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A HISTORY OF 



meal in safety : the smallest effort at that time 

 is capable of destroying them; they can 

 scarcely make any resistance; and they are 

 equally unqualified for flight or opposition : 

 that is the happy opportunity of attacking 

 thorn with success: at that time the naked 

 Indian himself does not fear to assail them. 

 But it is otherwise when this sleepy interval 

 of digestion is over; they then issue, with 

 famished appetite?, from their retreats, and 

 with accumulated terrors, while every ani- 

 mal of the forest flies before them. 



Carli describes the Long Serpent of Congo, 

 making its track through the tall grass, like 

 mowers in a Bummer's day. He could not 

 without terror behold whole lines of grass ly- 

 ing levelled under the sweep of its tail. In 

 this manner it moved forward with great -ra- 

 pidity, until it found a proper situation fre- 

 quented by its prey: there it continued to 

 lurk, in patient expectation, and would have 

 remained for weeks together, had it not been 

 disturbed by the natives. 



Other creatures have a choice in their pro- 

 vision; but the serpent indiscriminately preys 

 upon all; the buffalo, the tiger, and the ga- 

 zelle. One would think that the porcupine's 

 quills might be sufficient to protect it; hut 

 whatever has life, serves to appease the hun- 

 ger of these devouring creatures : porcupines, 

 with all their quills, have frequently been 

 found in their stomachs, when killed and open- 

 ed ; nay, they most frequently are seen to 

 devour each other. 



A li-fe of savage hostility in the forest, offers 

 the imagination one of the most tremendous 

 pictures in nature. In those burning coun- 

 tries, where the sun dries up every brook for 

 hundreds of miles round ; when what had the 

 appearance of a great river in the rainy sea- 

 son, becomes, in summer, one dreary bed of 

 sand in those countries, I say, a lake that 

 is never dry, or a brook that is perennial, is 

 considered by every animal as the greatest 

 convenience of nature. As to food, the luxu- 

 riant landscape supplies that in sufficient 

 abundance: it is the want of water that all 

 animals endeavour to remove ; and inwardly 

 parched by the heat of the climate, traverse 

 whole deserts to find out a spring. When 

 they have discovered this, no dangers can 

 deter them from attempting to slake their 



thirst. Thus, the neighbourhood of a rivulet, 

 in the heart of the tropical continents, is ge- 

 nerally the place where all the hostile tribes 

 of nature draw np for the engagement. On 

 the banks of this little envied spot, thousands 

 of animals of various kinds are seen venturing 

 to quench their thirst, or preparing to seize 

 their prey. The elephants are perceived, in 

 a long line, marching from the darker parts 

 of the forest ; the buffaloes arc there, depend- 

 ing upon numbers for security; the gazelles, 

 relying solely upon their swiftness; the lion 

 and tiger, waiting a proper opportunity to 

 seize; but chiefly the larger serpents nrc 

 upon guard there, and defend the accesses 

 of the Like. Not an hour passes without 

 some dreadful combat; but the serpent, de- 

 fended by its scales, and naturally capable 

 of sustaining a multitude of wounds, is, of all 

 others, the most formidable. It is the most 

 wakeful also; for the whole tribe sleep with 

 their eyes open, and are, consequently, for 

 ever upon the watch: so that, till their ra- 

 pacity is satisfied, few other animals will ven- 

 ture to approach their station. 



But though these animals are, of all others, 

 the most voracious, and though the morsel 

 which they swallow without chewing, is great- 

 er than what any other creature, either by 

 land or water, the whale itself not excepted, 

 can devour, yet no animals upon earth bear 

 abstinence so long as they. A single meal, 

 with many of the snake kind, seems to be the 

 adventure of a season; it is an occurrence 

 for which they have been for weeks, nay, 

 sometimes for months, in patient expectation 

 of. When they have seized their prey, their 

 industry for several weeks is entirely discon- 

 tinued : the fortunate capture of an hour, often 

 satisfies them for the remaining period of their 

 annual activity. As their blood is colder 

 than that of most other terrestrial animals, 

 and as it circulates but slowly through their 

 bodies, so their powers of digestion are but 

 feeble. Their prey continues, for a long time, 

 partly in the stomach, partly in the gullet, 

 and a part is often seen hanging out of the 

 mouth. In this manner, it digests by degrees ; 

 and in proportion as the .part below is dis- 

 solved, the part above is taken in. It is not, 

 therefore, till this tedious operation is entire- 

 ly performed, that the serpent renews its ap- 



