THE LIVING WORLD. 
189 
Goldsmith, to illustrate the crushing power of the boa , relates the fol¬ 
lowing incident: “ There are stories of the boa constrictor destroying even 
the buffalo and the tiger, by crushing them in this manner by the astonishing 
force of its muscles. We shall confine ourselves at present to a well-authenti¬ 
cated account of the voracious appetite of a serpent of this species, which was 
brought from Batavia, in the year 1817, on board a vessel which conveyed 
Lord Amherst and his 
suite to England. This 
serpent was of large di¬ 
mensions, though not of 
the very largest. A living 
goat was placed in his 
cage. He viewed his prey 
for a few seconds, felt it 
with his tongue, and then 
withdrawing his head, 
darted at the throat. But 
the goat, displaying a 
courage worthy of a better 
fate, received the monster 
on his horns. The serpent 
retreated, to return to the 
combat with more deadly 
certainty. He seized the 
goat by the leg, pulled it 
violently down, and twisted 
himself with astonishing 
rapidity round the body, 
throwing his principal 
weight upon the neck. The 
goat was so overpowered 
that he could not even 
struggle for escape. For 
some minutes after his 
victim was dead the serpent 
did not change his posture. 
At length he gradually 
slackened his grasp, and 
having entirely disen¬ 
gaged himself, he prepared 
to swallow the lifeless body. 
Fading it about with his A B0A CRUSHING A tiger. 
tongue, he began to draw . . , 
the head into his throat; but the horns, which were four inches m length, 
rendered the gorging of the head a difficult task. In about two hours the 
whole body had disappeared. During the continuance of this extraordinary 
exertion the appearance of the serpent was truly hideous ; he seemed to 
be suffering strangulation; his cheeks looked as if they were bursting, 
and the horns appeared ready to protrude through the monster s scales. Alter 
