290 
EXCURSIONS AROUND EGA. Chap. IV. 
bag for specimens, and we then continued on our way. 
Lino, who was now first, presently made a start back- 
wards, calling out Jararaca !" This is the name of a 
poisonous snake (genus Craspedocephalus), which is far 
more dreaded by tTie natives than Jaguar or Alligator. 
The individual seen by Lino lay coiled up at the foot of 
a tree, and was scarcely distinguishable, on account of 
the colours of its body being assimilated to those of the 
fallen leaves. Its hideous, flat triangular head, connected 
with the body by a thin neck, was reared and turned 
towards us : Frazao killed it with a charge of shot, 
shattering it completely, and destroying, to my regret, 
its value as a specimen. In conversing on the subject 
of J araracas as we walked onwards, every one of the 
party was ready to swear that this snake attacks man 
without provocation, leaping towards him from a con- 
siderable distance when he approaches. I met, in the 
course of my daily rambles in the woods, many J araracas, 
and once or twice very narrowly escaped treading on 
them, but never saw them attempt to spring. On some 
subjects the testimony of the natives of a wild country 
is utterly worthless. The bite of the J araracas is gene- 
rally fatal. I knew of four or five instances of death 
from it, and only of one clear case of recovery after 
being bitten ; but in that case the person was lamed for 
life. 
We walked over moderately elevated and dry ground 
for about a mile, and then descended (three or four feet 
only) to the dry bed of another creek. This was pierced 
in the same way as the former water-course, with round 
' holes full of muddy water. They occurred at intervals • 
