WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 215 



in my hand, on what had once been the steps 

 which formerly led up to the now mouldering and 

 dismantled building. The negro and his little 

 dog came down the hill in haste, and I was soon 

 informed that a snake had been discovered ; but it 

 was a young one, called the Bush-master, a rare 

 and poisonous snake. 



I instantly rose up, and laying hold of the 

 eight-foot lance, which was close by me, ''Well 

 then, Daddy," said I, ''we'll go and have a look 

 at the snake." I was barefoot, with an old hat, 

 and check shirt, and trousers on, and a pair of 

 braces to keep them up. The negro had his cut- 

 lass, and as we ascended the hill, another negro, 

 armed with a cutlass, joined us, judging, from 

 our pace, that there was something to do. The 

 little dog came along with us, and when we had 

 got about half a mile in the forest, the negro 

 stopped, and pointed to the fallen tree: all was 

 still and silent: I told the negroes not to stir 

 from the place where they were, and keep the 

 little dog in, and that I would go in and re- 

 connoitre. 



I advanced up to the place slow and cautious. 

 The snake was well concealed, but at last I made 

 him out ; it was a Coulacanara, not poisonous, but 

 large enough to have crushed any of us to death. 

 On measuring him afterwards, he was something 

 more than fourteen feet long. 



This species of snake is very rare, and much 

 thicker, in ' proportion to his length, than any 

 other snake in the forest. A coulacanara of four- 

 teen feet in length is as thick as a common boa 

 of twenty- four. After skinning this snake I could 



