Page:A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro.djvu/362

 322 ZOOLOGY OF

C. Reptiles and Fishes.

Like all tropical countries the Amazon district abounds in reptiles, and contains many of the largest size and most singular structure. The lizards and serpents are particularly abundant, and among the latter are several very venomous species ; but the most remarkable are the boa and the anaconda, which reach an enormous size. The former inhabits the land, and though it is often found very large, yet the most authentic and trustworthy accounts of monstrous serpents refer to the latter, the Eunectes murinus of naturalists, which lives in or near the water. The Indians are aware of the generic distinction of these creatures, for while they call the former "Jiboa," the latter is the " Sucuruju."

The largest specimens I met with myself were not more than from fifteen to twenty feet long, but I have had several accounts of their having been killed, and measured, of a length of thirty- two feet. They have been seen very much larger, but, as may be supposed, are then very difficult to kill or secure, owing to their tenacity of life and their acquatic habits. It is an undis- puted fact that they devour cattle and horses, and the general belief in the country is that they are sometimes from sixty to eighty feet long.*

Alligators of three or four distinct species abound in the Amazon, and in all its tributary streams. The smaller ones are eaten by the natives, the larger often devour them in return. In almost every village some persons may be seen maimed by these creatures, and many children are killed every year. The eggs of all the different kinds are eaten, though they have a very strong musky odour. The largest species

existence of any large enough to swallow a horse or ox is hardly credited, I append ths following account by a competent scientific observer, the well-known botanical traveller Dr. Gardner. In his " Travels in Brazil," p. 356, he says : —
 * As so few Europeans have seen these large serpents, and the very

" In the marshes of this valley in the province of Goyaz, near Arrayas, the Boa Constrictor is often met with of considerable size ; it is not un- common throughout the whole province, particularly by the wooded margins of lakes, marshes, and streams. Sometimes they attain the enormous length of forty feet: the largest I ever saw was at this place, but it was not alive. Some weeks before our arrival at Safe, the favourite riding horse of SenhorLagoriva, which had been put out to pasture not far