THE BOA AND ITS PREY. 347 



their horses, the Indian said it would have been madness to 

 have fought with the irritated animal, and they went their way. 

 This was seven in the morning, and they marked the spot by 

 notching the trees. At four in the afternoon they again passed 

 that way, and found the boa lying straight upon the ground ; 

 one of the horns of the roebuck sticking out of a corner of the 

 mouth, and the other looking as if it would perforate the neck 

 of the snake ; the tail was still coiled round the tree, and the 

 middle of the body looked like a nine-gallon cask. A few 

 blows of the hunting sword about the tail finished the monster ; 

 but when attacked, it tried to throw up the deer." The boa 

 has been known to measure upwards of twenty-five feet, though 

 commonly not exceeding eighteen feet. 

 Tie Boa's Captain Heyland thus describes a boa which 

 Appetite, was in his possession for some time : — " The ani- 

 mal was brought to me early in January, and did not taste food 

 from that time unlil the July following. During this period 

 he generally drank a quart of water daily. The man who 

 brought him stated, that he had been seen to eat a hog deer 

 the day before he was taken. He was allowed to be at liberty 

 in the grounds about my house. One evening early in July, 

 hearing a noise, I went out, and discovered that the snake had 

 left his harbour, under the boards of a stable where he generally 

 lay ; and having entered a small shed in which some fowls 

 were roosting, had swept eleven from the perch, and destroyed 

 them by pressing them between his folds. Then taking them 

 one by one, head foremost into his mouth, swallowed the whole 

 down in twenty minutes. The largest animal that he ate while 

 in my possession was a calf, which he killed and gorged in 

 two hours and twenty minutes. He never attacked dogs, cats, 

 or pigs. Of these last, indeed, he seemed to be in dread, for, 

 whenever one was presented to him, he retired to a corner, and 

 coiled himself up, with his head undermost. If fed with ani- 

 mals not larger than a duck, he ate readily every day ; but 

 after the meal of a goat, refused food for a month." 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



