THE BOA, OR LIBOYA. 135 



accounts left us by the ancients, of the terrible devastations some- 

 times committed by a single serpent. It is not improbable, that 

 in early times, when mankind were few in number, and the 

 greatest part of the earth inhabited only by the animal tribes, 

 which then multiplied and ranged the forests without control, 

 serpents might sometimes grow to an extraordinary size, and 

 exterminate, or expel from their vicinity, all the rest of the 

 brute creation This tribe of animals, indeed, as their bones 

 are in a great measure cartilaginous, and consequently capable 

 of great extension, seem, like several kinds of fishes, to have no 

 bounds set to their growth ; and as they appear to live a great 

 number of years, it is no wonder that where the climate is favour- 

 able to their constitution, they should grow to an enormous size. 

 In the sultry regions of the torrid zone, where the combination of 

 heat and moisture is peculiarly favourable to the growth of the 

 reptile and insect tribes, they are found of such a magnitude as 

 would exceed credibility, if incontestible evidence did not furnish 

 full proof of the fact. 



THE BOA, OR LIBOYA, 



Of the torrid zone, is frequently found in the island of Java, 

 and several other parts of the East-Indies; as also in Brazil, and 

 some other countries of South America. 



This enormous reptile, which includes several species, all of 

 them terrible from their magnitude and strength, but destitute 

 of venom, is generally thirty feet long, and of a proportionable 

 thickness: its colour is of a dusky white, variously spotted. The 

 scales are round, small, and smooth ; and the Malayans, Cey- 

 lonese, and some other natives of the East, adore this monstrous 

 production of Nature when living* and when dead make use of 

 its skin for clothing. 



These formidable serpents lie hid in thickets, whence they 

 sally out unawares, and, raising themselves upright on their 

 tails, attack both man and every animal without distinction. In 

 a letter printed in the German Ephemerides, we have an account 

 of the seizure of a buffalo by one of these enormous reptiles. The 

 serpent had been waiting some time near the brink of a pool, in 

 expectation of its prey, when a buffalo was the first victim that 

 presented itself. Having darted upon the animal, it instantly 

 began to wrap around it with its voluminous twistings ; and at 

 every twist, the bones of the buffalo were heard to crack. The 

 poor animal struggled and bellowed ; but its terrible enemy en- 

 circled it too closely to suffer it to get free, till at length all its 

 bones being crushed to pieces, and the whole body reduced to 

 a uniform mass, the serpent untwined its folds in order to swal 

 low it at leisure : to prepare for this, it was seen to lick the 



