Miscellaneous. 149 



my house. Upon the first sight, the natives as usual raised a cry, 

 when he suddenly disappeared among the bushes. They started in 

 pursuit. But a few moments elapsed before they heard a cry from 

 the antelope, which directed them to the spot, where they beheld the 

 animal struggling in the folds of a large Python. They all fired si- 

 multaneously, and shot at the same instant both the serpent and its 

 victim. The former I measured, and found it over 14 feet. The an- 

 telope was a large one, and it was difficult to believe that it could 

 have been received through the throat of the serpent, comparatively so 

 small. The head had been cut off and the body greatly mutilated 

 before I saw it ; but taking a section of the skin where the abdomen 

 begins to expand above the vent, and not including the greatest 

 volume, I stretched it moderately. It was very easily distended ; 

 and I soon satisfied myself, that without going beyond the natural 

 power of expansion, it would have taken the body of the antelope. 



It was skinned by the natives, and the flesh when denuded was of 

 the most delicate white. It was divided among them, and not a par- 

 ticle, whether of skin or any other part, was lost. All was carried 

 home, cooked and eaten. From the skin was made a soup. I was 

 extremely disgusted at the sight of a man carrying off in his hand, 

 with an air of great satisfaction, a string of the intestines. This and 

 other serpents are eagerly sought by the natives for food. 



I have seen two other individuals in the course of the present year : 

 they were captured by natives who were clearing up their land for 

 rice-farms. They were much mutilated by transverse gashes from 

 these " bill-hooks." Three more, I was informed, were found upon 

 the same piece of land, which led the individual to abandon it, from 

 the superstitious notion that it could not yield a crop. 



The next specimen is the one before me. It measured 10 feet in 

 length, is young, and was captured on the 22nd of February by my 

 associate, the Rev. Joshua Smith, on the premises of one of our out- 

 stations. His account, in answer to my inquiries, is as follows : " I 

 had retired for the night, but was wakeful and unable to get to sleep. 

 About twelve o'clock I heard Fanny (a favourite dog) barking vio- 

 lently in the girls' school-house. The barking soon ended in a cry of 

 distress. I thought it probable thnt a leopard had attacked her, as 

 they often do carry off dogs and other domestic animals. I went down 

 and walked around the house where there was a hole, affording Fanny 

 ingress and egress. The moon shone brightly, but I could not see the 

 cause of trouble, nor hear any noise. I called the dog by name, but 

 she did not appear, nor could I hear anything except what I thought 

 to be the hiss of some ducks that were shut up there. I opened the 

 door, but still I could see nothing. I then went back to my chamber 

 for a lantern, and returning opened again the door, when I disco- 

 vered the dog in the folds of a serpent with her back downwards, 

 and seemingly motionless. I went back to my chamber for a weapon, 

 and finding only a country dagger, I returned accompanied by some 

 men, and entered the school-house again with the lantern in my 

 hand. The serpent was coiled twice or thrice around the dog, his 

 tail grasping the foot of a bench, and his jaws fastened on her throat. 

 His motion in compressing his prey may be compared to that of a 

 cord when tightened around anything, and some one pulling first at 



