408 



HISTORY OF FROGS, LIZARDS, AND SERPENTS. 



and the viper still defy their power, and fre- 

 quently punish their insolence. 



Their numbers, however, are thinned by 

 human assiduity ; and it is possible some of 

 the kinds are wholly destroyed. In none of 

 the countries of Europe are they sufficiently 

 numerous to be truly terrible ; the philosopher 

 can meditate in the fields without danger ; and 

 the lover seek the grove without fearing any 

 wounds but those of metaphor. The various 

 malignity that has been ascribed to European 

 serpents of old is now utterly unknown ; there 

 are not above three or four kinds that are dan- 

 gerous, and their poison operates in all in the 

 same manner. A burning pain in the part, 

 easily removable by timely applications, is 

 the worst effect that we can experience from 

 the bite of the most venomous serpents of Eu- 

 rope. The drowsy death, the starting of the 

 blood from every pore, the insatiable and burn- 

 ing thirst, the melting down the solid mass of 

 the whole form into one heap of putrefaction, 

 these are horrors with which we are entirely 

 unacquainted. 



But though we have thus reduced these 

 dangers, having been incapable of wholly re- 

 moving them, in other parts of the world they 

 still rage with all their ancient malignity. 

 Nature seems to have placed them as centin- 

 els, to deter mankind from spreading too 

 widely, and from seeking new abodes, till they 

 have thoroughly cultivated those at home. In 

 the warm countries that lie within the tropics, 

 as well as in the cold regions of the north, 

 where the inhabitants are few, the serpents 

 propagate in equal proportion. But of all 

 countries, those regions have them in the 

 greatest abundance where the fields are un- 

 peopled and fertile, and where the climate 

 supplies warmth and humidity. All along the 

 swampy banks of the river Niger or Oroonoko, 

 where the sun is hot, the forests thick, and the 

 men but few, the serpents cling among the 

 branches of the trees in infinite numbers, and 

 carry on an unceasing war against all other 

 animals in their vicinity. Travellers have as- 

 sured us, that they have often seen large snakes 

 twining round the trunk of a tall tree, encom- 

 passing it like a wreath, and thus rising and 

 descending at pleasure. In these countries, 

 therefore, the serpent is too formidable to be- 

 come an object of curiosity, for it excites much 

 more violent sensations. 



We are not, therefore, to reject, as wholly 

 fabulous, the accounts left us by the ancients 

 of the terrible devastations committed by a 

 single serpent. It is probable, in early times, 

 when the arts were little known, and mankind 

 were but thinly scattered over the earth, that 

 serpents, continuing undisturbed possessors of 

 the forests, grew to an amazing magnitude : 

 und every other tribe of animals fell before 



them. It then might have happened, that ser 

 pents reigned the tyrants of a district for cen- 

 turies together. To animals of this kind, 

 grown by time and rapacity to a hundred or a 

 hundred and fifty feet in length, the lion, the 

 tiger, and even the elephant itself, were but 

 feeble opponents. The dreadful monster 

 spread desolation round him ; every creature 

 that had life was devoured, or fled to a dis- 

 tance. That horrible fcetor, which even the 

 commonest and the most harmless snakes are 

 still found to diffuse, might, in these larger 

 ones, become too powerful for any living being 

 to withstand; and while they preyed without 

 distinction, they might thus also have poisoned 

 the atmosphere around them. In this manner, 

 having for ages lived in the hidden and un. 

 peopled forest, and finding as their appetites 

 were more powerful, the quantity of their prey 

 decreasing, it is possible they might venture 

 boldly from their retreats, into the more culti- 

 vated parts of the country, and carry conster- 

 nation among mankind, as they had before de- 

 solation among the lower ranks of nature. We 

 have many histories of antiquity, presenting us 

 such a picture ; and exhibiting a whole nation 

 sinking under the ravages of a single serpent. 

 At that time, man had not learned the art of 

 uniting the efforts of many, to effect one great 

 purpose. Opposing multitudes only added 

 new victims to the general calamity, and in- 

 creased mutual embarrassment and terror. The 

 animal was, therefore, to be singly opposed by 

 him who had the greatest strength, the best 

 armour, and the most undaunted courage. In 

 such an encounter hundreds must have fallen ; 

 till one, more lucky than the rest, by a fortu- 

 nate blow, or by taking the monster in its tor 

 pid interval, and surcharged with spoil, might 

 kill, and thus rid his country of the destroyer. 

 Such was the original occupation of heroes : 

 and those who first obtained that name, from 

 their destroying the ravagers of the earth, 

 gained it much more deservedly than their suc- 

 cessors, who acquired their reputation only for 

 their skill in destroying each other. But as 

 we descend into more enlightened antiquity, 

 we find these animals less formidable, as being 

 attacked in a more successful manner. We 

 are told, that while Regulus led his army 

 along the banks of the river Bagrada, in 

 Africa, an enormous serpent disputed his pas- 

 sage over. We are assured by Pliny, who 

 says, that he himself saw the skin, that it was 

 a hundred and twenty feet long, and that he 

 had destroyed many of the army. At last, 

 however, the battering engines were brought 

 out against it ; and these assailing it at a dis- 

 tance, it was soon destroyed. Its spoils were 

 carried to Rome, and the general was decreed 

 an ovation for his success. There are, per- 

 haps, few facts better ascertained in history 



