Boas. REPTILES. Anaconda. 57 
compressed, but becomes considerably more slender 
towards the tail, which organ is onlj' about tlie sixth 
or seventh part of its total length. The head is heavy- 
looking and thick, elongated, distinct from the neck, 
and heart-shaped. Its prominent muzzle and swollen 
cheeks and rijgion above the eye, give it an air of fero- 
city which in reality however does not belong to its 
character. The eye is small, lateral, and has a ver- 
tical pupil. The colour of the ground is a rosy purple, 
varied and marbled with pale brown. On the under 
surface and towards the tail this passes into white, but 
on the ujiper jjarts, on the contrary, into a pale choco- 
late brown. A broad brownish-black ray runs along 
the sides of the head to behind the nostrils, and extends 
in a serpentine form along the neck and along the 
flanks, enlarging at irregular intervals in order to unite 
with that of the opposite side. The tip of the tail is 
generally of a red colour. The scales of the body are 
remarkably smooth, and extend also over the whole 
head, so that it possesses no plates except those of the 
lips, which are also smooth, and not pitted. The Boa 
constrictor is a native of tropical America ; it has 
been found in Brazil, Para, some of the West India 
islands, and is particularly abundant in Surinam, where 
it is known by the name of Papa-serpent. Very 
exaggerated statements have often been made as to 
the size of the Boa, partly owing to many authors 
confusing other species of the family with it. Modern 
travellers have seldom seen it exceeding twelve feet 
in length, though individuals are mentioned as much 
surpassing that extent. The specimens sent to Europe 
from Surinam vary in general from seven to eight feet 
in length, and in diameter to the circumference of a 
man’s arm. According to the account given to Schlegel 
by his correspondent M. Dieperink, no person in that 
colony regards the Boa with any feelings of fear. On 
the contrary, it is often tamed, and it contracts habits 
so inoffensive, that it holds the rank there of one of the 
domestic animals with which it frequently lives in per- 
fect harmon}'. This gentleman occasionally kept various 
Boas in the same chamber, without any mischief ever 
occurring. He fed them upon eggs, of which they 
appeared to be very fond. Individuals have often 
been known to have lived without food for six or eight 
months. The Prince ofNeuwied, during his travels in 
South America, had frequent opportunities of seeing 
and studying the habits of this snake, and his account 
appears to be both veiy interesting and trustworthy. 
He often met with them in various parts of the east 
coast of Brazil, especially in the country to the south 
of Rio Janeiro, and near Cape Frio. They, appear to 
prefer the woody parts of the interior to the open 
places near the coast, and in such [daces, and in the 
large forests of that country, they^ are often to be seen, 
either hanging suspended to a branch of a tree waiting 
for their prey, or retired into holes in the clefts of 
rocks or under the trunks of old trees, collecting there 
in small companies of several individuals. Their food 
consists of the small mammalia of that country, such 
as rats, mice, agoutis, pacas, and capybaras. The 
adults, however, are said sometimes to attack goats, 
and the natives often in consequence call them Cohra 
de Veada. Nobodyq says Prince Neuwied, fears them, 
Voi,. II. 64 
and the inhabitants often attack and kill them with 
sticks. The native hunters laugh at the absurd idea 
so often entertained by strangers, that the Boas ever 
attack man, but they' afiirm that they will attack and 
devour other reptiles, and also dogs. Unlike the 
Pythons, the Boa never goes into the water, but lies 
concealed in burrows, the entrance into which is easily 
recognized by its being regularly, as it were, polished 
by the rubbing of its huge body against the sides. It 
is caught by the Brazilians placing nets at the entrance 
of this burrow, and these serpents are hunted thus for 
their skin and fat. Of the former they make boots, 
saddle-cloths, &c., and the fat is used for anointing 
painful joints, &e. 
It was either this snake or an allied species, the 
Emperor Boa {Boa Imperator), that was worshipped 
in Mexico. At the first discovery of that country' by 
the Spaniards, this “ snake-worship”, was very com- 
mon, and the idols have been described by the early 
historians of the conquest. Southey, in his fine poem 
of “ Madoc,” describes this horrid worship, the idol, 
and the priests, and Peter the Martyr gives the following 
account of the idol found by the Spaniards at Cam- 
peachy : — 
“ Our men were conducted to a broade crosse-way, 
standing on the side of the towne. Here they show 
them a square stage or pulpit, four steppes high, partly' 
of clammy bitumen, and partly of small stones, whereto 
the image of a man cut in marble was joined, two 
foure-footed unknown animals fastening upon him, 
which, like madde dogges, seemed they' would tear 
the marble man’s guts out of his belly'. And by the 
image stood a serpent, besmeared all with goare blond, 
devouring a marble lion, which serpent, compacted of 
bitumen and small stones incorporated together, was 
seven and fortie feet in length, and as thick as a gi-eat 
oxe. Next unto it were three rafters or stakes fas- 
tened to the grounde, which three others crossed 
under-propped with stones ; in which place they punish 
malefactors condemned, for proof whereof they saw 
innumerable broken arrowes, all bloudie, scattered on 
the grounde, and the bones of the dead cast into an 
inclosed courte neere unto it.” It was to this idol 
that the ancient Mexicans offered human victims : and 
the priests, taking advantage of the knowledge they 
had of the usually gentle habits and docility of these 
large snakes, always kept one alive to show to the 
deluded worshippers. 
THE ANACONDA {Eunectes murinus) — fig. 16 — 
is the largest, however, of all the serpents belonging to 
the Boa family'. This serpent is perhaps the largest 
Ophidian of America, and probably' surpasses in size all 
other serpents in the world. It is to this species that 
we must refer the greater number of the highly exag- 
gerated tales of travellers, of the enormous size, the 
ferocious habits, and the extraordinary voracity of 
those monstrous serpents that have been found in the 
New World. In reading the accounts of some of our 
earlier travellers of the vast size of various serpents 
met with by them, and comparing them with the rela- 
tions of our modern zoological travellers, we are often 
led to pause and ask the question. How are we to 
account for such discrepancies ? In other matters, 
