84 CRUSOE'S ISLAND. 



where it kills the rats and mice, and when the black 

 laborers come to cut the cane it leaps upon and bites 

 them, every year leaving a record of hundreds of 

 deaths from its fangs. 



I afterward learned that this boa is called the 

 '" Jumbo-Jocko " by the negroes, and that he has a 

 preference for the bamboo clumps, where he entwines 

 himself around the drooping canes, sometimes gorged 

 and asleep, but more often very wide awake and on 

 the lookout for prey. 



The island people are afraid of him and tell 

 strange stories about his snakeship. They never 

 trust themselves near his lair after sunset, and take 

 particular care that little children shall not wander 

 into the region where Jumbo-Jocko reigns. He has 

 been found over sixteen feet in length, often with 

 large fowls in his maw ; and one was known to have 

 killed and swallowed a fierce peccary, which is one 

 of the wildest, wariest animals in the woods. 



It may well be imagined that I closely scanned 

 every bamboo thicket, that evening, as I wended my 

 way homeward, and that I saw many serpent lieads, 

 with iiery, gleaming eyes, peering at me from the 

 shadows of the trail. 



