THE SERPENT. 



427 



v ound, is said to draw out the venom. The 

 composition of this stone, for it is an artificial 

 substance, is kept a secret; and perhaps its 

 effects in extracting the venom may be imag- 

 inary : nevertheless, it is certain that it has 

 a power of sticking to the skin, and sucking 

 a part of the blood from the wound. This it 

 may do somewhat in the same manner as we 

 see a tobacco-pipe stick to the lips of a man 

 who is smoking ; yet still we are ignorant of 

 the manner ; and the secret might probably 

 be of some use in medicine. It were to be 

 wished, therefore, that those who go to India 

 would examine into this composition, and give 

 us the result of their inquiries ; but I fear that 

 it is not to benefit mankind, that our travel- 

 lers now go to India. 



CHAP. III. 



OF SERPENTS WITHOUT VENOM. 



THK class of serpents without poison may be 

 distinguished from those that are venomous by 

 their wanting the fang-teeth : their heads also 

 are not so thick in proportion to their bodies ; 

 and, in general, they taper off to the tail more 

 gradually in a point But, notwithstanding 

 their being destitute of venom, they do not 

 cease to be formidable : some grow to a size 

 by which they become the most powerful ani- 

 mals t f the forest ; and even the smallest and 

 most Harmless of this slender tribe find protec- 

 tion from tlie similitude of their form. 



The fangs make the great distinction among 

 serpents; and all this tribe are without them. 

 Their teeth are short, numerous, and, in the 

 smaller kinds, perfectly inoffensive : they lie 

 in either jaw, as in frogs and fishes, their 

 points bending backwards, the better to secure 

 their prey. They want, that artificial mecha- 

 nism by which the poisonous tribe inflict such 

 deadly wounds : they have no gland in the 

 head for preparing venom : no conduits for 

 conveying it to the teeth ; no receptacles there: 

 no hollow in the instrument that inflicts the 

 wound. Their bite, when the teeth happen to 

 be large enough to penetrate the skin (for, in 



and held it as you would hold a shield for defence. The 

 snake instantly turned and came on at me with his head 

 shout a yard from the ground, as if to ask me what 

 business I had to take liberties with his tail. I let him 

 come, hissing and open-mouthed, within two feet of my 

 face, and then, with all the force I was master of, I drove 

 my fist, shielded hy my hat, full in his jaws. He was 

 stunned and confounded by the Wow, and ere he could 

 recover himself, I had seized his throat with both hands 

 in such a position that he could not bite me ; I then al- 

 lowed him to coil himself round my body, and marched 

 off with him as my lawful prize. He pressed me hard, 

 but not alarmingly so." ff^aterton'g Wanderings. 



general, they are too small for this purpose) is 

 attended with no other symptoms than those 

 of an ordinary puncture ; and many of thin 

 tribe, as if sensible of their_own impotence, 

 cannot be provoked to bite, though never so 

 rudely assaulted. They hiss, dart out their 

 forky tongues, erect themselves on the tail, and 

 call up all their terrors to intimidate their ag- 

 gressors ; but seem to consider their teeth as 

 unnecessary instruments of defence, and never 

 attempt to use them. Even among the largest 

 of this kind the teeth are never employed, in 

 the most desperate engagements. When a 

 hare or a bird is caught, the teeth may serve 

 to prevent such small game from escaping ; 

 but when a buffalo or a tiger is to be encoun- 

 tered, it is by the strong folds of the body, by 

 the fierce verberations of the tail, that the enemy 

 is destroyed : by thus twining round, and 

 drawing the knot with convulsive energy, this 

 enormous reptile breaks every bone in the ani- 

 mal's body, and* then, at one morsel, devours 

 its prey. 



From hence we may distinguish the unve- 

 nomous tribe into two kinds: first, into those 

 that are seldom found of any considerable mag- 

 nitude, and that never offend animals larger 

 or more powerful than themselves, but which 

 find their chief protection in flight, or in the 

 doubtfulness of their form; secondly, into such 

 as grow to an enormous size, fear no enemy, 

 but indiscriminately attack all other animals 

 and devour them. Of the first kind is the 

 Common Black Snake, the Blind Worm, the 

 Esculapian Serpent, the Amphisbaena, and se- 

 veral others. Of the second, the Liboya, the 

 Boiguacu, the Depona, and the Boiquatrara. 



The Black Snake is the largest of English 



serpents, sometimes exceeding four feet in 

 length. The neck is slender ; the middle of 

 the body thick ; the back and sides covered 

 with small scales ; the belly with oblong, nar- 

 row, transverse plaits ; the colour of the back 

 and sides are of a dusky brown ; the middle of 

 the back marked with two rows of small black 

 spots, running from the head to the tail ; the 

 plaits on the belly are dusky ; the scales on 

 the sides are of a bluish white ; the teeth are 

 small and serrated, lying on each side of the 

 jaws in two rows. The whole species is per 

 fectly inoffensive; taking shelter in duriy hills. 



