After A Melancholy Journey, During Which We Were So Absorbed By Our Feelings, That Little Was Said; We Reached The

Fatal spot, it being pointed but by one of the party who formed my friend's escort.' It was on

The edge of a dense hammock, by the skirts of which lay some enormous trees, which had been levelled by a recent tornado. From behind this barricade the Indians had unexpectedly fired on the party - the attack was so sudden, that they appeared to have been quite taken by surprise. This was the more extraordinary, as the whole neighbourhood was of a description likely to be chosen by the red men for an ambuscade. The party attacked must have been in great trepidation, for, from what I could glean, the survivors put spurs to their horses' flanks, and galloped off to Fort Andrews, leaving my poor friend entirely at the mercy of the enemy. The survivor, who accompanied us, stated, that they were riding in Indian file, as is customary there; that poor H - - was in front of him; and that, directly the Indians gave their fire, he saw him fall backwards from his horse, at the same time raising his left hand to his head. He could tell no more, the horse he was on having wheeled round suddenly, and been urged on in retreat by its rider, who was in the greatest imaginable terror. Had the party halted, and returned the fire, for they were well armed, in all probability some of the marauders would have been laid low, or, if the Indians were but few, they might at least have rescued my poor friend.

We found footmarks of Indians, which we traced; by these it appeared that they were in small force, and that when H - - fell from his horse he recovered his feet, and ran from the enemy, in the direction of the plain, for about two hundred yards - here it was evident he had been overtaken, and his skull cloven with a tomahawk from behind. We soon discovered his remains in the sand, denuded of every particle of flesh and muscle by the vultures and the ravenous wolves. We collected the bones with reverential care, and placed them in the waggon, for transit to Fort Andrews.

On the bones of the little finger of the left hand was an emerald ring, which I had often seen the murdered man wear, and which, being covered with blood and sand at the time of the catastrophe, no doubt escaped the attention of the villians who perpetrated the atrocious act. The left jaw was fractured by a rifle-bullet, which knocked him off his horse backwards, as described by one of the survivors.

In the pines opposite the place of ambush, we found several balls imbedded, and one had lodged in the pummel of the saddle of the man who was present, and who formed one of our party. It appeared probable that there were not more than four or five Indians engaged in the attack; a force which might easily have been repelled and annihilated with ordinary courage, but formidable enough to men wanting the presence of mind which is necessary under such circumstances.

After a fatiguing journey, for which I was at the time almost totally unfitted by ill-health, our party reached Fort Andrews, with the mangled remains of the victim. A short time afterwards these were committed to the sand, a military salute being fired over the grave by some soldiers at the garrison. On an elevated slab of wood, to the north of Fort Andrews, may be seen a zinc plate, erected by me to the memory of my friend, with his name, the date of his death, and an epitome of the circumstances attending it. This memento of regard has, in all probability, escaped the cupidity of the Indians, for I took the precaution to have it placed as much out of sight as possible, and the place of burial was off the beaten track.

Thus perished miserably, one whose generous openness and manly virtues rendered him dear to all who had the privilege of his acquaintance. He was a native of somewhere near Arbroath in Scotland, but his accent did not betray his nativity.

In traversing the sandy deserts of West Florida, I had frequent opportunities of tracing the devastating effects of those awful visitations in tropical climates - hurricanes, or tornadoes; and, notwithstanding I had the good fortune to escape the danger of being exposed to one, I more than once prepared for the worst. One of these was accompanied with phenomena so unusual and striking to a native of Europe, that I must not omit some notice of it, if for no other purpose than to convey to the mind of the reader one of the many unpleasant but wonderful accompaniments of a residence in these latitudes, so poetically, and indeed so truthfully, apostrophized as "the sunny south."

It was while on a journey (accompanied by two yeomen from East Florida, who were proceeding to join an expedition against the Indians to defend their hearths, and by the friend whose melancholy loss I have adverted to) from Deadman's Bay towards Tallahassee, that the occurrence I am about to mention took place It was in the height of summer, and for several days Fahrenheit's barometer had ranged from 84 to 90 degrees, the temperature being occasionally even higher, by some degrees, than this. We started soon after eight in the morning, and had ridden all day under a scorching sun, from the effects of which we were but ill-defended by our palm-leaf hats, for our heads were aching intensely - my own being, in common parlance, "ready to split," not an inapt simile, by the way, as I often experienced in the south. Towards evening, the sultriness increased to a great degree, and respiration became painful, from the closeness of the atmosphere. A suspicious lull soon after succeeded, and we momentarily expected the storm to overtake us.

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