316 STAY ON THE RIO GRANDE DE BELMONTE, 



in the descriptions given of it by naturalists, Daudin has mentioned 

 it by the name of hoa anacondo. It is found all over South America, 

 and attains the largest size of any species of this genus, in that part 

 of the world. All the denominations alluding to the abode of the boa 

 serpents in the water, belong to this kind ; for the others never dwell 

 in the water, whereas the sucuriu or sucimuha lives constantly in 

 and near water, and is therefore really amphibious in the literal sense 

 of the word. This serpent is by no means beautifully marked : its 

 back is of a dark blackish olive, and down it run longitudinally two 

 rows of round black spots, in pairs, which are for the most part 

 pretty regularly disposed. In solitary places unfrequented by man, it 

 attains the prodigious size of twenty or thirty feet, and even more, in 

 length. Daudin, in his Natural History of Reptiles, considers the ser- 

 pent which he assumes to be the genuine hoa constrictor', as a native of 

 Africa, but this species, if it is also found in Africa, inhabits every part 

 of Brazil, is there the most common land boa, and every where known 

 by the name of the jiboi/a. The Belmonte is the southernmost of 

 the rivers on the east coast, in which the sucurmba occurs ; farther to 

 the north it is universally found. Very fabulous stories have been re- 

 lated concerning the way of life of these immense reptiles ; and even 

 in modern times, they have been copied out of old travellers. The 

 accounts also which are given of its sleep in winter are not precise 

 enough. It is said indeed, that they certainly become torpid during 

 the hot season, in the marshy pools of the deserts, but this does not 

 happen in the woody valleys of Brazil, which always abound in water, 

 where they do not live properly in marshes, but in great lakes, ponds 

 that are never dry, rivers and streams, the banks of which are cooled 

 by the shade of the ancient forests. 



On the day of our unsuccessful pursuit of the serpent, my people 

 killed many interesting birds, among which was a small dark brown ea- 

 gle, with a tuft of feathers at the back of the head, of a species hitherto 



