loggerheads, which grow to a great size, some of them weighing several
hundred pounds, land turtles, fresh water turtles, alligators, extremely
voracious, and from 12 to 15 feet in length; they will swallow a man, and
at Bance Island Negro boys have been frequently snatched up by them from
the shore. There are also a variety of the lizard species, with the guava,
and camelion.

Snakes abound; some of them haunt the houses in the night, and prowl about
for poultry, of which they are fond; some have been found to measure above
18 feet; and I have the skin of one in my possession, killed when young,
above 10 feet in length; it is that species which swallows its prey entire;
several animals were found in their perfect state when the one I allude to
was cut open.

There is also an immense animal of this species, which I have heard the
natives of this part of the coast describe, often exceeding 30 feet in
length, and of an enormous size; it is variegated with spots, and the head
is covered with scales; the tongue is fleshy and forked, but its bite is
not poisonous; it is to be found in the recesses of caves and thickets,
from whence it suddenly darts upon its victim, whether man or beast: it
frequently chooses a tree, from which it reconnoitres the passing objects,
supporting itself by the tail, which it twists round the trunk or branches:
when it seizes animals, especially those of the larger kind, such as lions,
tigers, &c. it dexterously, and almost instantaneously twists itself round
their bodies in several folds, and by its powerful muscular force, breaks
the bones, and bruises it in all its parts; when this is done it covers the
animal with a viscous cohesive saliva, by licking its body with its tongue,
which facilitates the power of swallowing it entire; this process is
tedious, and it gradually sucks in the body, which, if large, renders it
incapable of moving for some time, until it digests; and this is the period
which the hunters watch to destroy it: it makes a hissing noise like a
serpent, and has recourse to a variety of expedients to conceal itself; it
is called by the natives _Tinnui_, and is what I apprehend naturalists term
the species of _Boa constrictor_: it is most commonly found in the sultry
climates of Africa, and I believe is also an inhabitant of Asia and
America.

Insects are extremely numerous, of a nondescript species, and exceedingly
beautiful: the most singular are termites, destructive to hous