SERPENTS. 409 
More various colours through his body run, 
Than Iris when her bow imbibes the sun. 
Between the rising altars and around, 
The sacred monster shot along the ground ; 
With harmless play among the bowls he pass'd, 
And with his lolling tongue assay'd the taste : 
Thus fed with holy food, the wondrous guest 
Within the hollow tomb retired to rest. 
DRYDEN. 
This animal was exalted to the honour of being an em- 
blem of prudence, and even of eternity ; and is often 
represented for the latter purpose, in Egyptian hiero- 
glyphics, biting his tail, so as to form a circle. Serpents 
are very numerous in Africa ; and Lucan, in his Pharsalia, 
gives us a very extraordinary account of the different 
species, which he seems to have drawn partly from ancient 
Greek authors, partly from actual traditions. He says, 
Why plagues like these infect the Libyan air ; 
Why deaths unknown in various shapes appear ; 
Why, fruitful to destroy, the cursed land 
Is temper'd thus by Nature's secret hand ; 
Dark and obscure the hidden cause remains, 
And still deludes the vain inquirer's pains. 
HOWE'S LUCAN. 
Serpents differ very much in size. We are told of Serpents 
in the isle of Java measuring fifty feet in length ; and in 
the British Museum there is a skin of one thirty-two feet 
long. Though all Serpents are amphibious, some are 
much fonder of the water than others ; and, though desti- 
tute of fins or gills, remain at the bottom or swim along 
the surface with great ease. From their internal structure 
they are well adapted for either element, and their blood 
is as capable of circulating at the bottom of ponds as that 
of the frog or the tortoise. Some Serpents are not vora- 
cious, but others are so to an extraordinary degree. 
Many Indians, and some jugglers of the south of France, 
