x 4 o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



alfo, whai they call that fpecies of ferpent that, drawing in 

 the fame outward air which Jerome Lobo breathed, could 

 fo far pervert its quality as with it to kill at the diftance of 

 four yards. Surely fuch a ferpent, if he had no other cha- 

 radteriftic in the world, would be defcribed by a naturalifl 

 as the ferpent with the foul flomach. — I never faw a poi- 

 fonous ferpent in Abyffinia whofe belly is not white ; fo 

 this one being fpeckled, brown, black, and yellow, will be 

 a direction when any fuch is found, and ferve as a warning 

 not to come near him, at leaft within the diftance of four 

 yards. 



Jerome Lobo continues, " that this danger was not to be 

 " much regarded in comparifon of another his negligence 

 " brought him into. As he was picking up a fkin that 

 * lay upon the ground, he was flung by a ferpent that left 

 " its lling in his finger ; he picked out an extraneous fub- 

 M fiance about the bignefs of an hair, which he imagined 

 " was the fling. This flight wound he took little notice of» 

 " till his arm grew inflamed all over ; his blood was infect- 

 " ed ; he fell into convullions, which were interpreted as 

 w the figns of inevitable death." (Chap. xii. p. 125.) 



Now, with all fubmiflion to Jerome Lobo, the firfl fer- 

 pent had brought him within a near view of death ; the 

 fecond did no more, for it did not kill him ; how comes it 

 that he fays the firfl danger was nothing in comparifon to 

 the fecond I The firfl would have certainly killed him, by 

 blowing upon his back, if he had been nearer than 12 feet. 

 The other had nearly killed him by a fling. Death was 

 the end of them both. I cannot fee the difference between 



the two dangers, 



Thi 



