WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 249 



The sun had just passed the meridian in a cloudless sky ; 

 there was scarcely a bird to be seen, for the winged inhabit- 

 ants of the forest, as though overcome by heat, had retired 

 to the thickest shade : all would have been like midnight 

 silence, were it not for the shrill voice of the Pi-pi-yo, 

 every now and then resounding from a distant tree. I was 

 sitting with a little Horace in my hand, on what had once 

 been the steps which formerly led up to the now moulder- 

 ing 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 cutlass, 

 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 reconnoitre. 



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 pro- 

 portion to his length, than any other snake in the forest. 

 A coulacanara of fourteen feet in length is as thick as a 

 common boa of twenty-four. After skinning this snake I 



