ULLOa's voyage to south AMERICA. 515 



motionlefs in one place for feveral days together ; and even then Its motion is almofl 

 imperceptible, leaving a track like that of a log of timber drawn along the ground. 



Its breath is afferted to be of fuch a nature as to caufe a kind of drunkennefs or ftu- 

 pidity in man or beaft, which has the misfortune of being within the bounds of its 

 activity ; and thus caufes the animal involuntarily to move till it unhappily comes within 

 the reach of the ferpent, which immediately fwallows it. This is the vulgar report : 

 and it Is added, that the only method of averting the danger, is, on firft feeling the 

 breath, to cut it, that is, to flop it by the interpofition of another body, which haftily 

 intervening, cuts the current of the blaft: and diffipates it. Thus the perfon, who was 

 moving on to certain deftrudion, is enabled to take another path, and avoid the fatal 

 cataftrophe. Thefe particulars, if thoroughly confidered, feem mere fables : as indeed 

 the learned M. de la Condamine intimates ; and the very circumftances with which 

 they are decorated, increafe their improbability. 



But, in my opinion, with a little alteration in the circumftances, what feems to Ihock 

 credibility, will appear natural and founded on truth. 



That its breath is of fuch a quality as to produce a kind of inebriation in thofe 

 whom it reaches, is far from being impoffible ; the urine of the fox is well known to 

 have the fame effeO: ; and the breath of the whale is frequently attended with fuch an 

 infupportable foetor as to bring on a diforder in the brain. I therefore fee no manner 

 of difficulty in admitting, that the breath of this ferpent m.ay be of that intoxicating 

 quality attributed to it ; and may be confidered as an expedient for catching its prey, 

 as otherwife the creature, from the flow movement of its body, would be utterly in- 

 capable of providing itfelf with food ; whereas, by this deleterious fmell, the animal 

 may be thrown into fuch horror and perplexity, as to be unable to move, but remain 

 fixed like a ftatue, or faint away, whilfl: the fnake gradually approaches and feizes it. 

 As to what is related of cutting the breath, and that the danger is limited to the direc- 

 tion in which the ferpent breathes; theie are tales which, to believe^ would imply an 

 utter ignorance of the origin and progrefs of odours. In Ihort, the vulgar errors, pro- 

 pagated by thefe rude nations, have gained credit among the Spaniards, merely becaufe 

 none has had the curiofuy or refolution to put them to the teft of experience. 



CHAP. VJ. — Of the Genius^ Cujioms, and Manners of the Indians, who are Natives 



of the Province of Quito, 



THE fubjcQ: of this chapter, and its circumftances, are of fuch a nature, th^t, if 

 what ancient hiftories deliver concerning them ftiould recur to the memory, they will 

 appear totally different. Indeed the difproportion between what I read, and what I 

 am going to relate, is fo remarkable, that, on a retrofpe<3: towards paft times, I am 

 utterly at a lofs to account for the univerfal change of things ; efpecially when fur- 

 rounded by fuch vifible m.onuments of the induftry, polity, and laws of the Indians of 

 Peru, that it would be madnefs to queftion the truth of the accounts that have been 

 given of them ; for the ruins of thefe ancient works are ftill amazing. On the other 

 hand, I can hardly credit my ov/n eyes, when I behold that nation involved, as it were, 

 in Cimmerian darknefs, rude, indocile, and living in a barbarifm little better than thofe 

 who have their dwelling among the waftes, precipices, and forefts. But what is ftill 

 more difficult to conceive is, how thefe people, whofe former wifdom is confpicuous in 

 the equity of their laws, and the eftablilhment of a government {o fmgular as that under 

 which they live, ihould at prefent ftiew no traces of that genius and capacity which 



3 u 2 formed 



