332 The Andes and the Amazon. 



to use a weapon in self-defense ; and only once for offense, 

 when we threatened to demolish an Arab sheik with an um- 

 brella. Secondly, from brutes. Some travelers would 

 have us infer that it is impossible to stir in South Ameri- 

 ca without being " affectionately entwined by a serpent, or 

 sprung upon by a jaguar, or bitten by a rattlesnake; jig- 

 gers in every sand-heap and scorpions under every stone " 

 {EdinhurghMeview, xliii, 310). Padre Vernazza speaks of 

 meeting a serpent two yards in diameter ! But you will be 

 disappointed at the paucity of animal life. We were two 

 months on the Andes (August and September) before we 

 saw a live snake. They are plentiful in the wet season in 

 cacao plantations ; but the majority are harmless. Dr. 

 Russel, who particularly studied the reptiles of India, 

 found that out of forty-three species which he examined 

 not more than seven had poisonous fangs ; and Sir E. Ten- 

 nent, after a long residence in Ceylon, declared he had 

 never heard of the death of an European by the bite of a 

 snake. It is true, however, that the number and propor- 

 tion of the venomous species are greater in South America 

 than in any other part of the world ; but it is some con- 

 solation to know that, zoologically, they are inferior in rank 

 to the harmless ones; "and certainly," adds Sidney Smith, 

 " a snake that feels fourteen or fifteen stone stamping on 

 his tail has little time for reflection, and may be allowed 

 to be poisonous." If bitten, apply ammonia externally im- 

 mediately, and take five drops in water internally ; it is an 

 almost certain antidote. The discomforts and dangers 

 arising from the animal creation are no greater than one 

 would meet in traveling overland from New York to New 

 Orleans. 



Finally, of one thing the tourist in South America may 

 be assured — that dear to him, as it is to us, will be the re- 



