250 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



could easily get my head into his mouth, as the singular 

 formation of the jaws admits of wonderful extension. 



A Dutch friend of mine, by name Brouwer, killed a Boa, 

 twenty-two feet long, with a pair of stag's horns in his 

 mouth : he had swallowed the stag, but could not get the 

 horns down : so he had to wait in patience with that un- 

 comfortable mouthful till his stomach digested the body, 

 and then the horns would drop out. In this plight the 

 Dutchman found him as he was going in his canoe up the 

 river, and sent a ball through his head. 



On ascertaining the size of the serpent which the negro 

 had just found, I retired slowly the way I came, and 

 promised four dollars to the negro who had shown it to me, 

 and one to the other who had joined us. Aware that the 

 day was on the decline, and that the approach of night 

 would be detrimental to the dissection, a thought struck 

 me that I could take him alive. I imagined if I could 

 strike him with the lance behind the head, and pin him to 

 the ground, I might succeed in capturing him. When I 

 told this to the negroes, they begged and entreated me to 

 let them go for a gun, and bring more force, as they were 

 sure the snake would kill some of us. 



I had been at the siege of Troy for nine years, and it 

 would not do now to carry back to Greece, " nil decimo 

 nisi dedecus anno." I mean, I had been in search of a 

 large serpent for years, and now having come up with one, 

 it did not become me to turn soft. So, taking a cutlass 

 from one of the negroes, and then ranging both the sable 

 slaves behind me, I told them to follow me, and that I 

 would cut them down if they offered to fly. I smiled as I 

 said this, but they shook their heads in silence, and seemed 

 to have but a bad heart of it. 



When we got up to the place, the serpent had not stirred, 

 but I could see nothing of his head, and I judged by the 



