SOUTH AMERICA. 
189 
was something to do. The little dog came along 
with us, and when we had got about half a mile in 
the forest, the negro stopped, and pointed to the 
fallen tree : all was still and silent: I told the negroes 
not to stir from the place where they were, and keep 
the little dog in, and that I would go in and recon¬ 
noitre. 
I advanced up to the place slow and cautious. 
The snake was well concealed, but at last I made 
him out; it was a Coulacanara, not poisonous, but 
large enough to have crushed any of us to death. 
On measuring him afterwards, he was something 
more than fourteen feet long. This species of snake 
is very rare, and much thicker, in proportion to his 
length, than any other snake in the forest. A 
Coulacanara of fourteen feet in length is as thick as 
a common Boa of twenty-four. After skinning this 
snake I could easily get my head into his mouth, as 
the singular formation of the jaws admits of wonder¬ 
ful extension. 
A Dutch friend of mine, by name Brouwer, killed 
a boa, twenty-two feet long, with a pair of stag’s 
horns in his mouth : he had swallowed the sta^, 
but could not get the horns down: so he had to 
wait in patience with that uncomfortable mouthful 
till his stomach digested the body, and then the 
horns would drop out. In this plight the Dutch¬ 
man found him as he was going in his canoe up the 
river, and sent a ball through his head. 
On ascertaining the size of the serpent which the 
negro had just found, I retired slowly the way I 
THIRD 
JOURNEY. 
Finds and 
secures 
an enor- 
mousCou- 
lacanara 
snake. 
