letely played
out and had to lie down in the bottom of the canoe, shivering as if
with ague.

The others took pains to measure the length of the snake before
leaving. It was 79 palmas or 52 feet 8 inches. In circumference it
measured 11 palmas, corresponding to a diameter of 28 inches. Its
mouth, they said, was two palmas or sixteen inches, but how they mean
this to be understood I do not know.

This event happened while I was living at headquarters. I had a
long talk with Perreira, but could not shake his statement, nor that
of the three others; nevertheless, I remained a sceptic as to this
alleged charming or mesmeric power of the snakes, at least so far as
man is concerned.

At that time we were awaiting the arrival of the monthly launch from
the town of Remate de Males, and had spent a day weighing rubber
at the camp of one of the employees, half a day's journey from
headquarters. The rubber-pellets were loaded into our large canoe
to take up to Floresta. We spent the evening drinking black coffee
and eating some large, sweet pineapples, whereafter we all took a
nap lasting until midnight, when we got up to start on our night
trip. It had been considered best to travel at night, when it was
nice and cool with none of the pestering insects to torture us, and
we were soon paddling the heavy canoe at a merry rate, smoking our
pipes and singing in the still, dark night. Soon we rounded a point
where the mighty trees, covered with orchids and other parasitic
plants, sent their branches down to the very water which in its
depths was hiding the dreaded water-snakes. The only sound we heard
was the weird calling of the night-owl, the "Mother of the Moon"
as the Indians call it. Except this and the lapping sound of water,
as we sped along, nothing disturbed the tranquillity of the night.

I was in the act of lighting another pipe when one of the men
cried out:

"What's this?"

We all stopped paddling and stared ahead at a large dark object,
resting on a moon-lit sand-bar not far from us. Then someone said,
"_Sucuruju_." Few people can comprehend the feeling that creeps into
one's heart when this word is pronounced, under such circumstances,
in the far-off forest, in the middle of the night. The word
means boa-constrictor, but it meant a lot more at this moment. An
indescribable feeling of awe seized me. I knew now that I was to face
the awful master of the swamps, the great silent monster of the river,
of which so