Ch. VII. SOUTH AMERICA. €t 



of the others, without a fpeedy application of fome 

 fpecific, it proves mortal. Thefe remedies are per- 

 fedly known to the Negroes, Mulattos, and Indians 

 frequenting the woods, and called curanderos. But 

 the fafeft antidote is the habilla, already mentioned. 



It is not however often that thefe dangerous ferpents 

 bite any one, uniefs, from inadvertence or defign, he 

 has been the aggrelTor. Befides, they are fo far froni 

 having any extraordinary agility, that they are remark-^ 

 ably torpid, and, as it were, half dead j fo that, were it 

 not for their motion in retiring to hide themfelves 

 among the leaves, it would be difficult to determine 

 whether they were dead or alive. 



There are few parts of Europe which do not pro- 

 duce the cientopes or fcolopendra; but at Carthagena 

 they not only fwarm, but are of a monftrous fize, and 

 the more dangerous, as breeding more common in the 

 houfes than in the fields. They are generally a yard 

 in length, and fome a yard and a quarter, the breadth 

 about five inches, more or lefs, according to the length. 

 Their figure is nearly circular, the back and fides co- 

 vered with hard fcales, of a muflv colour, tinged with 

 red ; but thefe fcales are fo articulated, as not in the 

 leaft to im.pede their motion, and at the fame time fa 

 ftrong as to defend them againft any blow fo that 

 the head is the only place where you can ftrike them 

 to any purpofe. They are alfo very nimble, and their 

 bite, without timely apphcation,, proves mortal nor 

 is the patient free from confiderable torture, till the 

 medicine has deftroyed the malignity of the poifon. 



The alacranes, or fcorpions, are not lefs common, 

 and of different kinds, as black, red, muil^ colour, and 

 fome yellow. The firft generally breed in dry rotten 

 wood, and others in the corners of houfes, in clofets 

 and cupboards. They are of different fizes, the largefl 

 about three inches long, exclufive of the tail The 

 fting alfo of fome is lefs dangerous than that of 

 others that of the black is reckoned the mofl ma- 

 3 . lignant^ 



