in order to grapple, with greater 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 succeeded in
breaking the teeth of the serpent, and relieving Mr. Cops from his
perilous situation; two broken teeth were extracted from the thumb; the
wounds soon healed, and no further inconvenience followed. Still more
severe was the contest which took place between a negro herdsman,
belonging to Mr. Abson, for many years Governor at Fort William, on the
coast of Africa. This man was seized by a huge Python while passing
through a wood. The serpent fixed his fangs in his thigh, but in
attempting to throw himself round his body, fortunately became entangled
with a tree, and the man being thus preserved from a state of compression
which would have instantly rendered him powerless, had presence of mind
enough to cut with a large knife which he carried about with him, deep
gashes in the neck and throat of his antagonist, thereby killing him, and
disengaging himself from his frightful situation. He never afterward,
however, recovered the use of the limb, which had sustained considerable
injury from the fangs and mere force of the jaws, and for many years
limped about the fort, a living example of the prowess of these fearful
serpents.

The true _Boas_, it is to be observed, are restricted to America, the name
_Python_ being given to the large serpents of Africa and India. It is
related by Pliny that the army of Regulus was alarmed by a huge serpent
one hundred and twenty-three feet in length. This account is doubtful; but
there is a well-authenticated instance of the destruction of a snake above
sixty-two feet long, while in the act of coiling itself round the body of
a man. The snakes at the gardens will generally be found coiled and twined
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 _battue_ which ensued
can better be imagined than described.

The cobras, the puff-adders, and some of the other highly-venomous
serpents are principally found in rocky and sandy places, and very
dangerous they are. Mr. Gould, the eminent ornithologist, had a most
narrow escape of his life when in the interior of Australia: there is a
serpent found in those arid wastes, whose bite is fatal in an