Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV. A MIDNIGHT MELEE WITH THE UNCLEAN. Having (between us) avenged the demolition of the " hope of the family," and of the tortoise-shell comb, by the slaughter of the female victimiser, the least we can do in common charity is to adopt her orphan progeny. Consequently, tying a handkerchief round the neck of each of the three half-smothered juvenile bruins, we march them off in durance vile to enjoy a state of civilisation for the remainder of their ursine existence. The sun beginning to get unpleasantly warm, we adjourn to the jungle habitation of our host, which the fair sex of the family (query, does a black woman constitute one of the fair sex ?) during our absence have put into a " company-expecting" state for us, by festooning the walls with snow-white drapery, and laying out a respectable spread of milk, plantains, honey, and rice-cakes on the table (female, unsophisticated, little niggers!) But it is no easy matter to rest, even during1 midday, in the jungle, where there are so many incitements to sally forth and penetrate its depths, and assert and prove the dominion of Man and Manton over those who dwell therein. To pass time, we have the defunct bear hauled into the verandah, and there skin the lady, making the delighted Native's sanctum very much resemble a slaughter-house both in appearance and odour, and a pretty mess of the business into the bargain. This accomplished, and it is no slight labour (as you may easily discover, reader, if you only try your hand at skinning one of the three hundred and sixty- five bears annually slaughtered at any barber's shop in the whole of London), we take a stroll to the adjacent "garden"—lucus a non lucendo—(as our senior captain " unde derivatur-ed" the assistant-surgeon of the regiment, who, not being ov...