182 OPHIDIA. — BOM>JE, 



to the inferior animals ; there are not wanting 

 instances in which man himself has become their 

 victim. In the " Bombay Courier" of August 

 31, 1799, the following dreadful incident is re- 

 corded. " A Malay prow was making for the 

 port of Amboyna ; but the pilot, finding she 

 could not enter it before dark, brought her to 

 anchor for the night, close under the island of 

 Celebes. One of the crew went on shore in quest 

 of betel-nuts in the woods, and on his return lay 

 down, as it is supposed, to sleep on the beach. 

 In the course of the night he was heard by his 

 comrades to scream out for assistance. They im- 

 mediately went on shore ; but it was too late, for 

 an immense Snake of this species had crushed him 

 to death. The attention of the monster being 

 entirely occupied by his prey, the people went 

 boldly up to it, cut off its head, and took both it 

 and the body of the man on board their boat. 

 The Snake had seized the poor fellow by the right 

 wrist, where the marks of the fangs were very 

 distinct ; and the mangled corpse bore evident 

 signs of being crushed by the monster's twisting 

 itself round the neck, head, breast, and thigh. 

 The length of the Snake was about thirty feet ; 

 its thickness equal to that of a moderate-sized 

 man ; and on extending its jaws, they were found 

 wide enough to admit at once a body of the size 

 of a man's head." 



The opportune rescue of a poor sailor from a 

 similar fate has been made the subject of a well- 

 known painting by Mr. Daniell, which has been 

 copied in the Oriental Annual, and which we here 

 repeat. It is a spirited and graphic scene, though 

 the details of the Serpent's body and head are not 



