Ch. XI.] SCORPIONS. 173 



On one occasion, during my visit, the Governor was 

 sittiag in his verandah conversing with the new Comman- 

 dant, and was assuring him that snakes were rarely met 

 with, and not to be feared, when they were disturbed by a 

 noise close by. On going out to see what had occasioned it, 

 they learned that the servants had just killed a python 12 ft. 

 long, ia the verandah — a singular comment upon their con- 

 versation. 



Scorpions and centipedes are creatures which always 

 excite the terror of those to whom they are unknown, and 

 they do not gaia any good- will by a nearer acquaintance. 

 Persons who have not visited the tropics often imagiue that 

 one is never safe from the fangs of these venomous crea- 

 tm-es ; but, although they are not imfrequently met with, a 

 sting is of rare occurrence, — and although painful, and fol- 

 lowed by acute symptoms, is perhaps never fatal. There 

 are two species of scorpion chiefly foimd about houses, one 

 of a reddish coloiu*, the more common and active of the two ; 

 and the other, a large black species (probably Scorpio costi- 

 manus), which appears to be only driven in by the weather. 

 The latter is sluggish in its habits, and is freely and fear- 

 lessly handled by the natives, who even collect them, and 

 place them round their necks and in their turbans, somehow 

 escaping the penalty of their stings. Indeed these scorpions 



which although it may seem apocryphal, I am unwilling to pass over alto- 

 gether in silence. He found on one occasion outside his verandah, a snake 

 about 5 feet long, of a reddish colour, but not mottled like a boa. It had had its 

 head crushed, that being the usual way in which the natives destroy snakes, 

 though it is not always immediately fatal to them, for they will crawl away 

 after such an injury. Mr. Moreton told me that he took the snake in ques- 

 tion by the tail with his thumb and iinger, and instantly felt a strong electric 

 shock, which ran up his arms to both his shoulders, so that he dropped the 

 snake in alarm. Although much surprised at the circumstance, not being a 

 naturalist, he neglected to take any means to preserve the reptile. 



