CIIAP. V. 
NOTICES OF THE AYE-AYE. 
143 
various kinds; but the largest are not poisonous, though 
they will bite severely if assailed or irritated. M. Provint 
told me that on one occasion, when he was travelling in the 
country, having risen from the mat on which he had slept 
during the night, he went a short distance, and having 
directed his servant to prepare the mats for resuming the 
journey, was called back by the man, who, on rolling up the 
mats, discovered an immense serpent seven or eight feet long, 
and as thick in the body as an ordinary wine bottle. It was 
coiled up in a circle exactly in the spot where he had been 
lying; to which it had probably been attracted by the warmth. 
He said he was startled at the sight of such a monster, and 
called to the natives to destroy it; but instead of this the 
people took a piece of stick, and just guided its head towards 
the long grass and bushes, saying, “ Gro you away, go.” They 
seem to regard with a sort of superstition, almost amounting 
to dread, all serpents, crocodiles, and other dangerous reptiles, 
which they scrupulously avoid injuring, under an apprehension 
of experiencing retaliation, either from that identical reptile 
or from some other of its species, at a future time. The only 
serpent which I saw was a small one between three and four feet 
long, of a light yellow or straw colour, and beautifully marked 
with transverse stripes of brown; but I was told the reptile was 
not venomous. 
The gentleman under whose mats the immense serpent 
had coiled itself while he was sleeping, also told me that, 
when passing through the dense unfrequented parts of the 
forests in the interior, he had met with large serpents which, 
when he has come suddenly upon them, had appeared irritated 
and had reared themselves up several feet as if to resist his 
progress, till he attacked them with a spear. 
Though the animals found in Madagascar are few as com¬ 
pared with those which people the adjacent continent of Africa, 
there are several peculiarly interesting species, respecting 
