and fatigued with previous exertions, he laid himself down to sleep, reclining his head on a small hillock, opposite a rock about ten feet high. He lay on his back, and his eyes, after he had slept a little, were directed, as the first object that met them to the perpendicular height before him. What was his horror to discover on the top of it a rattlesnake, with part of its body coiled up, and the other projecting considerably over the precipice, with its keen and beautiful, yet malignant eyes, steadily fixed upon him! he felt as if charmed to the spot. The witchery of the serpent's eyes so irresistibly rooted him to the spot, that, for the mo ment, he did not wish to remove from his formidable opponent. The rattlesnake gradually and slowly uncoiled its body, all the while steadily keeping its eyes on those of its intended victim.

Jervas now began to cry out, without being able to move, "he'll bite me! take him away."

The snake now began to writhe its body down a fissure in the rock, keeping its head elevated a little more than a foot from the ground. Its rattle made a very little noise. It every moment darted out its forked tongue, its eyes be came reddish or inflamed, and it moved rather quicker than at first. It was now within two yards of its victim, who by some means had dissipated the charm, and roused by a sense of awful danger, determined to stand on the defensive. To run away from it, he knew would be impracticable, as the snake would instantly dart its whole body after him. He therefore resolutely stood up, and put a strong glove on his right hand, which he happened fortunately to have with him. He stretched out his arm: the snake approached slowly and cautiously to him, darting out its tongue still more frequently. Jervas recommended himself fervently to the protection of Heaven. The snake, when about a yard distant, made a violent spring. Jervas caught it in his right hand, directly under its head. He squeezed it with all his power. Its eyes almost started out of its head. It lashed its body on the ground, at the same time rattling loudly. He watched an opportunity, and suddenly holding the animal's head, while for a moment it drew in its forked tongue, with his left hand, he by a violent contraction of all the mucles in his hand, contrived to close effectually its jaws.

Much was now done, but much more was to be done. He had avoided much danger, but he was still in very perilous circumstances. If he moved his right hand from its neck for a moment, the snake, by avoiding suffocation, could easily muster sufficient power to force its head out of his hand; and if he withdrew his hand from its jaws he would be fatally in the power of its most dreaded fangs. He retained, therefore, his hold, with both hands. He drew its body between his thighs in order to aid the compression, and hasten suffocation. Suddenly, the snake, which had remained quiescent for a few moments, brought up its tail hit him violently on the side of the head, and then darted its body several times very tightly round his waist. Now was the very acme of his danger. Thinking, therefore, that he had sufficient power over its body, he withdrew his right hand from its neck, and took (the work of a moment) his large sailor's knife out of his hat. He bent its head on his knee, and, recommending himself again fervently to Heaven, cut its head from its body, throwing the head to a great distance. The blood spouted violently in his face: the snake compressed his body still tighter; and Jervas, growing black in the face, thought he should be suffocated on the spot, and laid himself down. The snake again rattled its tail, and lashed his feet with it. Gradually, however, he found it relaxing its hold; it soon fell slack around him, and untwisting it, be threw it from him as far as he was able. He sunk and swooned on the bank. Some natives coming by, and seeing the snake, but not noticing its head was cut off, and Jervas motionless, concluded he was killed. However, they saw at last the condition of the snake, and that Jervas was recovering a little they gave him a little rum, unbuttoned his shirt, and, by friendly aid, in a very short time he recovered.

SINGULAR DISCOVERIES OF MURDER.

IT is believed that few murderers escape without meeting with the awful punishment due to their crimes. Many strange stories, indeed, have been told of this kind, some of

which, however, it must be confessed, stand on too good authority to be rejected. The following is translated from a respectable publication at Basle.

A person who worked in a brewery, quarreled with one of his fellow-workmen, and struck him in such a manner that he died upon the spot. No other person was witness to the deed. He then took the dead body, and threw it into a large fire under the boiling-vat, where it was in a short time so completely consumed, that no traces of its existence remained. On the following day, when the man was missed, the murderer observed very coolly, that he had perceived his fellow-servant to have been intoxicated; and that he had probably fallen from a bridge which he had to cross in his way home, and been drowned. For the space of seven years after, no one entertained any suspicions of the real state of the fact. At the end of this period, the murderer was again employed in the same brewery. He was then induced to reflect on the singularity of the circumstance that his crime remained so long concealed. Having retired one evening to rest, one of the other workmen, who slept with him, hearing him say in his sleep, "It is now full seven years ago," asked him, "what was it you did seven years ago?" "I put him," he replied, still speaking in his sleep, "under the boiling-vat." As the affair was not entirely forgotten, it immediately occurred to the man that his bedfellow must allude to the person who was missing about that time, and he accordingly gave information of what he had heard to a magistrate. The murderer was apprehended; and though at first he denied that he knew any thing of the matter, a confession of his crime was at length obtained from him, for which he suffered condign punishment.

The following event lately happened in the neighborhood of Frankfort-upon-the-Oder:-A woman, conceiving that her husband who was a soldier in the Prussian service, had been killed in the battle of Jena, 1806, married another man. It turned out that her husband had been only wounded, and taken prisoner by the French. A cure was soon effected; and he joined one of the Prussian regiments which entered into the pay of France. After serving three years in Spain, he was discharged; returned suddenly to