126 TRAVE LS IN 
prey of the hawk kind, which attacked them 
■without mercy. The valley abounded too 
with a prodigious quantity of green ferpents, 
of from four to five feet in length. It was the ^ 
humidity of the foil that attraded thefe reptiles, 
which was alfo favourable to their increafe. The 
multitude and fize of them gave me no little 
uneafmefs ; and I had the more reafon to be- 
lieve them venomous, as my dogs, which 
generally went before me in the bufhes, now 
ranged themfelves all three behind me, and 
advanced with feeming fear. To afTure my- 
felf of what I had to dread from thefe ene- 
mies, I killed one, and examining its mouth I 
faw with joy that they vv^ere not dangerous. 
For once my dogs were deceived ; their in- 
flin£l was in fault ; and I afcribed the error to 
the gradual change efFeded in thefe domeftic 
animals by education : Vv'ild dogs 1 am certain 
would not have thus been miftaken. 
Another caufe of uneafinefs, and one that 
appeared v\rell founded, ftill alarmed me : I 
mean the want of water on the tops of the 
mountains which I intended to traverfe, there- 
by to proceed to the promontory of Africa. J 
was fearful I ihould be obliged to renounce my 
defign, 
