142 VIEWS OF NATURE. 



(48) p. 20 "Its uncouth body often covered with birds." 

 The crocodiles lie so motionless, that I have often seen fla- 

 mingoes (Phcenicopterus] resting on their heads, while the 

 other parts of the body were covered, like the trunk of a tree, 

 with aquatic birds. 



(49) p. 20 "Down its dilating throat" 



The saliva with which the boa covers its prey tends to pro- 

 mote rapid decomposition. The muscular flesh is rendered 

 gelatinously soft under its action, so that the animal is able to 

 force entire limbs of its slain victim through its swelling 

 throat. The Creoles call the giant boa Tragavenado (stag- 

 sivalloiver), and fabulously relate that the antlers of a 

 stag which could not be swallowed by the snake have been 

 seen fixed in its throat. I have frequently observed the boa 

 constrictor swimming in the Orinoco, and in the smaller forest 

 streams, the Tuamini, the Temi, and the Atabapo. It holds 

 its head above water like a dog. Its skin is beautifully 

 speckled. It has been asserted, that the animal attains a 

 length of 48 feet, but the longest skins which have as yet been 

 carefully measured in Europe do not exceed from 21 to 

 23 feet. The South American boa (a Python) differs from 

 the East Indian.* 



(50) p. 20 "Living on gums and earth" 



It is currently reported throughout the coasts of Cumana, 

 New Barcelona, and Caracas (which the Franciscan monks of 

 Guiana are in the habit of visiting on their return from the 

 missions,) that there are men living on the banks of the Orinoco 

 who eat earth. On the 6th of June, 1800, on our return from 

 the Rio Negro, when we descended the Orinoco in thirty-six 

 days, we spent the day at the mission inhabited by these 

 people (the Otomacs). Their little village, which is called La 

 Concepcion de Uruana, is very picturesquely built against a 

 granite rock. It is situated in 7 8' 3" north lat. ; and acr 

 cording to my chronometrical determination, in 67 18' west 

 longitude. The earth which the Otomacs eat, is an unctuous, 

 almost tasteless clay, true potter's earth, of a yellowish grey 



* On the Ethiopian Boa, see Diodor. Sicul., lib. iii. p. 204, ed. 

 Wesseling. 



