276 



ON SNAKES. 



of serpents with which I have come in contact 

 during my stay in the regions beyond Demerara 

 and Essequibo ! 



I think I have mentioned in a former little work, 

 that when I was in Angustura, the capital of the 

 Orinoco, a Spaniard shewed me part of a serpent's 

 skin, which, judging from its amazing thickness, 

 could not have been less than seventy feet in 

 length. The colonists have appropriately given to 

 this serpent, the name of matatoro, or bull-killer. 



Let me here remark, that, properly speaking, all 

 snakes are boa-constrictors. Constrictor, sounds 

 learnedly to an ordinary ear. It is a latin word, 

 derived from constringere, to bind ; and when 

 joined with boa it signifies a snake which entwines 

 the folds of its body round the captured prey. I 

 have seen a very small snake in the act of com- 

 pressing a little bird to death. Let one anecdote 

 suffice. 



Some five-and-thirty years ago, my friend the 

 late Mr. Edmonstone and myself, were in the forest, 

 about a mile from his house in Mibiri- creek, a 

 tributary stream to Camouni-creek, which flows 

 into the river Demerara. Finding himself more 

 inclined for rest, than for ranging, (which is often 

 the case in hot countries,) he said he would go 

 home : — and so we parted company. 



