168 OPHIDIA. — BOADiE. 



The same spirit of fear which made the Croco- 

 dile an object of worship among the ancient 

 Egyptians, made the great Boas to be regarded 

 as deities by the inhabitants of Mexico. Peter 

 Martyr tells of an enormous Serpent-idol which 

 the Spaniards found at Campechy, " compacted 

 of bitumen and small stones incorporated to- 

 gether, which was seven and fortie feete in length, 

 and as thicke as a great oxe." And Bullock, in 

 his " Six Months in Mexico," speaks of a noble 

 specimen of a similar idol, almost perfect and of 

 fine workmanship, which is represented in the act 

 of swallowing a human victim, already crushed 

 and struggling in its horrid jaws. That these 

 figures were representations, perhaps somewhat 

 exaggerated, of the form, dimensions, and habits 

 of some of the native Boas, can hardly be 

 doubted, from what we know of these reptiles. 

 Hernandez, who speaks of the formidable powers 

 of the Mexican Serpents, says, that he saw some 

 as thick as a man's thigh, which had been tamed 

 so completely as to climb amicably about the 

 shoulders of their possessor, or else lay coiled 

 up in a circle as large as a cartwheel, and 

 peacefully received the food presented to them. 

 Such an engine for working on the fears of the 

 besotted multitude, Southey attributes to the 

 Mexican priest in the following noble lines : — 



On came the mighty snake, 



And twined, in many a wreath, round Neolin, 



Darting aright, aleft, his sinuous neck. 



With searching eye, and lifted jaw and tongue 



Quivering, and hiss as of a heavy shower 



Upon the summer woods. The Britons stood 



Astounded at the powerful reptile's bulk. 



And that strange sight. His girth was as of man, 



