DISAPPOINTMENT AFTER DISAPPOINTMENT. 153

skin still more than the rays of sun. We longed im-
patiently to take a bath, but we found only a great
reservoir of feculent water, surrounded with palm-
trees. The water was turbid, though, to our great as-
tonishment,a little coolerthan the air. We hastened
to plunge into the pool, but scarcely had we begun
to enjoy the coolness of the bath, when we heard on
the opposite bank a noise which made us flee preci-
pitately. It was an alligator plunging into the mud.

“We were only at the distance of a quarter of a
league from the farm, yet we continued walking
more than an hour without reaching it. We per-
ceived, too late, that we had taken a false direction.
We attempted to return to the spot where we had
bathed, and we again walked three-quarters of an
hour without finding the pool. Sometimes we
thought we saw fire at the horizon; but it was the
stars that were rising, and of which the image was
enlarged by the vapours. After wandering a long
time in the savannah, we seated ourselves beneath
the trunk of a palm-tree, in a spot perfectly dry,
surrounded by short grass for fear of the water-
serpents. In proportion to the uncertainty of our
<ituation, we were rejoiced by hearing from afar
the sound of a horse advancing towards us. The
rider was an Indian, armed with a lance, who had
just made the round tocollect the cattle of the neigh-
pourhood. The sight of two white men, who said