182 CENTRAL AMERICA. 



when they are irritated and ready to spring ; 

 never when crawling about in the woods. 



Not fancying much my companion in the 

 room, I shut the door, and seeking about, soon 

 found the owner of the house, who welcomed 

 me, took me back to the same room, and 

 having called the snake " picaro," and other 

 friendly slang names, told him to go into a 

 corner. He then related how the snake had 

 been given to him some three years past ; 

 how he had extracted his fangs, and that he 

 was as tame as a kitten. 



Having arranged to take our " Onze"* 

 with him the next day at noon before start- 

 ing, the horses were only ordered at one 

 o'clock, and I walked to his house, where I 

 found him with the same snake on his lap, 

 rattling furiously and held fast by the neck 

 by a servant, my friend being occupied with 

 a pair of pincers in the reptile's mouth. 

 After the operation was performed and the 



* In many places of South America, as also in 

 Central America, it is usual to take some slight refresh- 

 ment of fruit at noon, but they call it the '^ onze," 

 which means the eleven o'clock. An ex-president of 

 Chili explained to me, that formerly it was the custom 

 at noon to take a glass of brandy, or other spirit, and 

 that it was called " onze," from there being eleven letters 

 in the word A-of-u-a-r-d-i-e-n-t-e. 



