Note 19 — Relation of the Filipinas Islands

For a treatise on the snakes and poisonous animals of the Philippines, see Delgado’s Historia, pp. 889–907. He describes the omodro as the odto (Hemibungarus collaris)—from the word meaning “half-day” or “noon,” and given to it because the bite proves fatal if given at noon, but at no other time. It is of various colors and very furious at the hour of noon. The saua (Python reticulatus) is the largest snake of the islands and is often domesticated, and is not poisonous to man.