254 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
It is very different with almost every other animal. The 
certain death which ensues from this terrible creature’s bite, 
makes a solitude wherever it is heard. It moves along with 
the most majestic rapidity : neither seeking to offend the 
larger animals, nor fearing their insults. If unprovoked, it 
never meddles with any thing but its natural prey ; but when 
accidentally trod upon, or pursued to be destroyed, it then 
makes a dreadful and desperate defence. It erects itself 
upon its tail, throws back its head, and inflicts the wound 
in a moment; then parts, and inflicts a second wound: 
after which, we are told by some, that it remains torpid and 
inactive, without even attempting to escape. 
The very instant the wound is inflicted, though small in 
itself, it appears more painful than the sting of a bee. This 
pain, which is so suddenly felt, far from abating, grows 
every moment more excruciating and dangerous : the limb 
swells ; the venom reaches the head, which is soon of a 
monstrous size ; the eyes are red and fiery ; the heart beats 
quick, with frequent interruptions : the pain becomes in- 
supportable, and some expire under it in five or six hours ; 
but others, who are of stronger constitutions, survive the 
agony for a few hours longer, only to sink under a general 
mortification which ensues, and corrupts the whole body. 
A serpent, called the Win p-sn a k f., is still more venomous 
than the former. This animal, which is a native of the East, 
is about five feet long, yet not much thicker than the thong 
of a coachman’s whip. It is exceedingly venomous ; and 
its bite is said to kill in about six hours. One of the Jesuit 
missionaries, happening to enter into an Indian pagoda, saw 
what he took to be a whip-cord lying on the floor, and 
stooped to take it up; but upon handling it, what was his 
surprise to find that it was animated, and no other than the 
whip-snake, of which he had heard such formidable accounts. 
Fortune, however, seemed favourable to him ; for he grasped 
it by the head, so that it had no power to bite him, and 
only twisted its folds up his arm. In this manner he held 
it, till it was killed by those who came to his assistance. 
To this formidable class might be added the Asp, whose 
bite, however, is not attended with those drowsy symptoms 
which the ancients ascribed to it. The J acc uus of Jamaica, 
also, is one of the swiftest of the serpent kind. The HjemoR- 
rhois, so called from the haemorrhages which its bite is said 
to produce ; the Seps, whose wound is very venomous, and 
causes (he oart affected to corrupt in a very short time- the 
