176 CENTRAL AMERICA. 



Vultures make clean and quick work of what 

 they undertake. 



One more anecdote of the boa, and we 

 will proceed to another description of snake. 



An Englishman and an Indian were pass- 

 ing along by a very narrow trail through a 

 thick forest, when a cry was heard in the 

 wood like a child in great pain, or more like 

 the noise a hare makes sometimes when in 

 the fangs of a dog. They neither of them 

 knew what it could be ; but, pulling out their 

 pistols, and tying up their horses, worked 

 their w^ay into the wood in the direction of 

 the cries, which were still heard. About a 

 hundred yards inside the wood there was 

 a rather thinner space, and as the cries 

 seemed nearer, the party approached with 

 more caution, until the Indian caught the 

 other by the arm and pointed to an object 

 that had already caught his eye : it was a 

 boa crushing a young roebuck — young, but 

 still with short horns. If the sculptor of the 

 famous lacoon had had an opportunity of 

 studying nature, he would have simplified 

 the folds of his serpents : it is true the ele- 

 gance of the varied twinings would have been 

 lost, but what would be lost in beauty would 

 be gained by the strength of truth. There 



