THE GREAT BOA. 89 



over; they then issue, with famished appetites, 

 from their retreats, and with accumulated terrors, 

 while every animal of the forest flies from their 

 presence. 



When captain Stedman was on board one of his 

 boats on the river Cottica in Surinam, he was in- 

 formed, by one of his slaves, that a large snake was 

 lying among the brush-wood on the beach, not far 

 distant ; and, after some persuasion, he was induced 

 to land, in order to shoot it. On the first shot the 

 ball, missing the head, went through the body; 

 when the animal struck round, and with such asto- 

 nishing force as to cut away all the underwood 

 around him with the facility of a scythe mowing 

 grass ; and, by flouncing his tail, caused the mud 

 and dirt, in which .he lay, to fly over the men's 

 heads that were with him, to a considerable dis- 

 tance. They started back some way, but the snake 

 was quiet again in a few minutes. Captain Sted- 

 man again fired, but with no better success than 

 before ; and the animal sent up such a cloud of 

 dust and dirt as he had never seen but in a whirl- 

 wind ; which caused them once more suddenly to 

 retreat. After some persuasions he was induced, 

 though much against his inclination, being exceed- 

 ingly weak from illness, to make a third attempt. 

 Having, therefore, once more discovered the snake, 

 they discharged their pieces at once, and shot him 

 through the head. The negro brought a boat-rope 

 to drag him to the canoe which was lying on the 

 bank of the river. This proved no easy undertak- 

 ing, since the huge creature, notwithstanding his 



