414 



HISTORY OF FROGS, LIZARDS, AND SERPENTS. 



the snake is more premature in her productions, 

 and sends her eggs into the light some time 

 before the young ones are capable of leaving 

 the shell. Thus, if either are opened, the 

 eggs will be found in the womb, covered with 

 their membranous shell, and adhering to each 

 other like large beads on a string. In the 

 eggs of both, young ones will be found, though 

 at different stages of maturity : those of the 

 viper will crawl and bite the moment the shell 

 that incloses them is broke open ; those of the 

 snake are not yet arrived at their perfect form. 



Father Labat took a serpent of the viper 

 kind, that was nine feet long, and ordered it 

 to be opened in his presence. He then saw 

 the manner in which the eggs of these animals 

 lie in the womb. In this creature there were 

 six eggs, each of the size of a goose egg, but 

 longer, more pointed, and covered with a mem- 

 branous skin, by which also they were united 

 to each other. Each of these eggs contained 

 from thirteen to fifteen young ones, about six 

 inches long, and as thick as a goose-quill. 

 Though the female from whence they were 

 taken was spotted, the young seemed to have 

 a variety of colours very different from the 

 parent ; and this led the traveller to suppose 

 that the colour was no characteristic mark 

 among serpents. These little mischievous 

 animals were no sooner let loose from the shell 

 than they crept about, and put themselves into 

 a threatening posture, coiling themselves up, 

 and biting the stick with which he was des- 

 troying them. In this manner he killed se- 

 venty-four young ones ; those that were con- 

 tained in one of the eggs escaped at the place 

 where the female was killed, by the bursting 

 of the egg, and their getting among the bushes. 



The last distinction that I shall mention, 

 but the most material among serpents, is, that 

 some are venomous, and some inoffensive. If 

 we consider the poison of serpents as it relates 

 to man, there is no doubt but that it is a 

 scourge and an affliction. The various cala- 

 mities that the poison of serpents is capable of 

 producing, are not only inflicted by the animal 

 itself, but by men, more mischievous than even 

 serpents, who prepare their venom to destroy 

 each other. With this the savages poison 

 their arms, and also prepare their revengeful 

 potions. The ancients were known to preserve 

 it for the purposes of suicide ; and even among 

 semi-barbarous countries at this day, the ve- 

 nom of snakes is used as a philtre. 



But, though the poison be justly terrible to 

 us, it has been given to very good purposes 

 for the animal's own proper support and 

 defence. Without this, serpents, of all other 

 animals, would be the most exposed and de- 

 fenceless ; without feet for escaping a pursuit ; 

 without teeth capable of inflicting a dangerous 

 wound, or without strength for resistance ; in- 



capable, from their size, of finding security in 

 very small retreats, like the earth-worm, and 

 disgusting all from their deformity, nothing 

 was left for them but a speedy extirpation. 

 But furnished as they are with powerful 

 poison, every rank of animals approach them 

 with dread, and never seize them but at. an 

 advantage. Nor is this all the advantage 

 they derive from it. The malignity of a few 

 serves for the protection of all. Though not 

 above a tenth of their number are actually 

 venomous, yet the similitude they all bear to 

 each other excites a general terror of the whole 

 tribe ; and the uncertainty of their enemies in 

 which the poison chiefly resides, makes even 

 the most harmless formidable. Thus provi- 

 dence seems to have acted with double precau- 

 tion ; it has given some of them poison, for 

 the general defence of a tribe naturally feeble ; 

 but it has thinned the numbers of those which 

 are venomous, lest they should become too 

 powerful for the rest of animated nature. 



From these noxious qualities in the serpent 

 kind, it is no wonder that not only man, but 

 the beasts and birds, carry on an unceasing 

 war against them. The ichneumon of the 

 Indians, and the peccary of America, destroy 

 them in great numbers. These animals have 

 the art of seizing them near the head ; and it 

 is said that they can skin them with great 

 dexterity. The vulture and the eagle also 

 prey upon them in great abundance ; and 

 often sousing down from the clouds, drop upon 

 a long serpent, which they snatch up struggl- 

 ing and writhing in the air. Dogs are also 

 bred up to oppose them. Father Feuille tells 

 us, that being in the woods of Martinico, he 

 was attacked by a large serpent, which he 

 could not easily avoid, when his dog imme- 

 diately came to his relief, and seized the 

 assailant with great courage. The serpent 

 entwined him, and pressed him so violently, 

 that the blood came out of his mouth, arid yet 

 the dog never ceased till he had torn it to pieces. 

 The dog was not sensible of his wounds dur- 

 ing the fight ; but soon after his head swelled 

 prodigiously, and he lay on the ground as 

 dead. But his master having found hard by 

 a banana-tree, he applied its juice, mixed 

 with treacle, to the wounds, which recovered 

 the dog, and quickly healed his sores. 



But it is in man that these venomous crea- 

 tures find the most dangerous enemy. The 

 Psylli of old were famous for charming and 

 destroying serpents. Some moderns pretend 

 to the same art. Casaubon says, that he knew 

 a man who could at any time summon a 

 hundred serpents together, and draw them 

 into the fire. Upon a certain occasion, when 

 one of them, bigger than the rest, would not 

 be brought in, he only repeated his charm, 

 and it came forward like the rest, to submit 



