SERPENTS IN GENERAL. 36\ 



bices in America, informs us that he sent a soldier and 

 an Indian into the woods to kill game ; the latter of 

 whom, finding himself fatigued, reposed himself as he 

 thought upon the body of a felled tree ; but scarcely 

 had the poor fellow taken his seat, than the enormous 

 mass began to move, and he fell upon the ground from 

 excess of fright. The soldier, seeing his companion's 

 situation, instantly levelled his well-aimed piece, and 

 repeated his fire until the monster died ; but what was 

 his surprise, upon attempting to raise the Indian, when 

 he found that terror and apprehension had actually kil- 

 led him ! The skin of this animal was stuffed and sent 

 to the prince of Orange, and a few years since might 

 have been seen in his cabinet at the Hague. 



A German author of undoubted veracity tells us, that 

 he saw a buffalo devoured by one of this destructive 

 tribe ; that it twisted itself round the body of the af* 

 frighted animal, and at every successive turn crushed 

 some of its joints, which cracked with a report near 

 as loud as a cannon, until the ill-fated creature in agony 

 expired. 



Other animals have a choice in their provisions, but 

 the serpent indiscriminately preys upon all alike; the 

 buffalo, the tiger, the gazelle, and even the porcupine 

 alike fall victims to the rapacity of this tribe. Though 

 the serpent is the most voracious of animals, and 

 though they can swallow a larger body without chew- 

 ing than even the whale, yet its digestive faculties are 

 extremely imperfect, and one meal is sufficient for a 

 length of time ; part of their food only finds a passage 

 to the stomach, the rest is retained in their gullet or 

 mouth, where it remains until that which it has swalr 

 lowed is digested, when it applies to that which has been 

 Jtept in reserve. Vipers have been confined in boxes, 



