Note 29 — HUNTING A HOME IN BRAZIL. (continued 7)
Reading edition
In addition to the other remarkable things, two very large cobras were encountered and killed by one of my attendants. This is a most venomous serpent, and resembles very much the rattle-snake in its shape and color. These were found close together, and were supposed to be male and female. Each was lying quietly upon a separate stump of a large tree, and seemed to bask in the warm sun without any sense of danger.
“They are so unacquainted with man,
Their tameness is shocking to me.”
Upon seeing the first this man alighted and cut a stick, walking up deliberately, so as to strike a deadly blow, without any movement on the part of the snake.
He had remounted when the other was observed, and the same process was repeated with it as the first. Both were wide awake, and kept their sly wicked gaze fixed upon their slayer as he advanced, ready to destroy him if he had afforded the opportunity.
With the exception of a small specimen, about a foot and a half long, killed near the Jacaré river, these are the only cobras seen during the tour, and they are unusually large, being three feet long, with a thickness such as a rattle-snake of similar length would have. The bite of one of these serpents, without a prompt remedy on hand, is considered certainly fatal to man or beast, but fortunately they do not seem to be numerous in any part visited.