m  'R M T I V E D'fl' 1A?N
o H1 A P. any perfon hefltate to believe this extraordinary fadt, let
XX1X* 'Mérijpeste'-GodMs -^elhatrthentieatsatl .’letter'-tw
his friend Monfièur -de la iG^^wm^/iwhereih he; gives *
ah account o f the drekdfuTfüSèrihgs -diitiiig;-
her route from Rio Bomba to Laguna^-through the woods
of South America, in October 1769; * whêrë a? dehchtë:
woman, after being defeated by the'Indian-göïdê%and
after both her brothers had faUen martyrs th their hafd-
fhips and mifery, fuhfifted ten days alOneinawild fpreib
without food, without knowing where fhe was, and fur-
rounded with tigers* ferpents^ and dangers /of rev^fiy fte^r
fcripti©»: I fay, let them only read the narrativeiafi
this lady’s fufferings, and theirt Oredulity will no longèri
he ftaggered at what 1 myfelf have related*. I haywire*:
deed,* even ofiiitted fadts, which,t onoaocdEiait r©F thMr
Angularity, muft in the eyes of feane.hayei appeared tó:
border on the marvellous. But .'in. the' fbrefls of South
America fuch extraordinary realities are;to berfóund, that»
there is affufedly no need to have recourfe to fiétión of
the leaft exaggeration.)
Who, for inftance, would believe, that almoft a whole
detachment o f eighty marines, one day marching through
a thick wood, imagined to a mam that they werestepping
one after another over a large fallen tree, that obftru&ed
their way; till at length it began to moVe, and próvfed to
he no other than a full grown ferpent of the aboma kind,
meafuring, according to Colonel FourgebudV computation,
between thirty and*forty feet in length? yet this
is
367
. is(|and©duhitâïtelriîth^'i\'Thej.al>çfyë âbimal was neither CHAP;
killed..nor< hurt ; «the';Colonel; ordermgthe -remaining ; XXIX* f
party to form in a half.circle and march ■ around it, in
wdên th à iîffi^ dhdmfelyess%lhe fame; time might ef-
• cape ëyè'ry dâkgè^frdra1 theimhhfteris fea^lgfsfRpcngth.
In this pte&ee-T jfh.hll mention ranofh^i extraordinary
'rircumftanfce^tachris, that one morningColorvel Four-
rgeôud -rafting: in Msv'hammock,- with #n drhand; caralefsly
; ieamrig iradref the dido, a%rge faftk-jînqbç, that Jay coiled
up. among the long grMs »which waStundfeildt, was a&ually
-fevered in two-'by the fmf in el, during the very moment
- o f haiftioh that Ahiaderar fprirïg td bite; him : o f which
theïôl& à fyim hûfà h?d >beem
apprifed-lhrft by - the found b£>Sts• rattle,f and- next, by
' feeing ;the fnake’s head ere&ed,. whlfefc Was- brandifhing
- its^dfefkg#tonguek a
As- f lam treating of thefe reptiles, F eannot xrefift
temptation rof- fnferfîng n.'fâdt, which-1* learned from Mr*
Francis. Rows of Philadelphia; a refpe&able , old -man £*
who iriformedhaey .that riding :oytt one foqrnk^t^yifitai
tfribnd* Ms ftbrfe ft e&fed to gh fbr\feaid|! feeibg ;tefri#ed|at
-a ^rge rattle-fn^e-hfhaf liyapmfs th^ roadv Mr. Rowe,
having heard *»f ftis power o f fafcination, in whifih he
was a -believer, alighted to lead the. animal round, it ;
but during that time the. fnake^ havingeoiled-h-imfelf up,,
founded its rattle, and ftared hina fbfuh in the face, and
with fuch fire in itâ^eyés, that the cold fweafc Woke out
upon h im; tftus,whilft he. darft neither rëtrêat or advance,
* he