216 OF SERPENTS. 



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 discontinued ; the for- 

 tunate capture of an hour* often satisfies them for the remain- 

 ing 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 de- 

 grees ; and in proportion as the part below is dissolved, the 

 part above is taken in. It is not, therefore, till this tedious 

 operation is entirely performed, that the serpent renews its 

 appetite and its activity. But should any accident prevent it 

 from issuing once more from its cell, it still can continue to 

 bear famine for weeks, months, nay, for years together. 

 Vipers are often kept in boxes for six or eight months, without 

 any food whatever ; and there are little serpents sometimes 

 sent from Grand Cairo, that live for several years in glasses, 

 and never eat at all, nor even stain the glass with their ex- 

 crements. Thus the serpent tribe unite in themselves two 

 very opposite qualities : wonderful abstinence, and yet incre- 

 dible rapacity. 



If, leaving the consideration of their appetites, we come to 

 compare serpents as to their voices, some are found silent, 

 some have a peculiar cry ; but hissing is the sound which 

 they most cornmonly send forth, either as a call to their kind, 

 or as a threat to their enemies. In the countries where they 

 abound, they are generally silent in the middle of the day, 

 when they are obliged to retire from the heat of the climate ; 

 but as the cool of the evening approaches, they are then heard 

 issuing from their cells, with continued hissings ; and such is 

 the variety of their notes, that some have assured me they 

 very much resemble the music of an English grove. This 



