Animals of Peru. 1723 



without being wounded. But it is not merely in these places, which seem assigned by 

 nature for their abode, that loathsome reptiles are found : they creep between the roots 

 of large trees, under the thickly interwoven brushwood, on the open grass plots, and in 

 the maize and sugar-cane fields of the Indians ; nay, they crawl even into their huts, 

 and most fortunate is it for the inhabitants of those districts that the number of the 

 venomous, compared with the innoxious reptiles, is comparatively small. Of the poi- 

 sonous serpents, only a few kinds are known whose bite is attended with very danger- 

 ous consequences. The miuamaru or jergon (Lachesis picta, Tsch.), is, at most, three 

 feet long, with a broad, heart-shaped head, and a thick upper lip. It haunts the 

 higher forests, while in those lower down his place is filled by his no less fearful 

 relative flammon (Lachesis rhombeata, Prince Max.), which is six or seven feet in 

 length. These serpents are usually seen coiled almost in a circle, the head thrust for- 

 ward, and the fierce, treacherous-looking eyes glaring around, watching for prey, upon 

 which they pounce with the swiftness of an arrow ; then, coiling themselves up again, 

 they look tranquilly on the death-struggle of the victim. It would appear that these 

 Amphibia have a perfect consciousness of the dreadful effect of their poisonous wea- 

 pon, for they use it when they are neither attacked nor threatened, and they wound not 

 merely animals fit for their food, but all that come within their reach. More formid- 

 able than the two snakes just described, but happily much less common, is the brown 

 ten-inch long viper* It is brown, with two rows of black circular spots. The effect of 

 its bite is so rapid that it kills a strong man in two or three minutes. So convinced 

 are the natives of its inevitably fatal result, that they never seek any remedy ; but im- 

 mediately on receiving the wound lay themselves down to die. In the montanas of 

 Pangoa this viper abounds more than in any other district ; and never without appre- 

 hension do the cholos undertake their annual journey for the coca harvest, as they 

 fear to fall victims to the bite of this viper. The warning sound of the rattle-snake 

 is seldom heard in the hot montanas, and never in the higher regions. 



" Nature, who in almost all things lias established an equilibrium, supplies the na- 

 tives with remedies against the bite of the serpent. One of the cures most generally 

 resorted to is the root of the amarucachu (Polianthes tuberosa, L.), cut into slips and 

 laid upon the wound. Another is the juice of the creeping plant called vejuce de 

 huaco (Mikania huaco, Kth.), which is already very widely celebrated. This latter re- 

 medy was discovered by the negroes of the equatorial province, Choco. They remarked 

 that a sparrow-hawk, called the huaco, picked up snakes for his principal food, and 

 when bitten by one it flew to the vejuco and ate some of the leaves. At length the 

 Indians thought of making the experiment on themselves, and when bitten by serpents 

 they drank the expressed juice of the leaves of the vejuco, and constantly found that 

 the wound was thereby rendered harmless. The use of this excellent plant soon be- 

 came general ; and in some places the belief of the preservative power of the vejuco 

 juice was carried so far that men in good health were inoculated with it. In this pro- 

 cess some spoonfuls of the expressed fluid are drunk, and afterwards some drops are 

 put into incisions made in the hands, feet, and breast. The fluid is rubbed into the 

 wounds by fresh vejuco leaves. After this operation, according to the testimony of 

 persons worthy of credit, the bite of the poisonous snake fails for a long time to have 



* Echidna ocellata, Tsch. This is the only species of the viper family belonging 

 to South America, as yet known. 



