GARDEN OF SERPENTS POZZI. 445 



which cures the bites of the numerous snakes of those tropical regions, deadly bites 

 which but lately killed more than 1,000 persons a year. 



He commenced his study by himself; he is indeed a "self-made " man; later he con- 

 tinued his studies at Paris with Roux, at Lille with Calmette, and at Berlin with Koch. 

 He speaks French very purely although not very fluently. Indeed he talks very little. 

 It was always necessary to ask for explanations from this modest and somewhat 

 taciturn man. 



We at once entered the laboratory, a great hall with rows of jars containing snakes 

 in alcohol. There were snakes of all sizes, of all colors, of all forms, whole and dissected 

 to show their various organs and with some of them (who would have believed it?) 

 full of parasites peculiar to the snakes. In other jars there were horrible, venomous 

 insects, enormous scorpions, and great spider crabs. We had but little time to devote 

 to this visit, we were therefore in a hurry and Dr. Vital Brazil realized it. He knew 

 of a special attraction for us, a snake eater of snakes, the good snake, so to speak, 

 which, inoffensive himself, destroys his venomous confreres whose bites are harmless 

 to him. I asked Dr. Brazil to show us this curiosity. He was prepared for my request 

 and very courteously acquiesced. Only the good serpent had already eaten some 

 eight days ago, and for a snake digestion is very slow and the appetite long in return- 

 ing; nevertheless he let us see. 



And here we saw the good serpent: It was taken from a box by means of a long 

 crooked stick, with a handle, which seized the snake by the middle, like a common 

 sausage, and deposited it on the ground near us. It was a kind of great adder, about 

 a meter long, of a blue color having the sheen of steel, so shiny that it seemed wet. 

 It crawled slowly, erecting its flat head, darting out its tongue, and seemed formidable 

 despite its good reputation. In order to reassure us, Dr. Brazil took it in his hands 

 and twined it about his arms; he told us at the same time the snake's scientific name, 

 Rachidelus brasili, locally known as the "Mussurana." The natives and especially 

 the hunters have known it for a long time, but until very recently were ignorant of 

 its habits and its so useful tastes. 



With the same crooked stick he took from a box another serpent, this time an exceed- 

 ingly venomous one, the terrible Lachesis lanceolatus, the "Jararaca" of the Indians. 

 Its bite in a few minutes kills man or animal. We recoiled instinctively. He placed 

 it close to the good Mussurana, and, at a respectful distance, we formed a ring about 

 them. I confess I looked back of me to see whether an open door was at hand. The 

 two snakes lay there almost motionless, side by side, and apparently seemed to take 

 no notice of each other. Dr. Brazil thought surely that the Mussurana, having just 

 eaten his fill, would not "make a march," if I may so express myself. Suddenly it 

 made a movement and drew nearer to its formidable victim. The latter, as well as 

 we, had seen the undulation of his adversary; it also stirred. Did it wish to escape 

 or did it rely upon its irresistible fangs? With incredible quickness which told 

 plainly that its apparent torpor was only tactical, the good serpent darted its open 

 mouth upon the neck of its prey, evidently aiming to get hold of the nape of its neck 

 in order to render its opponent helpless. The latter, upon its guard, quickly turned 

 and darted its fangs into the body of the other. The good serpent is, however, immune 

 to the poison by nature. And see, in an instant the Lachesis is enlaced, twisted about 

 in the muscular spiral formed by the body of its adversary; they roll convulsively, 

 one about the other, one within the folds of the other, and I wondered for a minute 

 whether the Mussurana was not trying to choke the Jararaca. Very soon I discovered 

 the purpose of this maneuver; it had seized the enemy lower than it had wished at 

 the first grasp, and little by little was advancing its hold gradually until it had its 

 mouth up close to that of the Jararaca. Now it had a firm grip close to the lower 

 jaw; it had the jaw as in a vice with its little flat head, which looked like an instrument 

 of a surgeon Or of a torturer, closed nippers of steel. The venomous head, lamentably 

 open and as if disjointed in the constant effort to escape, extended several centimeters 



