TJic Jararaca 



207 



arm there was every appearance of morti- 

 fication extending. On making an incision 

 into the living portion above the wrist, a 

 considerable quantity of a very foetid whitish 

 watery fluid discharged itself; and on pres- 

 sing the arm between the finger and thumb a 

 crepitation was felt from the air which had 

 generated beneath the integuments. She was 

 now very weak, the pulse 136, small and 

 feeble, and she appeared to be fast sinking 

 Amputation being the only means that seemed 

 to offer her a chance of recover)^, Gardiner at 

 once decided to take off the arm. He ac_ 

 cordingly perfonned the operation, and in a. 

 fortnight after the stump had healed up, and 

 she was walking about the room. He tells 

 us that four years afterwards he again saw 

 her, and her general health had not suffered 

 in the least, but she had become irritable and 

 ill-tempered.* 



This was an exceptionally favourable case. 

 The reader will understand, therefore, that the 

 reptile is looked on with no little dread and 

 alami, and that every one gives it as A\dde a 

 berth as they can, although it is naturally 

 timid, and never attacks unless in despera- 

 tion, and when it imagines its retreat cut off. 



Our friend Mr Alexander Fry, the well- 

 known Entomologist, on one occasion had an 

 encounter with them which may be interesting 

 to the reader, and as we have his permission 

 to repeat it, we shall endeavour to do so as 

 nearly as possible in his own words : — 



" One fine morning I left Rio for an ento- 

 mological excursion up the mountain of 

 Tejuca, and thence on to a neighbouring 

 mountain called Pedra Bonita, which is situa- 

 ted between the Tejuca and the Gavia, 

 and commands a most extensive and lovely 

 prospect. Its top is nearly flat for a space 

 of many acres, and is covered by small bushy 

 shrubs a foot or a foot and a-half high, very 

 like our bilberry bushes. The sun was high 

 when I reached the top — at his highest and 

 hottest — and the scene that opened upon my 

 view as I breasted the crest of the hill, and 

 gradually obtained a more and more extended 



*Gardinei-s' "Travels in the Interior of Brazil, 

 1846," p. 51. 



prospect, was magnificent beyond description. 

 Even in that land of paradise I remember 

 nothing more beautiful. Pushing on with 

 my eyes fixed on the ravishing scene, I had 

 reached the centre of the plateau without look- 

 ing at the ground over which I passed. I had 

 brushed through the bilberry bushes as one 

 would through the heather on a Highland 

 moor. Wrapt in the heavenly view, I had 

 paid no heed to my steps, but when I reached 

 the middle something distracted my attention 

 for a moment, and my eye unconsciously 

 caught sight of an object which instantly 

 banished all thoughts of the view from my 

 mind. There! within a yard of my knee, 

 coiled up on the top of one of the bilberry 

 bushes, lay a hideous Jararaca, with his head 

 raised up in the middle of his coils, his eyes 

 fixed upon me, and his mouth gaping wide 

 open. It is the habit of these creatures 

 to open their mouths, and gape ready to strike 

 when disturbed or irritated. Hallo ! thought 

 I, here is a dangerous neighbour ; discretion 

 is the better part of valour — I'll get out of 

 his way ; and I turned a little to the left to 

 slip gently out of his reach. As I did so I 

 just glanced carelessly in the direction to 

 which I was turning, when I involuntarily 

 started back, for there, within a couple of 

 yards of me, on another bush, lay another 

 Jararaca, coiled up like the first, with his 

 head erect, his mouth open, and his eyes 

 upon me. Lucky I noticed you, my gentle- 

 man ! thought I, and began to slide off to the 

 right, when there, full in my face, lay another 

 Jararaca, coiled up on the top of his bilberry 

 bush — head erect, mouth open, and eyes intent 

 on me. I stood stifl, and glanced hurriedly 

 round — the recollection raises the hair on my 

 head even yet. There, on every side, lay 

 Jararacas upon Jararacas. Their black and 

 yellow livery spotted the whole space. The 

 hot sun had summoned them all out to bask in 

 his rays. I had stumbled into a perfect nation 

 of them. There they lay — every head erect, 

 every mouth open, and every eye turned upon 

 me. I thought the way by which I came must 

 at least be free. I looked back. No ! they 

 appeared as numerous behind me as before. 

 I must actually have brushed close by some 



