SOUTH AMERICA. 



199 



lance, wliicli was close by me, " Well then, Daddy," Third 



Journey. 



said I, " we'll go and have a look at the snake." I was 



barefoot, with an old hat, and check shirt, and trowsers 

 on, and a pair of braces to keep them np. The negro 

 had his cntlass, and as we ascended the hill, another negro, 

 armed with a cutlass, joined us, judging, from our pace, 

 that there was something to do. The little dog came along 

 with us, and Avhen we had got about half a mile in the 

 forest, the negro stopped, and pointed to the fallen tree : 

 all was still and silent : I told the negroes not to stir 

 from the place where they were, and keep the little dog 

 in, and that I would go in and reconnoitre. 



I advanced up to the place slow and cautious. The Finds and 



secures an 



snake was well concealed, but at last I made him out ; it enormous 



Coulacanara 



was a Coulacanara, not poisonous, but large enough to ^nake. 

 have crushed any of us to death. On measuring him 

 afterwards, he was something more than fourteen feet 

 long. This species of snake is very rare, and much 

 thicker, in proportion to his length, than any other snake 

 in the forest. A Coulacanara of fourteen feet in length 

 is as thick as a common Boa of twenty-four. After 

 skinning this snake I could easily get my head into his 

 mouth, as the singular formation of the jaws admits of 

 wonderful extension. 



A Dutch friend of mine, by name Bromver, killed a 

 Boa, twenty-two feet long, with a pair of stag's horns in 

 his mouth : he had swallowed the stag, but could not 



