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2 THE ATHENS GEORGIAN : JANUARY 30, 1877. LOST IN A JUNGLE. In the year 1*54,1 belonged to the United States North Pacific Survey ing and Exploring Expedition. For some months we had worked dili gently in Gaspar Straits, and along the Malaysian Islands, and at last had brought .our arduous labors to a close. One delightful morning, while anchored near the island of Banco, most of the crew went ashore to en joy the pleasures of the day on land myself among the number. There was a beautiful beach of sand and shell reaching down into the playful waters, and stretching along for miles; and, just beyond this, a belt of greensward, like the bright lawn of artificial grounds, with mighty trees reaching lar heavenward, and which seemed as if standing Rentries over the thick, dark jungle that formed the background of the ro manlio scene. The air was soft and balmy, and we anticipated rare pleas ure in strolling over this unknown region of beauty, and now and then perhaps venturing into its mysterious depths and challenging the perils which we knew abounded there in the shape of wild beasts and reptiles. I know not why, but there seems to be a certain charm in concealed dan ger, if surrounded with a kind of ro- mautic mystery, which will oftentimes lure forward the most timid, and the day and the scene before us were well calculated to exercise this influ ence upon us. We were cautioned by the prudent not lo venture far from the beach, nor become separated from each other, but all to be con stantly within cal!, that in the event of being assailed by either man or beast, we might all be quickly united against a common foe. This was good advice, and had I been one who followed it, I might have been saved a good deal of alarm and suffering. In company with a shipmate, named John Halleck, I moved leis urely along up the smooth, shiny beach, stopping now and then to pick up some beautiful shell, or cast a Stone into the water, or drink in the beauties of as lovely a scene as I ever gazed upon. In this way, we two gradually became separated from the rest of our companions, and; in the course of a couple of hours, found ourselves far from our boat and en tirely alone. This, however, gave ns no uneasiness, as each was armed •with a carbine, a brace of pistols, and s sheath knife, and considered our selves equal to any probable assailant. We came to a running stream of limpid water, that tumbled down over its rocky bed from a romantic elevation, beneath a thick canopy of leaves, shrubs and vines; and the temptation to explore its banks for a short distance, beneath the cool shade, was too great to be resisted. “We won’t go far, Butler,” said xny companion to me, “and there’s no danger of our getting lost, be cause the stream will always guide ns back.’’ I d’d not need any persuading, and so we plunged into the, tangled thicket at once. At first, we pushed our way forward with considerable caution, and I confess I cast my eyes around me in the heavy gloom with not a little of timidity; and more than once, when I heard a stick snap loudly, or the bushes rustle witlf the hurried departure of some animal whose solitude we had encroached upon, I grasped my carbine with a nervous hand, and held my ground vrith rather questionable courage; but finding, us we advanced, that nothing molested us, and discovering that one at least of our wild beasts was a very pretty little deer, we re gained confidence, and felt the bold spirit of the eager hunter take possession of us, and urge us forward in quest of game. “It wouldn’t he a bad idea, Ned, to have a little fresh meat,” suggested xny companion. “ I was just thinking of the same thing,” I replied; “ and though our' carbines cannot bo depended on for any distance, we may be lucky enough, if we keep a sharp watch, to put iu an effective shot at close quarters.”) We had pushed our way up the 1 stream for perhaps half a mile, wheu we came to a spot that, for wild, gloomy beauty, was equal to anything that we had ever seen in any part of the world. For some time we had heard th«s steady, solemn sqund of roaring water, and were prepared to find our : progress- checked by a cas cade; but.tho scene we suddenly came upon,'.(hr exceeded onr antici pations in picturesqe sublimity. An immense wall of black, rugged rocks stretched itself upward before us to a height of from seventy-five to an hundred feet, either side of ’which was buried in a dense jangle so heavy with foliage that the eye could not pen ctrate it. Over this precipice came rushing, foaming and roaring, the little stream that we had been tracing upward, its whitened waters.falling into a kind of basin, of considerable depth, and some fifty feet in circum ference, where they whirled and bub bled and grew calm, and then moved steadily outward, through nn almost level channel, till they renched the uext gradual descent, when they started off with a gentle ripple, to increase in both sound and speed on their laughing journey down the mountain to the briny deep below. Around the basin ol this waterfall grew gigantic trees of enormous height, with imnteusebranches spread ing out in every direction and inter locking, and so thickly covered with leaves and vines, and interwoven with long, green, shiny moss, that not a single ray of the hot, vertical sun could find its way to the pool below, which, even at midday, car ried on its face the deep shade of a northern twilight. While looking at this picturesque gem of the forest, I was suddenly re minded of being in a land of peril— for, with a startled cry v my compan ion bounded back several feet, and, impulsively, I imitated his example. In Heaven’s name, what is it I exclaimed, bringing forward my carbine with tremulous bauds. Look,’’ he answered, pointing to a lead-colored, fiat-headed snake, of a venomous species, which was coiled around a bush, and swinging in the air, not more than one or two feet front where his face had been at the moment of making the discovery, i felt a chill of horror at the narrow escape he had made from being bit ten ; and approaching the reptil? with great caution, I cut it down with my knife, and succeeded in crushiug its poisonous head with the breach of m,y carbine. Scarcely had I done so, when my companion called to me to keep quiet, and immediately brushed from my person an enormous spider, whose bite, for aught I know, might have been as deadly as that of the snake. Come,” said I, with a shudder of fear, “let us leave this place at once.” We resolved, however, to climb the percipice, if there were any way of reaching the top, and cautiously pushed into the jungle for this pur pose. In the course of half an hour we had succeeded in our design; and when at length we stood upon the rocks above the cascade, we were rewarded for our labor l»y a splendid view of the sea, and a large portiou of the island. A deer, moving through the bushes below, on the other side of the eleva tion, now attracted our attention, and revived the notion of our having a fine steak for dinner, and forthwith we sot off on a regular hunt, with the idea that, should we miss our ani mal, we might find another of the same kind. This led to all our future trouble; for, by our careless venture, we soon became completely lost in the jungle; and when at last we set out, as we supposed, for the beach, it turned out that we took the opposite course, and pushed deeper into the mazes of the forest. At first, supposing our selves going right, wc felt no unea siness ; but when, after walking a couple of hours, without getting a glimpse of the sea, we found our selves oti the margin of a large, stagnant pool, and the general ap pearance of the rank vegetation such as belonged to the depths of an un explored forest, we stopped and looked inquiringly at eadt other, while the blood gradually retreated from onr flushed faces, and left them pale with a strange kind of fear. While we thus stood, looking silently at each other, and each busy with thoughts that he was ahn'ost afraid to express, a sleek little doer stole out of the bushes quite near us, and timidly thrnst his nose down toward the water. I saw him first; making a sign to my companion not to stir, I quietly raised my piece, took a steady aim, and fired. The animal dropped in his tracks; but before ] could utter'"an exclamation of tri nmpb, the wild, horrid roar of some furious beast- rung through the jun gle, and fairly made me treiuble-with terror. “ My God! what is it ?” exclaim ed my companion, pressing to tny side. A tiger, undoubtedly,” I answer ed. “ Then we are lost!” “Not yet awhile, man alive!” I rejoined, with reassuring boldne s, though I doubt not I was, in reality as much frightened as himself. Keep a sharp look-out while 1^.re load my peace! and remember, if assailed, we are not to die like ’cow ards !” We put onrselves in as good a defensive position as the circum stances would permit, with onr backs l raced against a large • tree, and watched and waited for half an hour; when, finding nothing appear ed to molest us we resolved upon having a dinner off onr game, even should it prove to be our last meal; so we kindled a fire, cut off some ten der steaks and toasted them, and really ate quite heartily for men placed in our perilous situation. Our dinner served to refresh us and give us nerve; and feeling there was no more time to be lost, we now struck off vigorously through the dense jungle, in the hope of getting 4 baok to the beach before dark. We were c ODined, however, to a sad disappointment. We traveled miles on miles; and when the shades of night began to gather around there we’were, in the depths of an awful wilderness, with no sign of ever being able to find the way out of it. Wc now heard another loud roar, apparently not far off, and onr hearts sunk with dispair—for if assailed by a ferocious tiger now, what chance would we have of preserving our lives? “ I can think of nothing better than climbing a tree, and passing a ’night in its branches,” I said to my companion. He assented, with trem ulous anxiety, and we soon found one to answer our purpose; but as we hurriedly ascended it, we both shuddered at the idea of coining in contact with some of the thous* ands of poisonous reptiles with which the whole horrid region abounded. I shall never forget that night, which was literally one of horror. We succeeded in getting a a pretty safe position among thick branches ; but we dared* not close our eyes in sleep, for fear of falling to the ground; and all through the long tedious hours, we heard, at in tervals, the snarling, growling, fight ing and roaring of the prowling wild beasts, sometimes afar off, and some times quite near us, In fact, on two or three occasions, the bushes were rustled immediately below us; and peering down from our leafy covert, we more than once caught" a glimpse of the fiery eyeballs of some night monster, as he looked up at us and uttered a lew, savage growl. When the light of another day enabled ns to see our way, we cau tiously descended to the ground, and again set forward at a venture, no longer presuming to calculate whether we were going right or wrong. It proved a terrible day to us, full of new dangers, great fatigue, and not a little suffering, and night again overtook us in the depths of an awful jungle, from which we now despair ed of ever finding our way out. We had eaten nothing since the meal of the proceeding day, with the excep tion of a single biscuit divided be tween us, and we not only felt faint and weak, but we were so power fully inclined to sleep that we believ ed not eveu the dangers surrounding us would keep us awake through another night. Wc sought out anoth er tree, climbed into its branches, and there, by tearing up some of our clothing, and lashing ourselves to the limbs, we managed to sleep off a portion of the second night, and notwithstanding our more critical situation, passed through it with even less horror than the first. The third day proved one of great suffering and no less peril, in the same • interminable jungle, with its ferocious beasts and venomous rep tiles; but just before night, to our unspeakable joy, we came to a clear ing, and saw before us a small Malay village, with a part of the houses built on posts, and the rest on the ground. At any other time this village might have been an alarming sight to ns—for we knew some of the Malays to be robbers, pirates, and cannibals—but just then we felt that any change from the miseries of that jungle would be a relief; and rather than starve to death there, or be poisoned by snakes, lizards, and spi ders, or be torn to pieces by wild beasts, we would have boldly ven tured into a village of the worst sav ages on earth. We proved to be objects of great curiosity, and were soon surrounded by men, women and children, whose kindly faces and genial manners con vinced us we had nothing to fear. We tried to tell them by signs that we had come from a vessel, had got lost in the jungle, and we were almost starved. They seemed to un derstand us; and one, who appear ed to be a chief among them, took us into his dwelling, and gave ns hot tea and food, -and treated ns with true Christian hospitality. Tji.t same night, most of the crew of our vessel, who been two days searching for it-, arrived at the village, and we were again among our friends. I shall never forget the joy of that meeting, nor the horrors of tny ad- veniure on the island ofBanca. A Hew Mammoth Establishment. NOW OCCUPY THEIR NEW STORE. f - K | •• i S IJ i; ? ft r \ ■ ! | | i s Wholesale Department Flour a Specialty. We are Agents for Two of the Best Mills in th^ Country, nnd Guarantee every Sack Sold. -0- Corn, Meat, Molasses and Sugars, AT WHOLESALE PRICES. FERTILIZERS. NOW (S THE TIME TO MAKE YOBR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE COMING CROP. THe Best is tile Clieapest! CASH OR COTTON OPTION AT 15c. WE HANDLE ONLY STRICTLY FIRST-CUSS Como and so© for - .. .. JT- . Yonrsolves. j£,i< oi t v •/. r < The Virginia City (Nov.) Enter- Use relates the following anecdote j u The proof of the pudding is the chewing of the bag-” ot the late Senator Nye: : —- — ----- ——- —— —— — -Nye went to Sccretai^r Stauton PLANTERS’ HOTEL, once to make a petition for some dead soldier’s orphans. It was in the darkest days of the war. Stan ton said, 1 1 have not time, Mr. Nye, to see to what yon want.’ • Suppose you take time, Mr. Secretary,’ said Nye. ‘ You are unreasonable, Mr. Nye, in pressing such a thing at this time,’ said Stanton. ‘ Permit me to say that you are the unreasonable man,’ answered Nye. * If you were not a United States Senator I should say you were very impel tinent, said Stanton, hautily • If you were not a great Secretary of War I should be tempted to say you are making a d—d fool of yourself,’ re plied the old Gray Eagle, with his eyes blazing. Stanton looked at him a moment, and then softening said : ‘Maybe I am, Jim—who knows— come inside and tell me all about it.’ ‘Now, Ned, tny boy, you arc grow ing sensible,’ said Nye, and the busi ness was quickly arranged,” Her Weapons.—A very heavy womon about forty years old was making some purchases in a Wood ward avenue store yesterday, and, while moving across the store, her spectacle case fell from her pocket to the. floor. It was picked up by a cash-boy, who handed it to her with the remai k: . “ Here’s your revolver.” “ Tis eh V” she remarked as she re ceived the case—“ well that’s my hand?” The “ box ” received by the lad on the ear echoed all over the store, and when he rosef up on the other side of the counter he seemed to have been settled in favor of the old lady. She looked after him, pawed over the calicoes and mused: “ I wasn’t brought up to stand sass from children, and I don’t believe I can evfer get used to it.”—Detroit Free Press, What would you expect to find on a litterary man’s breakfast table? Bacon’s Remains, Final Memorials of Lamb, if in season, and Shelly’s frag ments. AUGUSTA, GEORGIA; NEW AR.R.AI^G*ESM]ES]NrT. Slates Reduced to $3 per Day. HAVING LEASED THIS WELL KNOWN HOTEL, I enter upon its management by Reducing Rates, and asking of the Travel ing Public, especially my friends of Carolina and Georgia, a continu ance of that liberal support they have always given it. B. F. BROWN, jan23-5m FORMERLY OF CHARLESTON, PROPRIETOR. John Merryman & Co.’s, AMMONIATED DISSOLVED BONE AND ACID PHOSPHATE, The Cheapest and most popular Fertilizers in use. Prices i~n Attiens, Georgia = Ammoniated Dissolved Bone, cash.... * $50 00 bone,time with 16c cotton option 72 00 Acid Phosphate, cash 40 00 Acid phosphate, time with 15c cotton option (30 00 Time Sale Payable by First November, Without interest, with option of paving in cotton of a grade not below middling at 15c., de livered incur Warehouse in Athens, Ga. gEAVES dr NICHOLSON, j an 23 • Agents, Athens, Ga. CUMBERLAND GUANO. We are now prepared to furnish this excellent Fertiliser. It is a new Guano in this market, never having been sold here until lost year, bnt it at once takea its stand as one of the best, If not the very best FERTILIZER EVER SOLD IN ATHENS. Every man who used it will testify to its merit?. Below sea certificates voluntarily tendered ns by men of high character, and among tbo best formers in the oonntry. MESSRS. ORE & CO.—Gents: I used Cumberland under cotton the past year, and found h the best Guano I have ever tried. Wont more certain next year. Mnftw[iy> county. ORR & CO.—Gents: I used Cumberland iact year under under cotton and corn, and can un “ It make ’ it daring say it gave entire satisfaction. « hot dry season. C3 an abundance of fruit on cotton, and hold. J. P. LEE, C cones County, Georgia. MESSRS. ORB * CO.-In reply toyonr inquiry, I unhesitatingly Bay that the Cumberlai^l nano, sold by you. is the beat 1 have ever used on my place. j <*£n1£ Gtoigta, too. for liiif, OBS & CO- Gnano, sold by you, Price 1/2 per Ton, Bo freight- jan!6-3m