THE BOA. 93 



Description Enormous size. 



then cut off the head, skin the body, and cook 

 it as we do eels. The flesh is said to be exceed- 

 ingly white and nutritious. 



THE BOA. 



THE ground color of the body of this animal, 

 which is the largest and strongest of the serpent 

 race, is yellowish-grey, on which is distributed, 

 along the back, a series of large chain-like, red- 

 dish brown, and sometimes perfectly red varie- 

 gations, with other smaller and more irregular 

 marks and spots. They are readily distinguish- 

 ed from other serpents in the under surface of 

 the tail being covered with scuta or undivided 

 plates like those on their belly, and in their body 

 not being terminated by a rattle. There are 

 three species, natives of Africa, India, the larger 

 Indian islands, and South America, where they 

 chiefly reside in most retired situations in woods 

 and marshy retreats. 



The great boa is frequently from thirty to 

 forty feet in length, and of a proportionate thick- 

 ness. As a proof of the enormous size of these 

 animals, it is recorded by a gentleman, who had 

 some large concerns in America, that he one day 

 sent out a soldier with an Indian to kill some 

 wild fowl, and in pursuing their game the Indian, 

 who generally went before, beginning to tire, sat 

 down upon what he supposed to be the fallen 

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