THE SERPENT. 



411 



Cape of Good Hope, and the north of the river 

 Senegal, that is not above three inches, and 

 covers whole sandy deserts with its multi- 

 tudes ! This tribe of animals, like that of 

 tishes, seems to have no bounds put to their 

 growth: their bones are, in a great measure, 

 cartilaginous, and they are, consequently, ca- 

 pable of great extension : the older, therefore, 

 a serpent becomes, the larger it grows; and 

 as they seem to live to a great age, they arrive 

 at an enormous size. 



Leguat assures us, that he saw one in Java 

 that was fifty feet long. Carli mentions their 

 growing to above forty feet; and we have now 

 the skin of one in the Museum, that measures 

 thirty-two. Mr Wentwort, who had large 

 concerns in the Berbices, in America, assures 

 me, that in that country, they grow to an en- 

 ormous length. He one day sent out a sol- 

 dier, with an Indian, to kill wild fowl for the 

 table ; and they accordingly went some miles 

 from the fort; in pursuing their game, the In- 

 dian, who generally marched before, beginning 

 to tire, went to rest himself upon the fallen 

 trunk of a tree, as he supposed it to be; but 

 when he was just going to sit down, the enor- 

 mous monster began to move, and the poor sa- 

 vage perceiving that he had approached a Li- 

 boya, the greatest of all the serpent kind, 

 dropped down in an agony. The soldier, who 

 perceived, at some distance, what had hap- 

 pened, levelled at the serpent's head, and, by 

 a lucky aim, shot it dead: however, he conti- 

 nued his fire until he was assured that the ani- . 

 rnal was killed ; and then going up to rescue 

 his companion, who was fallen motionless by 

 its side, he, to his astonishment, found him 

 dead likewise, being killed by the fright. 

 Upon his return to the fort, and telling what 

 had happened, Mr Wentworth ordered the 

 animal to be brought up, when it was mea- 

 sured, and found to be thirty-six feet long. 

 He had the skin stuffed, and then sent to Eu- 

 rope, as a present to the Prince of Orange, in 

 whose cabinet it is now to be seen at the 

 Hague ; but the skin has shrunk, by drying, 

 two or three feet. 



In the East Indies they grow also to an 

 enormous size ; particularly in the island of 

 Java, where, we are assured, that one of them 

 will destroy and devour a buffalo. In a letter, 

 printed in the German Ephemerides, we have 

 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 ser- 

 pent had, for some time, been waiting near 

 the brink of a pool, in expectation of its prey ; 

 when a buffalo was the first that offered. Hav- 

 ing darted upon the affrighted animal, it in- 

 stantly began to wrap it round with its volumi- 

 nous twistings ; and, at every twist, the bones 

 of the buffalo were heard to crack almost as 



loud as the report of a cannon. It was in vain 

 that the poor animal struggled and bellowed ; 

 its enormous enemy entwined it too closely to 

 get free ; till, at length, all its bones being 

 mashed to pieces, like those ~of a" malefactor on 

 the wheel, and the whole body reduced to one 

 uniform mass, the serpent untwined its folds to 

 swallow its prey at leisure. To prepare for 

 this, and in order to make the body slip down 

 the throat more glibly, it was seen to lick the 

 whole body over, and thus cover it with its 

 mucus. It then began to swallow it at that 

 end that offered least resistance ; while its 

 length of body was dilated to receive its prey, 

 and thus took in at once a morsel that was three 

 times its own thickness. We are assured by 

 travellers, that these animals are often found 

 with the body of a stag in their gullet, while 

 the horns, which they are unable to swallow, 

 keep sticking out at their mouths. 



But it is happy for mankind that the rapa- 

 city of these frightful creatures is often their 

 punishment ; for whenever any of the serpent 

 kind have gorged themselves in this manner, 

 whenever their body is seen particularly dis- 

 tended with food, they then become torpid, and 

 may be approached and destroyed with safety. 

 Patient of hunger to a surprising degree, 

 whenever they seize and swallow their prey, 

 they seem, like surfeited gluttons, unwieldly, 

 stupid, helpless, and sleepy,: they, at that time 

 seek some retreat, where they may lurk for se- 

 veral days together, and digest their meal in 

 safety : the smallest effort, at that time, is ca- 

 pable of destroying them ; they can scarcely 

 make any resistance ; and they are equally un- 

 qualified for flight or opposition : that is the 

 happy opportunity of attacking them with suc- 

 cess ; at that time the naked Indian himself 

 does not fear to assail them. But it is otherwise 

 when this sleepy interval of digestion is over: 

 they then issue, with famished appetites, from 

 their retreats, and with accumulated terrors, 

 while every animal of the forest flies before 

 them. 



Carli describes the Long Serpent of Congo 

 making its track through the tall grass, like 

 mowers in a summer's day. He could not, with- 

 out terror, behold whole lines of grass lying 

 levelled under the sweep of its tail. In this 

 manner it moved forward with great rapidity, 

 until it found a proper situation frequented by 

 its prey : there it continued to lurk, in patient 

 expectation, and would have remained for 

 weeks together, had- it not been disturbed by 

 the natives. 



Other creatures have a choice in their pro- 

 vision ; but the serpent indiscriminately preys 

 upon all ; the buffalo, the tiger, and the ga- 

 zelle. One would think that the porcupine's 

 quills might be sufficient to protect it; but 

 vvhatever has life serves to appease the hun- 



