Sieam.--T This was forced,
and unavoidable combat, and a brief one
The captain OF "A Steamboat, while at his post,
perceived one Of the inhabitants Of the river
pushing his way directly across before the
boat. AT its approach, the animal sank, rose
Immediately before the wheel He rushed at
the shaft, which struck him with great vio-
lence. dragged him upwards in its revolution,
and flung him through the shiyered boards Of
the Wheel house, manyled and gniveriog
victim upon the deck. This anecdote was
told us by the captain himself, and struck US
as being very horrible.
We might say some things further relating
to the alligator. We might tell how he swal-
lowed pine knots previous to the lethargy Of
MS winter life, and considereth them not infe-
rior to pastry md pancakes, also how excel
iently well bis tail tas,eih 10 the epicure, who
cooketh said tail and considereih equal to bass,
furthermore how the ladies shudder at such
tents, and such opinions, and consider il bar
barism to devour any portion Of said "var-
mint'-with other remarks Of like character.
But we return from the DEPRESSION to the sub
Ject OF our paper.
The scenery in FLORIDA is not at all uninte-
resting. He who has seen from some quiet
nook graceful bend of the river bordered
with orange bowers and groves Of the holly
and magnolia and oak, and (truly tropical and
stately the cabbage palmetto and cocoa nut,
will find in his memory recollections where
with TO frame dream Of the loneliness of
Mah"me:'s paradise. There are "sinks," too,
in Florida--places where rivers suddenly sink
or vanish in the sand, or where they rush with
abandoned plunge into dark caverns, mingling
there with subterranean torrents, and gliding
away through thickest gloom with many MUIR
murings and discordant sounds. At some fn-
ture time the poet, looking into these dark
and misty caverns, may imagine, while he feels
the inspiration of horror that these melancholy
and subterraneous sounds are the means Of
the water genii, lamenting that the river amid
whose spray they spread their wings, has left
the cypress shades and open sunshine to wan
der on through the ohilliness and mist and
sunless glooms of caverns.
Some Of these Stygian waters rise and
sink with the tide, thereby indicating their
with the Sea. Lakes. once wide
and beautiful, have sunk in single night,
leaving their beds covered with fish. During
the present winter large lake sunk thus,
leaving millions Of FISH dancing upon the
land. Cart loads Of these were carried off
and cured by the neighboring /" crackers"
(squa,,ers and herdsmen.) The remainder
purifying. tainted the whole atmosphere for
~ e III
plague Of Egypt.
Twas speaking Of trees. Unanimously we
voted the magnolia to be the most beautiful.
The exquisite fragrance of its blossoms, and
the !" imperial pride" and beauty Of its foliage,
have made il great favorite. The live oak
a,lains, however, to great size. We passed
some groves certainly magnificent. When
growing in the low grounds, they are hung
with dismal iestoons Of moss. A contractor,
furnishing timber for naval purposes, informed
me Of an enormous tree, growing on the banks
Of an enormous river. He measured it, and
found it thirty feet to the first bough, and
thirty.six in circumference at base. He COM
pared its trunk TO the shot tower at New York.
regarded his assertions as exaggeration and
extravaganza Of language, but was assured by
the planter over whose grounds its mighty
shadow moved, that the statement was cor
rect. ,........
This giant Of the forest was beginning to
feel the inroads Of decay. II was NOT cut, as
il was found hollow in the middle. These
trees are almost invariably hung with tho
festoonery Of the grape. The vines of the
grape in Florida are sometimes of great size,
bearing abundan,ly. From the fruit good wine
has been made. The acoontd or Indian bread
is vine which chambers up the forest trees.
Its thorns are very sharp and Malignant
From the root the Indian prepares a species
of -four in taste not unlike the -four made from
potatoes. The palmetto is shrub, which