The Rev.
Lansdown Guilding, writing in the Island of St. Vincent, says, "A
noble specimen of the boa constrictor was lately conveyed to us by the
currents, twisted round the trunk of a large sound cedar tree, which
had probably been washed out of the bank, by the floods of some great
South American river, while its huge folds hang on the branches as it
waited for its prey. The monster was fortunately destroyed after
killing a few sheep, and his skeleton now hangs before me in my study,
putting me in mind how much reason I might have had to fear in my
future rambles through St. Vincent, had this formidable animal been a
pregnant female and escaped to a safe retreat."
The pythons closely resemble the true boas, but have the subcaudal
plates double; the muzzle is sheathed with plates, and those covering
the mouth of the jaws have pits. These snakes, which equal or exceed
the boas in magnitude, are natives of India, Africa, and Australia.
Pliny speaks of snakes in India of such a size as to be capable of
swallowing stags and bulls; and Valerius Maximus, quoting a lost
portion of Pliny's work, narrates the alarm into which the troops
under Regulus were thrown by a serpent which had its lair on the banks
of the river Bagradas, between Utica and Carthage, and which
intercepted the passage to the river. It resisted ordinary weapons,
and killed many of the men; till at last it was destroyed by heavy
stones thrown from military engines used in battering walls; its
length is stated as a hundred and twenty feet.
Pages:
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50