580 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



great quadrupeds by the force with which they coil around their bodies. A singular cir- 

 cumstance is recorded of the transportation of one of these monstrous creatures alive to the 

 island of St. Vincent, which illustrates the occasional influence of the oceanic currents in 

 disseminating the animal tribes. " A noble specimen," says the Rev. L. Guilding, "of the 

 boa constrictor was lately conveyed to us by the currents, twisted round the trunk of a 

 large sound cedar tree, which had probably been washed out of the bank by the floods of 

 some great South American river, while its huge folds hung on the branches, as it waited 

 for its prey. The monster was fortunately destroyed after killing a few sheep, and his 

 skeleton now hangs before me in my study, putting me in mind how much reason I 

 might have had to fear in my future rambles through the forests of St. Vincent, had this 

 formidable reptile been a pregnant female, and escaped to a safe retreat." Upon several 

 of the reptile race, the dry season near the equator has the same effect as the winter of 

 northern latitudes, inducing a state of lethargy, during which the great saurians and 

 the serpent tribe are dead to the surrounding world. While the alligators of North 

 America become torpid through excess of cold, the crocodiles of the Llanos of South 

 America are reduced to the same condition through a deficiency of moisture. Humboldt 

 was shown a hut or shed in which a singular scene had been witnessed by his host of 

 Calabazo, who, having slept in it upon a bench covered with leather, was awakened early 

 in the morning by a violent shaking, accompanied with a horrible noise. Presently a 

 cayman issued from under the bed, and darted at a dog lying on the threshold; but 

 missing him, ran towards the river. When the spot where the bench stood was examined, 

 the dried mud was found turned up to a considerable depth, where the animal had lain in 

 its state of torpidity or summer sleep. The hut being situated on the edge of a pool, and 

 inundated during part of the year, the cayman had entered at that period, and concealed 

 itself in the mire. The Indians often find enormous boas, or water-serpents, in the same 

 lethargic condition. 



The highest department of the animal kingdom commences with the class of Birds, 

 which may be naturally divided into the three great orders of aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic. 

 Aggregation into immense flocks is a distinguishing feature of several species, especially 

 of the aquatic order, which form separate colonies, building their nests in the same site, 

 though other spots apparently equally adapted for the purpose are at no great distance. 

 Hence the Vogel-bergs, or bird-rocks of the northern seas, one of which at Westmannsharn 

 in the Faroe group of islands, seldom intruded upon by man, presents a most extraordinary 

 spectacle to the visitor. The Vogel-berg lies in a frightful chasm in the precipitous 

 shores of the island, which rise to th*e height of a thousand feet, only accessible from the 

 sea by a narrow passage. Here congregate a host of birds. Thousands of guillemots 

 and auks swim in groups around the boat which conveys man to their domain, look 

 curiously at him, and vanish beneath the water to rise in his immediate neighbourhood. 

 The black guillemot comes close to the very oars. The seal stretches his head above the 

 waves, not comprehending what has disturbed the repose of his asylum, while the rapacious 

 skua pursues the puffin and gull. High in the air the birds seem like bees clustering 

 about the rocks, whilst lower they fly past so close that they might be knocked down with 

 a stick. But not less strange is the domicile of this colony. On some low rocks scarcely 

 projecting above the water sit the glossy cormorants, turning their long- necks on every 

 side. Next are the skua gulls, regarded with an anxious eye by the kittiwakes above. 

 Nest follows nest in crowded rows along the whole breadth of the rock, and nothing is 

 visible but the heads of the mothers and the white rocks between. A little higher on the 

 narrow shelves sit the guillemots and auks, arranged as on parade, with their white 

 breasts to the sea, and so close that a hailstone could not pass between them. The 

 puffins take the highest station, and, though scarcely visible, betray themselves by their 



