A NIGHT OF HORROR IN A TROPIC SWAMP.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 104, 30 May 1885, Page 4

A NIGHT OF HORROR IN A TROPIC SWAMP.

(By A. J. F., Auckland).

" So you don't feel inclined to prolong your stay hero beyond to-day, Cameron?" said Murray aa we sat discussing, cigars and. Bass's pale ale on the shady verandah in front of his house, with the thrmometer standing at something above 90degs. in the shade. " It isn't a question of inclination, but of necessity, my dear fellow," said I. "I have already overstayed my time, and if I am not back at the office to-morrow, I shall get into hot water, I expect." " Well, you know you can't reach Georgetown to-night, so why not stay here overnight and start early to-morrow morning ?" urged Murray. "Wouldn't do, I'm afraid," said I, regretfully. " I should not get there before the office hour ; and on the other hand, if I start just now, I shall reach the West Coast before sunset, get Heathcote to put me up at his place for the night, and very early to-morrow morning push on to Georgetown, which I'll reach in good time, by taking this method. By-the-bye," I asked suddenly, as the idea struck me, "how about the tide? Will there be sufficient water ia the Doornhaag trench to let the boat up it?" Murray lazily stretched out his hand and took up an almanac that lay on a small table at his side. ' * Let me see, this is the eighth, isn't it?" he said, carelessly turning over the leaves. " Yes, you're all right. Thero will be lots of water in the trench, for it isn't low tide till about seven o'clock. Well, Cameron, since 1 see you must go, I shan't press you any further. You needn't be in a hurry to leave for another hour, however, since the tide can't be very long turned." So we sat chatting together pleasantly for some longer, and then, fortifying ourselves with another botfclo of Bass, we started in quest of the ferry boat. • In another half hour I had bidden adieu to tho hospitable Murray, and was being rowed across by a couple of negro boys from Wakenam (where Murray was the manager of a sugar plantation) to the neighbouring island of Leguan. I must pause here to give some sort of description of this particular part of British Guiana, in order that the following narrative may be sufficiently clear to the general reader, whose ideas about that wonderful country may possibly be limited to a hazy association of the name of yellow fever and the exportatisn of sugar and rum. The comparatively small portion of British Guiana at present in cultivation consists of a narrow strip of land, running along the coast and for some distance along the banks, of tho main river3— Berbice, Essequibo, and I Demerara. As the cultivated land is for the most part below the high tide mark, the sea is kept out by means of a dam (built by the first settlers, who were Dutch) extending along the coast, and as far up the rivers as the cultivated land extends. This dam is protected against the sea by a line or margin of bush (from a quarter of a mile to several miles in breadth), which serves as a sort of ; break-water. The drainage water of the land under cultivation is carried off by means of deep trenches, furnished with sluice-gates (or kokers as they are called there), which are opened at low tide to give egress to the accumulated water within. The Easequibo, the largest of the rivers, which flows into the Atlantic about twentyone miles below Georgetown, the capital of British Guiana, forms at its mouth an estuary twenty miles broad, studded with numerous islands, the largest of which being Wakenaam and Leguan. Wakenaam and Leguan are both cultivated, and are protected against the tide (whose influence is felt for many miles up the river) in precisely the same manner as the coast and the cultivated portion of the river banks are. These two islands lie nearly parallel to each other, and at the time of which I am writing— about thirty years ago— this Circumstance was taken advantage of in crossing from ono side of the river to the other. For instance, if one wished to go from the West Coast (as the side of the Essequibo nearest to Georgetown was known) to the island of Wakenaam, the usual method adopted was, first going by boat to Leguan, crossing the island on Foot or on horseback, and taking boat at the other side for Wakenaam. If you wished to go on to the Arabian (probably a corruption of Carribean) Coast, as the other side of the river was called, you crossed Wakenaam in the same way as Leguan, and then took boat again for the Coast. The return journey from the Arabian to the West Coast was performed in the same way. With a broiling tropic sun overhead, this was a very tedious and disagreeable mode of transit, but as it was the most convenient that generally was to be had, one had to be contented with it, such as it was. Contenting myself for the present with this brief explanation, I will now resume my narrative. , As the boat that was conveying me from Wakenaam to Leguan (a distance of two miles or so) approached the latter island, I noticed that the tide seemed remarkably low for the time of day, considering Murray s assurance that it would not be out until seven o'clock. This occasioned me a feeling of anxiety lest there should not be water enough in the Doornhaag" trench, to float the boat. The Doornhaag trench, I may mention parenthetically, took off the drainage water of an adjacent abandoned sugar plantation, and as the road across the island of Leguan begin just at the koker of the trench, we had to navigate the latter as far up as the koker, in order to reach the road. I communicated my fears respecting the tide to the negro lads, who were by no means the brightest specimens that I have met of their race in Demerara. "Sure 'miff it look berry low, massa, but me spec dere be still 'nuff water in de trenoh for to let boat go up," Baid one of them, cheerfully nodding his stupid, woolly head. _ He was wrong in his expectations, however, for a little more rowing brought us in front) Of the I>Qornttaag t trencn, and Ijper-

oeived, to my dismay, that -there ' \yra^%even water, enoughs in it«to, flqat/a papef ; boat. ./ . ." -; /\ u *'- „AvvJ . ,There, visible to our ©yes as far up as thd koker, lay the bare, muddy channel, rwittu the high bush on either side, of it, and a tiny rill of fresh* water '1 trickling 'along the bottom. " , '•What the deuce didMurray mean by saying that it would not be high! wat;er'till { seven ?" I soliloquised, in not the/most - gentle frame of mind towards the' absent . Murray, whom I half suspected of being guilty of some practical joking in t the matter, but very wrongly, as I afterwards' found out, for Murray had by mistake looked up in the almanac the Bth' of June instead of the Bth of July ; that was all? , f It was very evident that it would not be possible to get the boat up the trench for another couple of hours, so what was to- be done ? The negro lads, complacently resting on I their oars, suggested waiting till the tide | rose, but that did not suit my ideas at all. i I Btood up in the boat and took a general survey of the situation. A mud flat, about a quarter of a mile in breadth, covered with courida trees— the courida or courada is a species of mangrove that grows to a height of fifty or sixty feet —interspersed with smaller shrubs, lay between me and the dam or bank, which looked temptingly near— not a ten-minutes'-alk off It didn't look as if it would prove a very difficult job to reach the bank by cutting across on foot through this bit of bush. I knew that the mud in the trench .was in too liquid a state to render walking up along the bottom of it possible, but I was more sanguine regarding the mud that was covered with bush. Ilookedcritically at what was visible of it along the margin of the bush," and it seemed pretty firm and hard. Aucklanders, familiar with the dreary stretch of mud at Freeman's Bay when the tide is out, may have an idea of the deceptive appearance that mud whose surface has been exposed for Borne time to the rays of the sun often has. So, looking at the bush, I came to the conclusion that it would be quite feasible to get up through it to the bank, and I accordingly resolved to do so without loss of time. When I informed the negroes of my intention, they seemed to look upon it as rather a dubious undertaking, but presently one of them brightened up and saidthat he had once seen some of the coolies who worked on a neighbouring plantation come down through thiß same bush to the water's edge at low tide. However, when Booking my exhausted condition ; for, after a while a strange lethargic feeling, a sort of deadening of all my sensibilities, began to creep over me. I was conscious of an ever present sense of dull, hopeless misery, which oppressed me like a nightmare j but in the dazed state into which I had fallen, I did not seem to connect it with my dangerous position, or indeed with anything particular. Though I regarded it with apathy, I was quite aware of the probable fate that was in store for me, and even began speculating, in a dreamy kind of way, about the manner in which it would be the likeliest to become known that I had perished in that mud swamp. I would first be missed at Georgetown, I supposed. They would wonder at the Government office, in which I held a not irresponsible position, why I had not returned at the time appointed. Inquiries would be made at Wakenaam, where it was known I had been spending some days, and it would then be ascertained that I had been landed at Leguan, at the edge of the margin of bush, intending to make my way through it to the embankment, and that no to profit by this bit of intelligence, I questioned him as to the precise part of the bush through which the coolies had^ come down. He was somewhat vague in his answers, and wasn't Bure whether it was above or below the trench. This was disappointing, but I consoled myself with the reflection that the footing was likely to be pretty much the same all over. Doubtless i should get in a fine mess with mud, I calculated, but mud could be washed off, and anything was preferable to sticking there for two mortal hours waiting for the tide to rise. So the boys, at my bidding, brought the boat up to the place where, to my eyes, the mud seemed firmest and I stepped out. Certainly, I sank somewhat deeper than I had anticipated, but I said to myself that naturally the mud close to the water's edge would be soft, since the tide had so recently covered it, and, without troubling myself more about the matter, I pushed off the boat, and stood watching the boys while they ran up a bit of 3ail, the wind being favourable for their return to Wakenaam. As I attempted to turn to make my way through the bush, I suddenly became aware that I had been sinking, by imperceptible degrees, in the mud, which was now nearly up to my knees. I had not bargained for this, and felt somewhat dismayed, but I comforted myself with the thought that matters would improve as I went further on, and, extricating myself with some difficulty, plunged in among the couridas. Contrary to my expectations, however, matters did not improve as I went on, and after floundering along, ankle deep in mud, for a short distance, I became convinced that I had grievously mistaken the character of this came mud. Instead of getting harder, it seemed to be getting softer, as I advanced, and after awhile I found myself sinking knee-deep in it at every step I took. At last, breathless and exhausted, I took hold of the trunk of a tree, and managing by its aid to keep myself from sinking deeper while I remained stationary, 1 endeavoured to think what was to be done. I saw only too plainly that I had made a mistake in attempting to reach the bank in this way, and I heartily anathematised my folly in sending away the boat before I had sufficiently bested the possibility of locomotion on the mud. Had I thought it possible to recall the boat, I would immediately have made the best of my way back to the water's edge, but I knew that, with that fair wind to aid them, the boys would have nearly reached Wakenaam by that time. It was clear that I had practically burned my ship, and that, therefore, the only course of action that was now, open to me was to push on forward through the bush, with all the energy and perseverance I could command. I foresaw, judging by the little progress I had made during the last half-hour, that it would be a long time, however, before I reached the embankment, and I foresaw also that I would have terribly tough wcrk getting there; for wading through that heavy mud, even for a short distance, would have been an extiemely exhausting labour in a temperate climate, and in the close tropical atmosphere of that place, it was simply killing. However, it was no good dwelling on the difficulties of my situation, so quitting my hold of the tree, I once more plunged forwaid. Worse and worse ! L never could have believed how yielding mud could be under .the pressure of the foot, and yet how tepacious in its hold. Sinking above my knees at every step I took, it required each time such an effort to extricate myself again that I speedily had to come to a standstill, and have recourse for a few minutes to such partial rest as clinging to a tree could affordme.

So, occasionally resting in this way, I managed to flounder through the mud for some distance, helping myself by taking hold of the trunks of the couridas and the long air«roots that hung down from their high branches? but now a new difficulty began to appear. This was the undergrowth, which had not seriously impededjne at the outset, being rather sparse at the water's edge, but which had grown denser as I had advanced, and now threatened to stop my further progress. I was not to be so easily beaten, however, and, thoroughly exhausted though I was, I managed, by dint of seeking out the places wnere the undergrowth was lightest, to get along a bit further ; but, at last, it grew so dense that it effectually stopped me. I saw that without a cutlass or some such weapon it would be impossible for me to proceed through the undergrowth, and that therefore I was in a very serious predicament indeed. I now, too, discovered, for the first time, that the many detours I had made in seeking out a passage through the undergrowth had so confused me that I had lost all idea of the direction in which the embankment lay, and that therefore, even supposing I had been able to make my way through the undergrowth, I should not have known in what direction to proceed. To ascertain my position by climbing a tree was out of the question, for I was certain that those tall, slender couridas would aot support my weight at above ten or fifteen feet from the ground. I certainly was in a fix, and I knew it. Vainly I endeavoured to retrace my steps. The undergrowth on all sides appeared equally dense, and after forcing my way through it for a few yards by the foolish expenditure of the little strength that still remained in me, I came to a stop, and half dead with exhaustion, flung my arms round a tree, feeling that though my life depended on it, I could not advance another step. I was quite aware of the danger of my situation, and knew, at the same time, that I would not be able to get out of it without assistance, so I may be excused for desponding when I reflected on the sinallneßS of the chance that there was of my getting this assistance. It was already growing dark, aad I knew that aft3r dark there was little likelihood of my boat being about on the river, so help was not likely to come from that quarter. Then again on the landside, the only place at which any cries for help were likely to be heard was the abandoned sugar plantation spoken of before, and I knew that no one had lived there for years. But though I was aware that in all probability it was useless, that did not prevent me from making myself hoarse with many loud and fruitless cries for help. When the tide rose next day, I calculated that there would, probably, be some boat going between Wakenaam and leguan, whose occupants might hear my cries and come to my aid ; but next day was a long way off, and I could not keep back the thought that by that time I would, in all probability, be either dead or past calling for help. In order to prevent myself from sinking beyond the possibility of extrication, and so getting literally droioned in the mud, I had to hold on to a tree, and I knew that in my exhausted condition it would be exceedingly hard for me to do so for any considerable length of time. Then again, if I could not manage to bold on and keep myself afloat when the tide rose, there was the strong probability of my getting drowned in another element, for at high tide the water would be more than six feet deep where I was, I calculated. Altogether, looking at it even from the most sanguine point of view, my lookout was the reverse of hopeful. I felt convinced that I would never leave that dismal place alive, and, I confess, my heart sank within me. I know that death can nearly always be met with equanimity, and under certain circumstances even with enthusiasm— the Eentiment expressed, in Goethe's " Selig der, dem er im Siegesglanze die hluVgen Lorbecrn urn die Schlafe windet " is one that I, like most people, can appreciate ; but it is quite a different thing when, miserably caged in a mud swamp, you have, passive and solitary, to await the advent of death, uncertain even what shape it may assume when it does come. Under these circumstances your sensations are apt to be — putting it mildly— decidedly unpleasant, and I should not care to again experience those same sensations ■which I felt then. I think there must have been something of a mephitic nature in the exhalations arising from the surface of the swamp as night fell, which easily took effect on me in one had heard or seen anything of me since then. It would naturally be suspected that I had never got through the bush, and it would immediately be searched, but too late, of course, to be of any service to me, who would be long dead by that time. I wondered vaguely if my body would be found or not. Would it perhaps get entangled among the undergrowth, and so be recovered possibly, or would it sink deep in the mud, leaving no trace behind that might lead to its discovery ? Then my thoughts reverted to my friends and relatives in Scotland. What a shock it would be to the poor mater when shelearned thather only son had perishedso miserably. I remember feeling very sorry for her, but with a distant, uninterested kind of sorrow such as I might have felt for a stranger — the mother of some other fellow in circumstances similar to mine. Though I never lost consciousness altogether, I think I must have fallen into a kind of stupor, for I have no distinct recollection of anything after this, until I gradually became sensible that the tide had risen, and that the water wa3 far past my waist. The tide was notnearly full yet, and the reason ot the water's being apparently so high was, that I had sunk far above my knees in the mud. I was thoroughly roused now, and, whether ornotit was owing to the atmosphere around me becoming purer in consequence of the mudbeing now covered with water, I cannot say, but somehow or other the stupor had eft me, and all my faculties were quite clear again. The moon had risen, and though its bright light only penetrated dimly through the Bomewhat bushy foliago of the couridas, yet it-was sufficient to alow me to clearly distinguish the objects around me._ I had scarcely any hope of being ultimately rencued, but still I did not wish to die sooner than I could help, and saw that if I did not want to get drowned, I mustspeedily make some change in my position. My arms and hands *vere so stiff and sore with holding on to the tree that I knew they would soon be unable to perform this office, and that, as it was impossible to either float or swim among the undergrowth, I would be sure to get entangled in it, and inevitably drowned when the tide rose. In anxious perplexity I leoked around in search of some meana of escaping the present danger of getting drowned, and also of relieving the strain upon my arms and hands, which was now quite insupportable. I saw nothing, however, that could possibly be turned to account for this purpose, and was beginning to think that I would have to resign myself to my fate, when happening, for the first time, to notice the tree to which I was clinging, I saw that it was just the thing I wanted. It was much stronger and Btouter in the trunk than the other couridas rcund about, and, unlike its neighbours,

whoso slender stems were devoid of branches up to a height where they could not have been able to support my weight, this tree had a curiously distorted-looking branch shooting out from it at ,a distance of eight or nine feet above the ground. Both the tree and branch were evidently quite strong enough to support my weight, and as the latter Bhot out from the tree at nearly right angles for a couple of feet before turning upwards, it offered a convenient ana very welcome seat, which I determined to avail myself of without loss of time. Accordingly, I extricated myself fromthemudin which I was standing, though n«b without difficulty, and using both hands and feet, climbed up the tree as far as the branch. Then taking off my loose shooting jacket, I managed to arrange it on the vertical bit of the branch, so that it formed an extension of the seat, and also served as a kind of back to it. Then, climbing up into it, I managed, with the aid of my shirt and a large pocket handkerchief, to attach myself so to the tree as to render it well -nigh impossible for me to tumble off, were I again becoming insensible. My present position was so vastly superior to my former that I felt quite secure and comfortable, comparatively speaking, and in the pleasant reaction that I experienced consequently, my spirits rose ninety per cent. I was shivering from head to foot with ague, but when one has been several years in Demerara, one learns to think nothing of a fit of ague, so that did not diminish my feeling of satisfaction. I began to feel positively sanguine about getting rescued from my perilous position when morning came, and I was not troubled with any doubts 1 respecting my ability to hold out till morning. So, in a more or less equable frame of mind, I sat up there on my high perch for a couple of hours or so, listening to the various cries of the night birds on the island. At intervals, I heard, too, a iistant roaring, which, I think, must have been produced by a tiger on tho island. I say advisedly 'I think,' for, though very possibly there were tigers on Leguan, yet, even as I sat there listening to bhe sounds, and apt as I would be under the circumstances to exaggerate their character, I felt somewhat sceptical about their proceeding from the throat of a tiger. This scepticism was probably the result produced by a story that Murray had been telling me just before I left him, which was calculated to impress on one's mind the fact that other animals may have loud voices as well as tigers. A planter, a Scotchman by the name of R l on this very island of Leguan, had been dining at the house of a brother planter on the island, and as he was returning home on horssback late at night, in rather an elated frame of mind — champagne flows freely at the table of the hospitable Demerara planter — he heard what he took to be a loud roar behind him. The talk at the dinnor table had turned upon a tiger having been seen in the vicinity on the previous day, and not doubting that this was the identical beast at his heels, R— -— put spurs to his horse without even casting one look behind. He had a couple of miles of lonely road before him, and as he flew along this he heard sounds behind him which unmistakeably told him that the hungry brute was in full pursuit, and made him urge his horse on still faster. Going along at that rate of speed, it was not long before he reached his place. To spring from his horse, open the gate, get through, and dash it to after him, was not the work of a moment, and, casting a hurried glance at his pursuer, whom he saw coming briskly along the road, he rushed up to the house. The whole household was speedily aroused, and half a dozen negroes armed with cutlasses and headed with R . carrying a double-barrelled gun and wearing a very 'determined expression of countenance, proceeded at once to the gate to the assault of the tiger. The bewilderment of tho party may be conceived, when on reaching the intended scene of action they saw the horse, for whose safety they had been trembling, quietly fraternising witfi the ferocious brute, who, on closer examination, turned out to be nothing more or less than a harmless jackass belonging to the plantation, who, having strayed away, had recognised his master and followed him home. The story was fresh in my recollection, and as I pictured to myself the exceeding foolish appearance that R (whom I knew very well) must have presented, when he found that he had mistaken poor Neddy's bray for the roar of a tiger, I burst into an irrepressible fit of laughter, though my circumstances were not precisely calculated to encourage the exercise of my risible faculties. I was still quietly chuckling to myself when a curious sibilant sound, produced apparently close at hand, caught my attention, and looking about to discover the cause, I saw before me a sight that put a sudden and most effectual stop to my hilarity. Not half-a dozen yards in front of me, its body loosely coiled round the slender trunks of a couple of couridas^ and its head moving from side to side, with a graceful undulating motion, was a huge Camoudi snake. I had thought that the Camoudi was usually to be found in the neighborhood of fresh water, and was somewhat surprised to find him there, but there undoubtedly he was, and evidently quite at home. The light that penetrated through the trees was quite bright enough to enable me to distinguish him perfectly, and as some weeks previously I had accidentally had an opportunity of examining a recently-kiFed Camoudi snake, I knew at once that the reptile before me belonged to the same species. The Camoudi is not a venomous snake (belonging to the Bo'idse group of serpents, and killing its prey by constriction); but it is not the less to be dreaded on that account, for the hapless creature once entwined in the convolutions of this dreaded reptile is, in a few minutes, reduced to a shapeless mass. It is so powerful that the largest specimens of this serpent have been known to crush an ox to a jelly, and it is not to be wondered that, knowing the Camoudi by reputation as well as I did, I felt my heart die within me when my eyes first fell on my terrible vis avis. I had thought that I could not possibly be in a worse situation when, clinging to the tree, half immersed in mud, I had felt my consciousness leaving me, and knew that my probable fate would be a lingering death ; but now I would have gladly exchanged my present for my former position. There death would have been some time in coming, and there was always a chance that I might be rescued before it did come. Here an immediate and awful death stared me in the face, for my second glance had assured me that not only was the serpent aware of my presence, but that he was also watching his opportunity foi springing upon me. Had this new dangei menaced me some hours ago, when the stupor was creeping over me, I know that ] would have merely closed my eyes, anc awaited my fate with dull apathy.; but mro my faculties had regained their accustomed clearness, and seemed all to be concentratec upon seeking some way of escaping th< deadly embrace of the Camoudi. Think ai I might, however, no practicable plan o

escape suggested ib self to my anxious mind. To drop , off the branoh would be eivnply rushing from one danger into another, for there was fully six feet of water beneath me, and I would get entangled amongst the undergrowth, and infallibly be drowned. I saw dearly that I could do nothing except sit still where I was, but I determined that as long as a spark of life remained in my body, I .would struggle to preserve it by every means in my power. Since first I had beoome aware that the Camoudi was watching me,' I never had taken my eyes off him for a single instant, and now I perceived unmistakeable symptoms of his oeing about to make the fatal spring. • A feeling of great terror took possession of me, and hardly knowing what I did, I flung out my arms frantically, and gave vent to a prolonged yell. To my surprise and joy, this mad behaviour on my part seemed to have the effect of temporarily daunting , the serpent, for he resumed his former position, and recommenced the graceful, undulating motions with his head. A gleam of hope suddenly flashed upon me. By constantly watching the Camoudi, and repelling him by shouts and gesticula tions whenever I saw indications of his being about to make a spring, could I not manage to keep him at a distance until, wearied with waiting, he eventually betook himself away? It Beemed not altogether improbable, but I could not help recpgnising the fact that there was another side to the question, and that it was not altogether improbable that the Camoudi might tire me out first, and that at all events the question was likely to resolve itself into whose power of endurance was the greatest, so that the serpent was most likely to prove the victor in the end. With this terrible strain upon my mental faculties, how was I, already ill and exhausted physically, likely to hold out for any length of time ? Was it not probable that before long my strength would give way, and I should lapse into complete insensibility, in which state I would at once be made to furnish a meal to tbo hungry serpent opposite me ? I cannot express the sense of sickening horror with which this thought filled me, and I do believe that it was this same horror which inspired me with the strength and resolution that we're the means of eventually saving my life. I did not dare to remove my gazo from off the serpent, and as I sat there with one hand grasping the trunk of the tree, and the other the upright portion of tho branch which formed my seat, everything frightful that I had ever read, seen, or heard of seri pents of the boa constrictor genus seemed to throng into my mind. Stories which I had heard or read in childhood started up in my memory side by side with those that I had come across quite lately ; and what was curious, they seemed quite as clear and fresh. All that I had ever seen, either in painting or sculpture, depicting struggles with boa constrictors, seemed to revive in my recollection. For instance, a cast of the famous sculptured Laocoon group, which I had come across some years previously, would insist obstinately on obtruding itself on my mental vision. Indeed, with such startling vividness did it appear in my memory that I could almost have declared that I saw before me with my bodily eye that terribly grand depiction of the unfortunate priest of Neptune and his two sons writhing in the coils of the avenging pythons. Sometimes it was myself struggling in the dreadful embrace of Camoudi, whom I saw mentally before mo in all the horrors of living reality ; for I knew that though I might manage to keep him off for a short time, there was very little hope of my ultimately escaping the jaws of the reptile. I could easily imagine how it would ber. First, there would be the rush of a long dark body through the air ; then I would feel the serpent's sharp teeth in me, and become aware that I was involved in the cold, scaly coils of his body ; then I would feel those encircling coila pressing tighter and tighter ; and then I woDdered whether I would become unconscious at the firat touch of the serpent's teeth, or whether, before consciousness fled, I would bo sensible of some moments of intense agony as he brought the pressure of his powerful muscles to bear upon me. All the horrible details of the business seemed to possess a queer fascination for me, and I could not prevent my thoughts from dwelling upon them as I sat perched up there, staring at my grim adversary with a strange mixture of attraction and repulsion. As it had been some time since he had shown any signs of moving, I was every moment expecting to see him prepare himself again for a spring. While I looked forward to this moment with dread, yet, as I knew it must come sooner or later, I wished it to come at once, so that I might be able to ascertain if shouting and gesticulating would be effectual in scaring the Caraoudi a second time. He was apparently in no hurry to try his luck again, and an awfully long time it seemed to me, sitting there with my nerves strung up to a most painful degree of expectancy. At length I perceived unmistakable indications that the serpent was contemplating another spring, and, wildly waving my arms, I sent forth a eeries of yells that might have done credit to a eavago Zulu rushing upon his tribal foes. This frantic behaviour had the same effect on my adversary as it had on the previous occassion, for, evidently completely taken aback, he settled down into his former position. This was so far satisfactory, but as, exhausted with my late effort, I leaned my shoulder against the tree, I asked myself, despairingly, how long it would continue so. Even looking at things in the most sanguine light, and supposing that I had the strength to hold out for an indefinite length of time, I did not dare to hope that these violent demonstrations of mine, though they might repel the Camoudi for a few times, would always continue to do so. After a while (if he did not get disgusted with waiting and make off in the meantime) the serpent would get familiar with these same violent demonstrations, and finding that they resulted in nothing, would come to disregard them — with somewhat disagreeable consequences to me, certainly. The Camoudi evinced not the faintest disposition to make off, and remained there with every outward appearance of feeling very comfortable and very much at horne — which I daresay he was. I could have almost fancied that the creature was aware of my helpless condition, and feeling confident that his supper could not get away, had decided that if it could wait he could wait too. And wait he certainly did ! Hour after hour dragged itself out, and there the Camoudi still remained motionless, save for those occasional indications of his preparing himself to spring upon me, which I had perceived, or fancied I had perceived, and which I had always managed to check in the bud by shouting and gesticulating with my arms. As the waiting was entirely a voluntary piece of business on the Camoudi's part, and more especially as he had a prospective supper already dished up before him, and was only waiting for it to cool down in order to begin upon it, I may reasonably presume that the time passed not unpleasantly with him; butnever to my dying day shall I forget

what I endured. duringtthose hours. I often wonder how l manag^fl tpget through that nightas'l did, for lha^e heard of people, under a far less severe strain, bodily and mentally, eitherloßing their reason or dying, The vital prinoiple must have been very strong in me, I suppose,. since I did not die out right from sheer exhaustion alone. In actual suffering, however, T think I must have died many deaths. , With every nerve in my body strung up to an unbearable degree of tension, I had to keep an almost unwinking watch on my antagonist, and not knowing at what moment he might not make the fatal spring, disregardless of my attempts to scare Trim off, I passed the livelong night in a perpetual state of suspense such as even | now it makes me shudder to remember. Often and often during that night I said to myself that death, in however horrible a shape, would be infinitely preferable to this torturing suspense, and that it would be better to resign myself to my fate without any further struggle. I was young, however, and life was very pleasant to me, and, almost unknown to myself, I cherished a latent hope somewhere in the depths of my breast that I might still Uve to enjoy it ; so these moments of utter despair generally ended in a dogged renewal of my resolve to fight for my lite inch by inch ; and morning found me— a ghastly picture enough I make no doubt— still perched up on my branch grimly watching my dreaded vis-a-vis. My tongue felt almost cloven to the roof of my mouth, my body and nether limbs were so cramped and stiff with the fatigue of sitting in the same uncomfortable position for so many hours that theyeeemod nearly devoid of feeling, and the movements that I made with my arms were merely mechanical. Had it not been that I had tied myself to the tree, I feel sure I would have tumbled down, and it was only by sheer strength of will that I kept myself from lapsing into complete insensibility. Latterly, I had become conscious too of a new and strange sensation ; a curious attraction compelling me to turn my gaze on the Camoudi and rendering me uuable to withdraw it again, which at that time I had put down to the power of fascination generally ascribed to serpents (a power by the way that I have often seen exercised upon fowls and email birds by various kinds of serpents in British Guiana), but which now I am inclinod to believe must have been something akin to what they call hypnotism, produced by my long and continuous staring at the reptile. As the sun rose tho Camoudi began to testify by unmistakeable symptoms that he was indignant at his suppor being merged into his breakfast in this fashion, and was beginning to think that he might begin upon it with impunity. I had noticed that \ my hostile demonstrations had had latterly scarcely any effect upon him, and I knew that the long- dreaded moment was certainly coming. I had a threo-inch bladed pocket-knife about my porson, and though I was aware that it was scarcely possible that it could bo of service to me in the coming struggle (for I [knew that the serpent's movements were so rapid that long before I could have time to use the knife i would be enveloped in his deadly embrace and powerless), I got hold of it with my right hand, opened it, and awaited tho serpent's attack with the calm which despair engenders. I had not long to wait. A slight noise, the vision of a dark body rushing through the air, and throwing up the hand which held the knife, with an instinctive desire to keep it free, I sat suddenly upright just as I felt the huge body of the serpent encircling both me and tho tree. Lucky it was for me that I made that instantaneous change of posture, for 1 believe it was owing to that circumstance that I am alive at the present 'hour. The Camoudi had made his spring, intending to fix his teeth in my head, which-I had been leaning against the trunk of the tree, and unprepared tor my sudden change of position, his powerful jaws had nearly closed in the wood of the courida, exactly at the place where my head had been resting not an instant before ! The peculiar formation of the teeth of serpents makes it very difficult for them to let go what they have once seized with their mouth, and remembering this fact as I recovered from the momentary stupefaction into which I had been thrown by the Camoudi's assault, I instantaneously divined my advantage, and brought my disengaged arm, with the hand holding the knife, into play. I knew nothing about the anatomical structure of a serpent's body, but I had heard that the heart was situated pretty far back, and 1 aimed at the massive coils of the Camoudi, devoutly trusting that I might wound him in some vital part. As I was sitting between the trunk of the tree and the upright portion of the branch, which were both included in the serpent's embrace, the pressure of his powerful muscles was first expended on these, and I had not felt it as yet ; but scarcely had I sent the knife twice into his scaly body when I heard a loud ominous crack, something went crashing down among the undergrowth (the tide was quite out again at thie time), and I knew that the upright portion of the branch had given way under the pressure of the reptile's muscles. There was not an instant to be lost. I felt those horrible convolutions gradually tightening around me, and, with desperate energy I repeatedly drove the knife up to the handle into the Camoudi's body in several different places. The last time, the blade broke in his body and the handle came away in my hand, but happily was not needed any more, for the serpent had had quite enough of it. I saw a tremor run through him, his enormous coils suddenly relaxed, and the hinder part of his long body fell down, crashing Pmong the undergrowth, while his, teeth being still buried in the wood of the courida at a distance of some twelve feet or so from the ground, he remained hanging plumb with the tree. After wriggling about for half a minute, he managed to disengage his teeth (taking away big bits of wood in them, as I noticed from the marks he left on the tree), and, falling down like a dead weight, he glided away through the undergrowth. Whether or not I had mortally wounded him, and he had betaken himself off to die, I cannot say. At all events I saw no more of him, for, just as he was disappearing through the undergrowth, and I was clinging to my tree in an almost fainting condition, I heard a sound which sent the lifo blood rushing through my body with renewed vigour. It was a laugh, and a laugh so loud and free from care that I knew it could only proceed from the lungs of a descendant of Ham. Then I heard the loud, cheerful sound of talking, and then another laugh in which two or more voices joined. Though the negroes who were the possessors of these voices were in reality some distance off, the sounds reached my ears sc distinctly in the still morning air that ] fancied they were quite close at hand and my heart leaped with a feeling of supreme thankfulness. ' My throat was so parohed that at first J could scarcely enunciate a single word, bui after two or three attempts I managed t< call out loud enough to be, heard, "Fo; Gods sake, help!" . , The laughing and talking suddenh oeased, and I distinctly heard one of thi negroes exolaim, "What dat? You n< hear d<*t, Sam?"

1 Again I repeated my loud cry,, and this time one- of, them oalled. out, asking what was the matter. I shouted back explaining to them my position, and then I, heard loud confused sounds of talking, from vfhioh I judged that they Were 1 consulting together about how to get me out, ! Suddenly these sounds ceased, and the thought struck me that they had gone away, not caring to bother themselves about me. In great dread I shouted out again in a voice that was almost stentorian, and to my unspeakable relief, I heard their cheerful response, "Comin', massa, comin'!" sounding not many yards off, and presently I heard what seemed to me the pleaeantest sound that ever greeted mortal ears, namely, the crash, crash of their cutlasses as they cut their way through the undergrowth. Too exhausted to move a muscle, I could only cling to the tree and await their approach, shouting every other moment to guide them to me, and when at last I caught sight beneath me of the three dark stalwart lorms of the men above their waists in mud, the unnatural strain which I had sustained for so long a time at length gave way, and I became unconscious. When I regained my senses I was lying on the embankment, with the kind-hearted negroes bending over me, and endeavouring to revive me by dashing cold water on my face. How those three had managed to bring me, in my unconscious state, through that mud and undergrowth to the en> bankment, short distance though it was, is to this day a puzzle to me. Certainly they must have had their work of it, and must have well earned the monetary reward which I afterwards bestowed upon them. It appeared that I had been quite close all night to the embankment beside the abandoned sugar plantation (so close, indeed, that had I had a cutlass with me and been aware of my position, I could have nearly reached it in ten minutes), and the negroes, in going to their work on a sugar plantation lying a little beyond the abandoned estate, had been taking a short, but not much used, cut through the latter when 1 heard their voices and called for their assistance. Had they passed by ten minutes later, I believe I should have perished, without being able to make my situation known to any mortal soul, for I am certain that, at the moment when the hearty laugh of the negro put life and hope into me, I was lapsing into a state of unconsciousness from which I should never more have awakened in this world. I did not escape scot free from my experiences of that night, for I lay long ill with brain fever at the hou3e of a hospitable friend on the West Coast. Kind attention and careful nursing brought me round, however, and after a while I was able to return to my duties in Georgetown, completely re-established in health. Time, and a good deal of knocking about the world, have managed to weaken my remembrance of that night's experience, but even yet, here in my New Zealand home, in the nightmares which occasionally visit me, I live over again what I suppose I may justly call that " Night of Horror in a Tropic Swamp."