414 PELOPONNESUS. 
CHAP, who, delighted by the discovery he iiact made. 
' came running with an extraordinary snake 
which he had caught among some myrtles, and 
held writhing in his hands. It was of a bright 
yellow colour, shining like burnished gold, about 
a yard in length, such as none of us had seen 
before. The peasants, however, knew it to be 
a species of harmless serpent, which they had 
been accustomed to regard with tenderness, 
and even with superstitious veneration ; telling 
us it would be unlucky in any one who should 
do it injury. It was, in fact, one of the curious 
breed described by Pausanias, as peculiar to the 
country of the Epidaurians, being always harm- 
less, and of a yellow colour 1 . We could not, 
however, assist Mr. Cripps in its preservation ; 
no one of our party being able to divest himself 
sufficiently of a very common antipathy for ser- 
pents : and the consequence was, that being- 
unwilling to put it to death, and the peasants 
wishing for its release, he suffered it to escape. 
Aipctof The Coilon of this theatre, as usual, has been 
the Coilon. 
scooped in the side of a mountain ; but it faces 
the north. As the sea could not enter into the 
(1) AatixotT'.s Ss tl A.tiTci KOI iriatt yiies i; ft "laitoTien fioMirff, %0iaf. lit" 
fttt rtv ' Afx.^.nfiu itft'i^nreu, xfj litn atf(*roif r,u.ia'.t' rfifti Ji pit* ffai; i 
yr,. Pausanue Corinthiaca, c. 28. p. 175. Lips. 1696. 
