HISTORICAL 17 



There are many snakes in those islands, which are very dangerous; 

 some of them, when they have young, attack people."" The bite of those 

 called omoclro is very dangerous, and those who are bitten by it do not live 

 one-half day. It is from that effect that it derives its name, for odro 

 signifies one-half day. There is another very large snake called saua. I 

 have killed one of that species which was two and one-half brazas long. 

 The skin of another, which measured thirty-two [Spanish] feet in length, 

 was brought to our residence at Manila. The sauas hang to the branches 

 of trees along the roads, whence they dart down upon people, or deer, or on 

 any other prey. They wind themselves three or four times around the 

 body, and after having broken the creature's bones devour it. But God 

 has provided a number of herbs in those islands which are used as anti- 

 dotes to all kinds of poisons. Roots and herbs are found in the mountains, 

 which are so many specific remedies against snake-bites; the chief ones are 

 manongal, manambo, logab, ,boroctongon, maglingab, ordag, balocas, bonas, 

 bahay, igluhat, dalogdogan, mantala. 



John Francis Gemelli Careri writes : * 



There are Snakes of a prodigous Bigness. One sort of them call'd 

 Ibitin which are very long, hang themselves by the Tail down from the 

 Body of a Tree, expecting Deer, wild Boars, or Men to pass by, to draw 

 them to them with their Breath, and swallow them whole; and then winds 

 it self round a Tree to digest them. Some Spaniards told me, The only 

 Defence against them was to break the Air between the Man and the Ser- 

 pent; and this seems rational, for by that means, those Magnetick or at- 

 tracting Particles spread in that distance are dispers'd. Another sort of 

 Snake call'd Assagua eats nothing but Hens. That they call Olopong, is 

 Venomous. The biggest are called Bobes, which sometimes are 20 or 30 

 Spans long. 



Another sort of four footed Creature, which is also found in America, 

 and devours Hens, is call'd Igiiana. It is like an Alligator, the Skin 

 Purple, speckled with Yellow Spots, the Tongue Cloven, but the Feet close 

 and with Claws. Tho' a Land Creature, it passes over Rivers swiftly. 

 The Indians and some Spaniards eat it, and say it tasts like a Tortoise. 



Juan de Plascencia f writing in 1589 of the witch doctors says : 



The second they called mangagauay, or witches, who deceived by pre- 

 tending to heal the sick. These priests even induced maladies by their 

 charms, which in proportion to the strength and efficacy of the witchcraft, 



"' For a treatise on the snakes and poisonous animals of the Philip- 

 pines, see Delgado's Historia, pp. 889-907. He describes the omodro as 

 the odto (Hemibungarus collaris) — from the word meaning "half-day" or 

 "noon," and given to it because the bite proves fatal if given at noon, 

 but at no other time. It is of various colors and very furious at the hour 

 of noon. The saua {Python reticidatus) is the largest snake of the is- 

 lands and is often domesticated, and is not poisonous to man. [Footnote 

 in Blair and Robertson.] 



* A voyage round the world ; in A Collection of Voyages. London 4 

 a704) 454. 



t Customs of the Tagalogs (two relations by Juan de Plascencia, 0. S. 

 F.) Manila, October 21, from Blair and Roberston, op. cit. 7 (190.3) 192. 



161465 2 



