166 
Bringing Doavn the Terror. 
coils, as liad often proved to be the case, coupled with the visible terror 
of Stöckle who charged me in the name of his forefathers as well as my 
own not to expose ourselves heedlessly to such dangers, decided me upon 
giving up the attack and proceeding on my way in peace. But hardly 
had we passed the spot than, ashamed of my want of resolution, I ordered 
the paddlers to turn back. I loaded both barrels with the coarsest shot 
and some slugs, an example that was followed by the most courageous 
one of my Indians. We slowly made our way back to the tree where 
the snake was still lying in the same place. On a given signal, both of 
us let fly: luckily hit, the colossal creature fell headlong and after a few 
convulsive movements, was carried down with the current. Full of glee 
we paddled hard after it and soon reaching it, dragged it into the boat. 
Although everybody was convinced that if was quite dead, Stöckle and 
Florenz did not consider themselves at all too safe in its vicinity: 
screaming and whining, both heroes flung themselves on the bottom when 
they saw the creature, 151 ft. long and 2 J f f . girth, lying in front 
of them, and now and again moving its tail. The ease with which wq 
had overcome it was due to the effect of the slugs of which one had 
smashed the backbone and tin 1 other the head. A wound like this, 
especially in the head, as T subsequently often had opportunity of ob- 
serving, costs the biggest snake immediate loss of action and movement. 
The shouting as well as the shooting had brought back the boats hurrying 
ahead: they never for a moment imagined that we were going to attack 
the animal and Mr. King, completely confirming the statements of the 
Indians, reproached me on my undertaking. Upon one of his recent 
journeys a similar monster, IS feet long, was onlv killed at the seventh 
ball. 
571. As the space in the corial was too limited, I buoyed myself up 
with the hope that we should be soon finding a night’s shelter where I 
could skin it. We left the Bariina at the mouth of the small stream 
Whomana or Maruiwa, into which we turned. 
572. The stream was fairly broad for a considerable distance, so that 
we could quickly follow its course. The farther we advanced however, 
the narrower it became, and the offener had axes and hatchets to be used 
to cut a passage-way for the two large boats in between the trees that 
were tumbled one over the other. The banks of the Whomana proved 
to be very low and completely flooded on both sides: it was evident 
that we had consequently once more reached the area where reigned 
the Manicaria , Euterpe, Bactris, Maximiliane!, and Oenocarpus. Bushy 
Mimosae and species of Firns hemmed in the riversides with their moss- 
covered trunks and branches while the taller foliage-trees of opposite 
banks actually joined hands to form a gloomy leafy canopy over the 
stream, the sombre silence of which was occasionally broken by the flutter- 
ing of a solitary bird, Pipra auricapilla Licht, or P. leucocilla Linn. The 
creek narrowed at last to such an extent that we had to battle with the 
axe for every 5ft. broad streak of water: the navigable channel suf- 
ficed all right for the small vessels of the Indians, but not for our 40ft. 
long and 5ft. broad corials. Though previously we had not even heard 
the dull hammering of tin* woodpeckers or the shrieking of the parrots 
