152 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



finally conveyed to the canoe, and then to the place where 

 we had suspended our hammocks. Here he was put to 

 death as gently as possible, and, after breakfast was over, 

 I commenced the work of dissection. 



Charles Walerton, 



TUSSLE WITH A CONSTRICTOR. 



1. I wished to find a good-sized snake, and capture 

 him if possible, and I offered a reward to any of the 

 negroes who would find one in the forest and come and 

 let me know. One Sunday morning I met one of them 

 in the forest with a little dog with him, and he told me he 

 was going to hunt armadillos. On coming back, about 

 noon, the little dog began to bark at the root of a large 

 tree, and, on going up to see what was the matter, he dis- 

 covered a snake, and hastened back to inform me. 



2. The sun had just passed the meridian in a cloudless 

 sky ; there was scarcely a bird to be seen, for the winged 

 inhabitants of the forest, as though overcome by heat, had 

 retired to the thickest shade ; all would have been like 

 midnight silence were it not for the shrill voice of the 

 pe-pe-yo every now and then resounding from a distant 

 tree. I was sitting on the steps of an old, dismantled 

 building when the negro and his little dog came down the 

 hill in haste, and I was soon informed that a snake had 

 been discovered ; but it was a young one, called the bush- 

 master, a rare and poisonous reptile. 



3. I instantly rose up, and, laying hold of the eight-foot 

 lance, which was close by — ''Well, then,'' said I, "we'll go 

 and have a look at the snake." I Avas barefoot, with a 

 hat and check shirt and trousers on, and a pair of braces 

 to keep them up. The negro had his cutlass, and, as we 

 ascended the hill, another negro, armed with a cutlass, 



