Note 6 — Chapter XVI

As so few Europeans have seen these large serpents, and the very existence of any large enough to swallow a horse or ox is hardly credited, I append the following account by a competent scientific observer, the well-known botanical traveller Dr. Gardner. In his "Travels in Brazil," p. 356, he says:—

"In the marshes of this valley in the province of Goyaz, near Arrayas, the Boa Constrictor is often met with of considerable size; it is not uncommon throughout the whole province, particularly by the wooded margins of lakes, marshes, and streams. Sometimes they attain the enormous length of forty feet: the largest I ever saw was at this place, but it was not alive. Some weeks before our arrival at Safê, the favourite riding horse of Senhor Lagoriva, which had been put out to pasture not far from the house, could not be found, although strict search was made for it all over the Fazenda. Shortly after this, one of his vaqueiros, in going through a wood by the side of a small river, saw an enormous Boa suspended in the fork of a tree which hung over the water; it was dead, but had evidently been floated down alive by a recent flood, and being in an inert state it had not been able to extricate itself from the fork before the waters fell. It was dragged out to the open country by two horses, and was found to measure thirty-seven feet in length; on opening it the bones of a horse in a somewhat broken condition, and the flesh in a half-digested state, were found within it, the bones of the head being uninjured; from these circumstances we concluded that the Boa had devoured the horse entire."