46 
DIMENSIONS OF THE SNAKE. 
charge of the poor fellow whose body he saw ; that they had told 
him to be on his guard against the large snakes which are often 
seen on the skirts of the wood near the sea ; that they had not 
left him long before they were alarmed by his cries, and on hasten- 
ing to his assistance, found him enveloped in the folds of a large 
serpent ; that he was dead before they could destroy the snake, 
which did not quit its hold on their approach. They then produced 
the head of the snake, which Captain Ross examined. It was very 
small when considered in relation to the extraordinary power of the 
animal, and capability of swallowing ; for it would doubtless have 
gorged the body of the man, unless prevented by the appearance of 
his companions. It did not measure more than eight inches in its 
greatest diameter. The man had evidently been seized by one of 
the wrists, as it bore the impressions of the snake’s teeth. 
That the size of the head of a snake bears no proportion to the 
magnitude of an animal which it is capable of swallowing, will be 
evident from an account that I shall now give of a specimen, whose 
head measured in its greatest longitudinal diameter five inches, and 
in its greatest transverse diameter four inches and a half. The 
internal width between the two portions of the lower jaw, within 
which its prey must have passed to its stomach, was rather more 
than an inch and a half. This animal, which the drawing correctly 
represents, measured eighteen feet in length, and eighteen inches 
in its largest circumference. Its predominant colours -were greenish 
brown, with a purplish tinge, and yellow and black. Greenish 
brown, speckled with a brownish yellow, was the colour of its back, 
and bright yellow, speckled with black, the colour of its belly. It 
was a male. 
This animal, although permitted, when I saw him at Batavia, to 
leave his cage, and go into an open space, was seldom disposed to 
avail himself of this liberty, and it was often necessary to drag him 
out, and to irritate him repeatedly, before he could be induced to 
move. He would then stretch himself to his greatest extent, and 
without throwing his body into any curve, glide so closely, slowly, 
