359 



CHAP. X. 



OF SERPENTS IN GENERAL. 



WE now come to a tribe that not only their defor- 

 mity, their malignity, and their venom conspire to con- 

 demn, but even our very religious prejudices call forth 

 a kind of detestation in the mind ; their numbers, how- 

 ever, have been thinned by human assiduity ; and it is 

 probable that some of the species have been totally de- 

 stroyed. In none of the countries of Europe do they 

 prevail sufficiently to excite the alarming apprehensions 

 of mankind ; for there are not more than three or four 

 kinds in any degree dangerous, and a timely applica- 

 tion will prevent their ill effect. 



In the warm countries that lie within the tropic, as 

 well as in the cold regions of the north, where the in- 

 habitants are thinly scattered, these animals propagate 

 in a very great degree ; yet along the swampy banks 

 of the rivers Nigre and Oroonoko a still greater abun- 

 dance of them are to be found ; and there are many 

 historical accounts of the devastation of these animals, 

 which excite horror, though they scarce obtain belief. 

 Pliny assures us, that he saw the skin of one these de- 

 structive creatures thatmeasured an hundred and twenty 

 feet, and that whole armies had fallen victims to its ra- 

 pacity ; that battering engines were forced to be em- 

 ployed against it, and that an ovation # was decreed to 

 celebrate its defeat. 



If we take a survey of serpents in general, there will 

 be found marks to distinguish them from every other 



* An ovation was instituted by the Romans in honour of any signal ex- 

 ploit that was not thought worthy of a triumph. 



AA4 



