88 
GREAT BOA. 
the people in the vessel, who immediately went on 
shore: but alas! they came too late, their comrade was 
crushed to death by a monstrous snake ; and all the 
satisfaction they could derive, was to revenge his 
death by killing his enemy, whose head they cut off, 
and carried it, together with the body of the man, 
on board their boat. The marks of the fangs were 
imprinted upon the man’s right wrist, and the 
corpse, though disfigured, bore evident signs of 
being crushed by the monster’s twisting himself 
round the head, neck, breast, and thigh. The 
snake measured about thirty feet ; and when the 
jaws were extended they admitted a body the size 
of a man’s head. 
When these animals have swallowed their prey, 
they may be approached without fear, as they for 
some time afterwards lose all ability to move, and lie 
as it were in a kind of torpor. They have been known 
to remain in tnis state for five or six days, till the 
food they have ingorged is digested, and they are 
in a condition to seek for more. 
The antient Mexicans are said to have held the 
great boa in religious veneration. They distin- 
guished it by a name signifying emperor, or power- 
. ful. All its motions were watched with great at- 
tention, and its long and violent hissings were heard 
with universal consternation : some public calamity 
was expected to follow these warnings, which were 
considered as immediately connected with their 
destiny. 
