on of the first sufferer, and successively received
the _kriss_ in their own bosoms, was quite surprising, and shewed with
what stoical composure the Mohammedan fatalist can meet a violent death.

The forests of Java are inhabited by the rhinoceros, tiger, black tiger,
leopard, tiger-cat, boa-constrictor, and a variety of animals of milder
natures. The elephant is not found in its wild state in these woods,
though numerous in those of the neighbouring island. I am not aware of
any other animal that may be called dangerous to man in these unrivalled
forests; nor is there much to be apprehended from occasionally coming in
contact with either of those above-named, though accidents happen now
and then. I have known a carriage and four attacked on the main road
between Batavia and Samarang, by a tiger, and one of the poneys killed
by the fierce onset. This, however, is a rare occurrence, and can happen
only when the tiger is hard pressed for food; which is seldom the case
in the woods of Java, overrun as they are with deer, wild-hog, and other
royal game. The boa is harmless to man, unless his path is crossed, when
a speedy retreat is advisable. A friend of mine in Samarang once kept
one of these monsters as a pet, and used to let him crawl all over the
garden: it measured exactly nineteen feet. It was regularly fed twice a
month, viz. on the 1st and the 15th. On the first day of the month, a
moderate-sized goat was put into his house. The poor animal would
scream, and exhibit every symptom of extreme terror, but was not kept
long in suspense; for the snake, after eyeing his victim keenly, would
spring on it with the rapidity of thought, coil three turns round the
body, and in an instant every bone in the goat's skin was broken. The
next process was, to stretch the carcass to as great a length as he
could before uncoiling himself; then to lick it all over; and he
commenced his feast by succeeding, after some severe exertion, in
getting the goat's head within his mouth. In the course of twenty
minutes, the whole animal was swallowed: the snake would then lie down,
and remain perfectly dormant for three or four days. His lunch (as I may
call it) on the fifteenth of the month, used to consist of a duck. This
snake was given, in 1815, to Lord Amherst, on his return from China, and
reached the Cape in safety: there it was over-fed to gratify the
curious visitors, and died in consequence before the ship reached St.
Helena.

While