On the wall the coffin, or box, was placed and arched over with stone and wood with a kind of cement. The whole was nearly overgrown with moss.
A negro belonging to the ship on coming to it, said he had dreamed three successive nights of finding a vast amount of money, and believed this to be the spot. He set about beating it down, but was driven from it.
Our attention was aroused by the loud cries of one of the crew. When we arrived at the spot, we found him with an enormous land lobster, which he had attempted to catch, linked to his thumb so firmly as only to be removed by breaking the claw. These in shape resemble the water lobster, though much larger. Our friend did not attempt to "catch the Tartar" again. We took the lobster to the boat and tied him up, so that he would not run away. They run very fast, drawing their huge claws on the ground after them.
Again we went a cruising, and came to a little cove about half a mile in length and about half a mile also in width, being nearly dry at low tide. One of the crew saw a large eel of a greenish color lying quietly in the mud. Thinking to have a little sport, he took a stick and gave him a blow, which was paid back with interest. The stick flew from his hands, and he yelled loud enough to be heard half a mile. He found this to be a large electrical eel, who was not to be trifled with.
Other fish are seldom found within their haunts. They live imbedded in the mud until driven therefrom, when with all their venom they dart at the offender, or the first object that comes in their reach. The first blow of a large one would kill any of the human species. When in a state of weakness or nearly exhausted, the sensation produced is quite like that given by a galvanic battery or an electrical machine. They are often found to be from four to six feet long, and weigh from fourteen to twenty pounds. In some parts of South America, fording places are abandoned entirely in consequence of them, it being unsafe to ride through.
When the horse or mule steps on them as they lie in the mud, they coil around the legs and against the body, and, with a succession of shocks, bring the poor animal down, and before he can recover from the shocks he is drowned. The rider being dismounted, quite likely falls a prey to some other one, who being fully charged soon puts an end to him.
Finding the nature of the fish, some of the crew being bent upon having a little sport, went in the boat, got lances, spears, &c., and commenced an attack upon them. In this I did not join, finding more sport in watching them, than in contributing as dearly as some of them did for the amusement of the others.
The negro could not forget his dreamy visions, and was most sanguine in his belief that the before-mentioned mound contained the object of his fancy.
Thither he repaired with two or three of his shipmates, myself among the number, determined to be satisfied respecting it. He took a large stone and began pounding away at the cement, which was nearly as hard as the stone itself. Beating a hole through, he assiduously plied himself to pulling out the stones one after another, until he made a hole through to the rude box, whence escaped an odor quite unlike that emanating from a miser's chest. He being so intent upon his errand, would not now believe but it contained treasure for him, and again went to work; running his hand through the hole he had made, he pulled out a piece of a board which Decay had marked as her own, which now fully convinced him of the certainty of the contents.