210 THE CLERK AND THE SERPENT. 



enough, tasting somewhat of frogs and tortoise, 

 but our natural repugnance to it was unconquer- 

 able ; the idea of eating a serpent shocked our 

 stomachs too much !" 



On one occasion, during the service of the mass, 

 the old sacristan, who had been a schoolmaster in 

 his time, acted as clerk ; he was a little old man, 

 wearing enormous spectacles, which prevented him 

 from seeing. All at once, as he was moving the 

 book from one side of the altar to the other, he 

 felt something creep up between his legs, and look- 

 ing down saw a snake. It was a royal serpent, 

 a harmless reptile of great beauty, which had its 

 nest under the altar. As soon as the poor sacris- 

 tan perceived it, he commenced screaming at the 

 top of his voice, and dancing about from side to 

 side, all the while pommelling the unlucky serpent 

 with the missal ; at length he succeeded in making 

 it relax its hold, when it darted for safety into its 

 nest beneath the altar. 



In the course of his travels M. the Abbe occa- 

 sionally gleaned curious facts relative to the natural 

 phenomena he observed. For example : On one 

 of his excursions he came upon a crevasse one of 

 those openings which the Mississippi and its tribu- 

 taries effect in their embankments, and through 

 which their waters rush and devastate the plain. 

 Thousands of negroes were at work up to the waist 



