THE BOA. 97 



Encounter between one and a buffalo. 



and clung fast upon the monster, which was still 

 writhing, and began his operations by ripping it 

 up, and stripping down the skin as he descended. 

 " Though I perceived (adds Captain Stedman) 

 that the animal was no longer able to do him any 

 injury, I confess I could not, without emotion, 

 see a man stark naked, 'black and bloody, cling- 

 ing with his arms and legs round the slimy and 

 yet living monster." This labor, however, was 

 not without its use; since- he not only dexter- 

 ously finished the operation, but saved from the 

 animal above four gallons of fine clarified fat, or 

 rather oil, which proved of much use to the sur- 

 geons at the hospital : as much again as this was 

 also supposed to have been wasted. The negroes 

 cut the animal in pieces, and w r ould have eaten 

 it, had they not been refused the use of the ket- 

 tle to boil it in. The reader will find hereto an- 

 nexed an engraved representation of the negro's 

 operation. 



One of these animals has been known, in the 

 island of Java, to kill and devour a buffalo. In 

 a letter printed in the German Ephemerides, 

 there is an account of a combat between an 

 enormous serpent and a buffalo, by a person who 

 assures us that he was himself a spectator. The 

 serpent had for some time been waiting near the 

 brink of a pool in expectation of its prey, when 

 a buffalo was the first animal that appeared. 

 Having darted upon the affrighted beast, it in- 

 stantly began to wrap him round with its volu- 



VOL. vi. NO. 40. N 



