222 THROUGH THE BRAZILIAN WILDERNESS 



the termites. The latter were not infrequently taller than 

 a horseman's head. 



That evening round the camp-fire Colonel Rondon hap- 

 pened to mention how the brother of one of the soldiers 

 with us — a Parecis Indian — had been killed by a jararaca 

 snake. Cherrie told of a narrow escape he had from one 

 while collecting in Guiana. At night he used to set traps 

 in camp for small mammals. One night he heard one of 

 these traps go off under his hammock. He reached down . 

 for it, and as he fumbled for the chain he felt a snake 

 strike at him, just missing him in the darkness, but actu- 

 ally brushing his hand. He lit a light and saw that a big 

 jararaca had been caught in the trap; and he preserved it 

 as a specimen. Snakes frequently came into his camp 

 after nightfall. He killed one rattlesnake which had swal- 

 lowed the skinned bodies of four mice he had prepared 

 as specimens; which shows that rattlesnakes do not al- 

 ways feed only on living prey. Another rattlesnake which 

 he killed in Central America had just swallowed an opos- 

 sum which proved to be of a species new to science. Miller 

 told how once on the Orinoco he saw on the bank a small 

 anaconda, some ten feet long, killing one of the iguanas, 

 big, active, truculent, carnivorous lizards, equally at home 

 on the land and in the water. Evidently the iguanas were 

 digging out holes in the bank in which to lay their eggs; 

 for there were several such holes, and iguanas working at 

 them. The snake had crushed its prey to a pulp; and. 

 not more than a couple of feet away another iguana was 

 still busily, and with entire unconcern, engaged in mak- 

 ing its burrow. At Miller's approach the anaconda left 

 the dead iguana and rushed into the water, and the live 



