Polynesian., 1851-03-15

fowl to the head of the largest of the FIVE
snakes which we're there kept; the snake
was changing his skin, consequently, being
nearly blind, (for the skin of his eve IS
changed with the rest, it darted at the fowl,
but missed it, and seized the keeper by the
left thumb, coiling round his arm and neck
in moment, and fixing itself by its tail to
one of the posts Of its cage, thus giving Itself
greater power. Mr.. Cops, who was alone
did not loose his presence of mind, and I'M
mediately attempted to relieve himself from
the powerful construction by getting at the
serpent's head; but the serpent had so knot
ted itself upon its own head, that MIR. Cops
could not reach it, and had thrown himself
upon the floor in order to grappe with great
er success, with his formidable oPponent,-
when fortunately, two other keepers came IN
and rushed to the rescue. The struggle
even then was severe, but at length they sue
ceeded in breaking the teeth of the serpent.
and relieving Mr.. Cops from hrs PerIlous
situation two broken teeth were extracted
from the thumb; the wonnd soon healed, and
no further inconvenience followed. STU
more severe was the contest which took
place between a negro herdsman, belonging
to Mr. Alison, for many year Governor at
Fort William, on the coast Of Africa. This
man was seized by a huge python while pas
sing through a wood The serpent fixed his
fangs in his thigh, bnt in attempting to throw
himself round his body, fortunately became
entangled with tree, and the man being
thus preserved from state OF compression
which would have instantly rendered him
powerless, had presence Of mind enough to
cut with d large knife which he carried about
him, deep gashes in the neck and throat OF
his anita gonist, thereby killing him and dis
eng aging himself from his frightful situation
He never afterwards, however, recovered
the use of the limb, which had sustained con-
siderable injury from the fangs and mere
force of the Jaws, and for many years limped
about the fort living example of the pro-
wess of those fearful serpents.
! The boa, it is to be observed, are restrict
ed to America, the name python being gwen
i to the large serpents of Africa and India. II
is related by Pliny that the ;rmy of Regulus
was alarmed by huge serpent, one hundred
| and twenty three feet in length. This ac-
count is doubtful; but there is well-authen-
ticated instance Of the destruction of snake
above sixty-two feet long, while in the act
of coiling itself round the body Of man.
The snakes at the gardens viii generally be
found coi!ed and t~;ued together in large
clusters, probably for the sake of warmth
DR.. Carpenter knew an instance in which no
less than thirteen hundred of our English
harmless snakes were found in an old lime
kiln! The battle which ensued can better be
: imagined than described.
The cobras, the puff-adders, and some of
the other highly ly-venomons serpents, are Prin-
cipally found in rocky and sandy places, and
very dangerous they are. Mr. Gould, the
\ eminent orinthologist, had a most narrow
escape of his life when in the interior of
! Australia: there is serpent found in these
arid wastes, whose bite is fatal in an incredi-
| bly short time, and it springs at an object
with great force. Mr. Gould was little in
advance of his party, when suddenly ma
tive who was with him screamed out, "Oh,
massa, dere big snake!" Mr. Gould started,
and putting his foot in a hole, nearly fell to
the ground At that instant the snake made
its spring, and had it not been for his stum-
BILE would have struck him in the face; as it
was, it passed over his head and was shot
before it could do any further mischief II
was large snake, Of the most venomous
sort, and the natives gathered round the
sportsn an, anxiously inquirngfif it had bit
ten him? Finding it had not, all said they
thought he was ''good for dead, )" when;t they
saw the reptile spring. rf-
i THE STING AND THE BITE.
i The expression s'sting, used repeatedly,
by Shakespeare, as applied to snakes, is alto
gether incorrect; the tongue has nothing to
do with the inflicton of injury. Serpents
bite, and the difference between tine harm
less and the venomous serpents generally is
simply this: the mn....ns of :.n,,v harmless
snakes an" .ne wnole tribe of boas are pro-
vided with sharp teeth, but no fangs; their
bite, therefore, is innocuous; the poisonous
serpents, on the other hand. have two poison
fangs attached to the upper jaw which lie fiat
upon the roof Of the mouth when not IN use,
and are concealed by fold Of the skin, In
each fang is tube winch opens near the
point of the tooth by assure; when the
creature rs irritated the fangs are at once
erected The poison bag is placed beneath
the muscles which act on the lower jaw, so
that when the fangs are struck into the VIC
tim the poison is injected with much force to
the very bottom of the wound ... 3. -s.
I But how do boa-constrictors swallow goats
and antelopes, and other large animals
} whole. The process Is very SIMPLE; the
lower jaw is not united to the upper, out 10
hung to long stalk-shaped bone on which
it is movable, and the bone Is only attached
to the skull by ligaments, susceptible of ex-
traordinary extension. The process by
which those serpents take and swallow their
prey has been so graphically described in
the second volume of the Geological Journal,
by that very able naturalist and graceful
writer, w. l. Broderip, Esq, F. K. s, that
we shall transcribe il, being able from ire
quent ocular demonstrations, to vouch for It's
correctness. A large buck rabbit was nitro
duced into the cage of boa constructor OF
!, great size: 'sThe snake was down and mo-
I tionless in a moment. There ne lay like
> log, without one symptom OF life save what
: glared in the small bright eye twinkiing IN
his depressed head. The rabbit appeared to
i, take no notice of him, bot presently began