Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1864-12-15
Miseellamenn8,
A NIGHT IN THE PHILIPPINES.

of his experience, which proposition, OF
course we were glad enough to accept. He
told us as follows: .........
"On the third voyage which made in
command of the ship Winthrop, | took in
part of cargo of tea at Canton, and then
slipped down to the Philippine Islands to
fill up with dried fruit and spices. We cast
our anchor in the harbor of Manila but
the articles we wanted were not delivered
as / desired. There was much delay Oc-
casiOned by some trouble with the Chinese
pOrters so that we were two weeks ir &C
complishing what might have been done in
four days One day while we were thus
delayed, | went Oil shore with my rifle, and
| took horse for turn in the country.
went alone, but not from choice. My officers
had an engagement with the officers Of an
English ship, which they did not like to
break : and | did not urge them to do SO.
Still it was not unpleasant to ride alone, for
sometimes | love to be by myself, where |
can think and commune as please.
" On the present occasion | took road
that led to the eastward, towards the rice
lands, and as the scenery was attractive, |
cantered on until | was far away from the
city and its surroundings. | had ridden, |
should judge, fifteen miles, without seeing
anything worth shooting, and was begin
ing to think that / should carry back the
same bullet in my rifle which / had put in
before | had left the ship, when | heard a
tapping close by me upon my right, and
upon looking in that direction | saw an
enormous heron fly up from rice bed and
steer away to the southwark | had heard
of those birds-I had heard that they had
| faa+ ~,
! height-and if | had doubted the statement
before, did not doubt it after | saw that
| fellow rise. | wanted him very much, and
was determined to have him if the thing
were within the bounds of possibility
might, had been prepared, have taken him
Oh the wing, but before | could get my rife
into position he was toofar away watched
| him, and saw him settle down behind some
trees, about half a mile off, and after a lit
tie hunting | found a path leading that way,
which seemed firm enough to give safe
passage to my horse You will understand
that the district of these rice-felds is low
and marshy.
"The path | had taken led through
! thicket of small palms, and at length came
out upon the shore of broad lake or la
goon, which looked like some of the dismal
swamps of Florida ! saw my monster
heron upon an island, some two hundred
yards distant, and | determined to fire at
him, whether | got him or not For this
| purpose | dismountcd and hitchcd my horse
to a tree, and then sought place where
could find rest for my rifle. While | was
thus engaged | discovered a small boat
made fast among some tall reeds, not more
than ten rods off and as this gave me op-
portunity to reach the island, | made up my
mind to be more particular in my aim. |
found a good rest, and in a very few mo-
ments more the bird tumbled over with
| bullet through the breast. / then hastened
to the boat, which found to be a sort of
raft-like gondola, almost as broad as it was
long, furnished with good paddle, and only
fastened by a MANILA rope 1t cost me
some little effort to get the thing into the
water, but | succeeded after while, and
was soon on my way to the island, which |
reached without further difficulty. | drove
the boat up on the surface of the soft mud,
and leaped ashore, sinking in to the knees
where had expected to find firm footing
But did not mind this. | scrambled on,
and was soon upon better foundation !
found my bird dead and when | bcheld
his proportions, and thought what valu-
able addition his stuffed skin would make
to my museum, | forgot the labor and the
mud. | was STOPPING to turn myprize over,
when / fancied that | heard something
moving behind me, and upon looking around
| saw my boat swinging away from the
shore. As quickly as possible | leaped to-
wards the waters edge, but before | could
reach the boat ! was up to my middle in
the soft mud. l stretched forth my hands,
and made one desperate effort to seize the
departing craft but failed to touch it, and
sank deeper into the mud, and there stood,
almost up to my arm-pits in the slough, and
saw my boat float la4ily of, hopclessly be-
yond my reach.
"A happy thought dawned upon me- !
would get up out of the mud, and undress
myself, and swim for my boat. | could leap
far enough out to strike clear water But
we can't always do as we would and often
times mans most promising plans are
knocked in the head by circumstances be-
yond his control. | had just perfected the
swimming plan in my mind, and was strug
Cling to free myself from the mud, when
something appeared to me that caused me
to hasten my movements III most extra
ordinary manner. This accelIcrating pres
ence was nothing more nor less than an Ell
ormous crocodile, The ugly monster lay
with his head towards ne, eying me sharply,
and evidently calculating how large NOR
sci | would make. And he it was probably
that had disturbed the boat The instinct
of selfpreservation gave me strength, and
while | struggled up and back splashed
with my hands, and yelled with my lungs,
making all the noise and commotion could
The fellow did not attack me- and finally
succeeded in reaching firm ground, where |
sat down to rest, for the effort Of extracting
myself from that sticky trap had used up
the last atom of my strength.
"When had gained breath enough to en-
able me to stand without an effort, got up
and looked about me- My position was
surely not an enviable one, The island of
which | was at that moment lord and mas
ter, was not more than five OF six rods long,
by about four broad and was covered with
reeds. There was clump Of low water
bushes upon one side, but there was osuch
thing as tree upon it. There ! was III pos
session ef the dead heron, and felt that l
had most emphatically caught Tartar
The boat was drifting away before gentle
breeze, towards that part of the main shore