provision and fresh water; while they would be labouring under drought, and unprovided with any food but the booby birds, of which the numbers had by this time much diminished. He suffered much uneasiness in thinking how harsh a judgment they might form of him; but hoped they would perceive that the tree had been uprooted by a violence beyond the strength of man. "Besides," said he, "I had another small comfort in the company of my dog, which lay on board with me, which I used to talk to, as if he were a rational creature; and the poor thing would stand and stare me in the face, as if he were sensible of what I said to him. It was a very handsome creature, of the Danish kind; but very good-natured; and would often go to the cabin where I lay, which was that of his old master, and whine mightily.”

For a fortnight the vessel continued to be tossed on the lonely sea, the weather being still calm, but so hazy that for several successive days the poor mariner never saw the sun. One day, searching under his bed, for he did not lie in a hammock, he found an old glove with seventyfive pieces of eight (a Spanish coin), which he took and sewed into his waistband, feeling assured that it had belonged to his deceased friend, who was known to have had some money on board. Indeed the seamen had searched the vessel for it after his death, but had not happened to light upon it.

On the 20th of January he saw a ship to leeward; but his vessel, for want of her sails, was an object scarcely visible at any considerable distance, and the strangers bore away without his being able to attract their notice.

This difficulty of making known his perilous condition, which so materially diminished his chances of relief, had grievously sunk his spirits during the succeeding night, and on the following day; when, in the midst of his despondency, the weather clearing discovered to him, about six leagues toward the south-west, a long line of coast which he felt assured was a part of the Spanish province of Yucatan. Having no sails to catch the wind, he was unable to shape his course toward the land, and the vessel, for several days, continued to drift in a direction parallel with the coast, till at length a promontory showed itself ahead, to the infinite relief of the helpless navigator, whose hopes of preservation, however, were painfully alloyed with the fear of being forced into slavery by the Spaniards, the common enemies of all European adventurers in those seas; yet even this unhappy fate seemed preferable, in his eyes, to the perilous and unassisted life he led on board this solitary ship.

It was on the 30th of January that he entered the bay, and reached the town of Campeachy. He had almost touched the shore before any ship or boat encountered him; but at last two canoes approached, manned by a Spaniard and six Indians, who, finding his condition, were greatly surprised, and had him presently conveyed to the GovernmentHouse. "The governor being at dinner," says Falconer, "they would have had me staid till he dined; but he, hearing of me, commanded me to come in, where he was at dinner with several gentlemen and two ladies; and though 'tis very rare any one sees the women, yet they did not offer to veil themselves. I was ordered to sit down by myself at a little table placed for that purpose, where I had sent me of what composed their dinner, which was some fresh fish and fowls, and excellent wine of several sorts."

Instead of detaining him in slavery, which would probably have been his fate had he been taken in company with a crew who might have been suspected of marauding for logwood, the Spaniards treated the adventurer with great kindness, collected a subscription for him, and fitted out a vessel for him to return to the sand islands, and release his companions. The only difficulty was to find seamen who would go with him. Presently, however, it was remembered that there were five Englishmen in the town, who had lately been taken in the bay on suspicion of piracy, but against whom no positive proof seemed likely to arise; and these five were now set free, to accompany Falconer as his crew, on his voyage for the islands of the Alcranes.

They set sail from Campeachy on the 15th of February, 1700, plied briskly to windward, and in fifteen days discovered the islands of sand. Stopping short of the shoals, they sent their boat on shore with Falconer and two other men, and found the three sojourners, Musgrave, White, and Middleton, still alive, but in a weak and almost exhausted condition.

When these three men awoke, on the first of the preceding January, from their drunken sleep, and found that a hurricane had carried the vessel out to sea, their affliction amounted to despair. Food they had none, and no more fresh water than was contained in a single barrel which remained standing by the tent. Scarce a bird or an egg could be found with the most diligent and eager search; and, at the end of five days, absolute starvation seemed to stare them in their faces. They then bethought themselves, as hunger is parent to strange imaginations, of the buried body of their companion Randal; and he who, when living, had pointed them the way to their deliverance, became the means of their preservation after his death. It was a frightful resource, but it was the only one. The depth at which he had been buried, which was seven feet, had prevented an early decomposition, and, by broiling each day a scanty portion of the flesh, they kept life and soul together for several weeks. Falconer, in his first horror at beholding the mangled carcase of their kind monitor, reproached them in unmeasured language; but upon calmer consideration of their necessity, felt their justification, and asked pardon for his intemperance. Fitter food being now provided from the vessel, they refreshed themselves with it eagerly, and sewing the remains of the body in one of the hammocks, replaced them in the earth.

After tarrying a few days on the island to recruit the wasted strength of these three, the whole party embarked, now nine in all, Falconer being the commander. The names of the five who had accompanied him from Campeachy were Warren, Hood, Stone, Meadows, and Keater.

The two parties being thus united, and grown into familiarity with each other, it occurred to Falconer, one day at dinner, to make some inquiries of the five men who had sailed with him from Campeachy, as to the reason of their having been charged by the Spaniards with piracy. They seemed a little embarrassed by the question; but Warren, taking upon himself to speak for his fellows, gave some explanation, which however was not altogether of a satisfactory character. Falconer observed the man's confused manner, but imputed it to his want of the habit of expressing himself, and dismissed the matter, for the time, from his mind." But in the evening," says Falconer, "Mr. Middleton

came to me, with a face of concern, and said he did not like these fellows' tale. Why so?' says I. 'Because I observe they herd together,' answered he, and are always whispering and speaking low to one another.' 'Oh,' says I,' there cannot be any danger in 'em; for if they had any inclination to run away with our vessel, they might have done it when they were five to one, before we took you in.' 'I know not,' replied Middleton, I have a heart forebodes something.' Psha! old women's fears,' said I."

This discourse, however, had the effect of putting Falconer on his guard; and he resolved to consult with Musgrave and White at bedtime, when they would have a convenient opportunity, lying all in the after cabin. But the opportunity presented itself still earlier; for the other five, who seem to have had a feeling that they were suspected, excused themselves from coming to supper; and Falconer and Middleton took advantage of that absence to communicate their apprehensions to Musgrave and White. The steps to be taken were at once arranged. The first watch was the duty of Musgrave, Middleton, and White, with one of the other party, Frank Hood, who was employed as the ship's cook; the second watch was the duty of Warren, Stone, Meadows, and Keater; the third watch would come again to the turn of Musgrave, Middleton, White, and Hood. It was settled that during the second watch, while Hood would be asleep, he should be seized and confined out of the way, with a threat of instant death should he offer to make the smallest noise; and that when the second watch should be over, and Warren's party should have come down to get their turn of sleep, Falconer's party, who would be awake on the third watch, should seize them in their beds and secure them.

Falconer's party took the first watch as usual; and it had not long been set, when Warren, from below, called out to Hood, who was of that watch, that he was very dry and wanted some water; upon which Hood went down to him with some water in a can. It occurred to Falconer, that Hood had been all day employed apart from his companions in taking an inventory of the provision-casks and stores, to see how long they would last, and therefore could have had no opportunity of learning any design formed by his comrades in the course of that afternoon; and it seemed probable that Warren's request to Hood for water had been made for the purpose of getting a few moments of private communication with him. So Falconer, quietly following Hood, drew as close as he could to the scuttle, and heard Warren begin the dialogue by saying, 'D—n you, Frank, we had like to have been smoked to-day;' and then, after some few more words, Warren said something in too low a voice to be distinguishable. Hood said that Falconer's people had dropt hints of some suspicion, and would be on their guard; therefore it would be better to wait a day or two, till that suspicion should be lulled. 'No, z―ds,' said Warren, 'we'll do it to-night when they are asleep.' Then they went on arguing, pro and con, as it seemed; but they spoke so low that Falconer could only hear a d-n ye, now and then, and other ejaculations of that kind; and therefore crept away, and returned upon deck, providing himself first, under his watch-coat, with a pair of pistols, which had been wont to hang ready charged in the cabin, and were indeed the property of some of Warren's party.

When Hood came up again upon the deck, he was somewhat startled

to see Falconer there, who was not in the habit of watching in the night. "After fixing his eyes frequently upon me," says Falconer, "at last he said very softly, 'If you please, Mr. Falconer, I have a word or two to say to you that much concerns you all.' 'What is it?' says I. 'Why,' answered he, 'I would have the rest of your companions ear-witnesses too.' With that I called them together. But,' says he, 'let's retire as far from the scuttle as we can, that we may not be heard by any below deck.' So we went into the cabin, and opened the scuttle above, that Mr. Musgrave, who steered, might hear what was said. When we were sat down upon the floor, Mr. Hood began as follows: My four companions below have a wicked design upon you; that is, to seize you, and put you into the boat, and run away with your vessel; but I, thinking it an inhuman action to any one, but to you in particular, that have been the means of their freedom, therefore (I hope appointed by Providence) I come to let you know it, that we may think of some means to prevent it.' I told him that we were provided against it already, and, with the consent of my companions, told him our design of seizing them in the third watch. But,' says he, they intend to put their project in practice their next watch. Therefore I think it will be more proper for us to counterplot them, and seize them this.' "

The discussion as to the choice of the time was protracted but too long. For Warren, who it seems mistrusted Hood, got up and listened, and finding that the party had retired below, stole softly along the deck to the opening above the cabin where they were consulting, and overheard the entire conversation, which he carried to his fellows, Stone, Meadows, and Keater. These three, who, till this time, had been lukewarm and even indisposed to the undertaking, now felt that their own safety depended on their striking the first blow. Instantly therefore they rose, followed Warren with silent steps to the cabin door, then, bursting in with a brace of loaded pistols, sprang upon Falconer and his unprepared companions, and grasping them by the arms, bound them fast with cords. The movement was so rapid, that Falconer had not time to think of the pistols at his own girdle, nor Musgrave, who was steering above, to apprehend what had occurred. At this moment it became necessary to tack the ship, and Musgrave finding that none of the men came on deck to help when he called them, clapped the helm a-lee, and ran down in a hurry to fetch them up. The pirates meanwhile had fastened the cabin door on the inside, and took care not to open it to Musgrave, who was knocking and calling out,-until they had disabled all opposition. As soon as this was achieved, they unbolted the door, seized Musgrave as he entered, and having bound him like the rest, ran up again on deck to take care of the sails, which fluttered in the wind as the ship went round with her helm a-lee.

(To be continued.)

RECREATIONS IN NATURAL HISTORY.-NO. v.

MANY of the forests of South America flourish in all their primitive grandeur. Immense tracts are covered with vegetable forms in every stage of luxuriant development. Towering trees, their trunks embraced by gigantic twiners and garlanded by a profusion of plants, in whose curious and splendid blossoms Nature seems to have imitated in the wantonness of her prodigality almost every variety of insect shape, shoot up and darken the light of day with their broad shadows.

In these "boundless contiguities of shade," which have never echoed to the woodman's axe, the most perfect silence reigns during the day; a silence, unbroken save by the crashing fall of some ancient tree prostrated by the weight of years, and carrying with it in one vast ruin all that it had long fed and fostered.

But, if all is silent during the day, at night

"The wonted roar is up amidst the woods,

And fills the air with barbarous dissonance ;"

for in the depths of these solitudes live the Howling Monkeys, to whose voice the voice of the Rev. Gabriel Kettledrummle were but as the sough of the wind in the bracken.

We have already stated that the South American monkeys are all blessed with tails, but they are deprived of those brilliant blue and red callosities which give so much splendour to the integuments of many of the Old World family, and recal sometimes a part of the costume of a certain unearthly pedestrian; for his femoral habiliments

were blue,

And there was a hole where the tail came through."

Neither do they rejoice in cheek-pouches: they are, consequently, unable to keep anything in the corner of their jaws, or to furnish forth any rebuke to the Rosencrantzes and Guildensterns of the several courts in this best of all possible worlds.

"The Howlers," as they are termed, claim our first attention. They are the largest of the American Simiada †, and the fierce brutality of their disposition, joined to their low facial angle, remind the observer of the baboons of the old continent, whilst their gregarious habits and nocturnal howlings agree with the manners of the Gibbons. The yells uttered by these Howlers in the dead of the night are described as absolutely appalling. They strike upon the ear of the uninitiated

*The Orchidaceous Epiphytes. So great is their number in humid situations that a thousand species may, it is asserted, be found in Tarma, Huanuco, and Xauxa alone. They abound in the recesses of tropical forests; but, in the Orchidaceæ, imitation is not confined to images of the insect world, as those will acknowledge who have seen the flower of the Peristeria, enshrining the semblance of a milk-white dove, which seems actually to hover above an altar; wax could hardly be modelled into a more perfect representation.

+ Genus Mycetes.