270 



ON SNAKES. 



to the extent which authors have described, other 

 animals could not live with any comfort, under its 

 suffocating influence ; and it would he a salutary 

 warning to them, that an enemy was in the neigh- 

 bourhood. Their precipitous retiring from it, 

 would be the means of starving the serpent to 

 death, for want of ordinary nourishment. Once 

 I passed a whole night (see the " Wanderings ") in 

 the same abandoned house with a living Coula- 

 canara snake of extraordinary size. No bad nor 

 nauseous smell infected the apartment during any 

 portion of the night. 



Most lovely are the colours of some snakes, 

 when exposed to the rays of a tropical sun ; but 

 they fade in death, and cannot possibly be restored 

 by any application known at present, — saving that 

 of paint; — which, when compared with nature's 

 inimitable tints, and applied by the most scientific 

 hand, is but a mean and sorry substitute. 



I can restore the exact form and features of 

 dissected animals. But, there I stop. Scales of 

 snakes, and those of fishes, after death, must 

 infallibly lose their metallic splendour, do what you 

 choose ; a skin will assume the hue of parchment. 



Could these sad changes by the hand of death, 

 be obviated with success, then indeed, our speci- 

 mens for museums, would be as though in life ; — 



