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126 a huge snake which they had recently killed. I eyed it with some attention as they came up, and discovered that it was very like the monster who had devoured my mule in the morning: there were the same head and eyes; the same black and yellow scales, and it was of similar proportions. I raised the skin of the throat, which had been cut, half expecting to perceive the shaggy ears of a mule remaining there undigested; but no such appearance could I discern: he might have been my enemy of the forenoon notwithstanding, and I tried to persuade myself that he was so. I regarded the group, as they retreated, with mingled feelings of satisfaction for the justice they had done, and of sympathy for the risks they must encounter in their dangerous pursuit.

The songs often indulged in on these excursions are generally rude, unmeaning, and untranslatable; but the following is an English imitation of one of the least barbarous:—

 "Come brothers away! to the far, wild brake, Where the snaky tribes their pleasure take; Where they slily spring from their greenwood lair, On the innocent prey that passes there. Death to the serpent! brothers, I say. On with me! come away! come away!