

64 



SNAKES. 



moribondo Jormiga, which are distinguished from 

 the black moribondo t in bearing a still greater 

 resemblance to the large black ant. 



The bats also failed not here to annoy me, 

 for they persecuted my horses. They fasten 

 upon the ears of the beasts, or upon their backs, 

 rf there is any spot from which the skin has been 

 rubbed. I have in travelling sometimes been 

 made particularly uneasy at their attacks upon 

 the horses ; for unless we had some animals 

 above the requisite complement, it was neces- 

 sary to load them with the wound open. The 

 skin of an owl is often hung up in a stable for 

 the purpose of scaring the bats. 



In laying open the ant-hill which I have 

 above-mentioned, we discovered a couple of the 

 cobras de duas cabecas, or two-headed snakes 

 or worms ; each of them was rolled up in one 

 of the nests. These snakes are about eighteen 

 inches in length, and about the thickness of the 

 little finger of a child of four or five years of 

 age. Both extremities of the snake appear to 

 be exactly similar to each other ; and when the 

 reptile is touched, both of these are raised, and 

 form a circle or hoop to strike that which has 

 molested it. They appear to be perfectly blind, 

 for they never alter their course to avoid any 

 object until they come in contact with it, and 

 then without turning about they crawl away in 

 an opposite direction. The colour is gray, in- 



