m m m m El.EJfah. I l l quick and. penetrating poison; it is about two feet long, and as tl.ii.ck as a man’s arnj, b e au tifu lly spotted with y e llow and brown, and sprinkled, oyer with blackish specks, similar to the b.orn:nosed snake. Xhoy have a wide mouth, b y w hich they inhale a great quantity o f air, and when inflated therewith, they eject it with such force as.to be heard at a.considerable distance. These mortal enemies to mankind are collected b y the Aisawie before-mentioned, in a desert o f S u se, where their hpl,es are so numerous,, that it is difficult for a horse tp pass o ve r it without stunffihng, , , ■ • T h e jBoah, or desert suake, is an enormous monster, from twenty tp . eighty feet long;, as thick a» a man’s body, and o f a dingy colour: this inhabitant o f Sahara is not venomous, though it is not less destructive : the Arabs (speaking o f it figurativ e ly )* affirm, that as it passes along th e desert it fires the ground with the ve lo city o f its motion. It is impossible to escape i t ; it w ill twist itself round an ox, and after crushing its bonejs, w ill swallow j f g rad u a lly , after which it lies supinely on the ground two or three days, unable to proceed till the animal be digested. Tw o o f the§e monsters stationed themselves near the road from Marocco to Terodant, near to the la tte r c ity , a few vears since; one o f them was killed, the other remained there several days, and prevented travellers from passing the ro a d : they were both youn g ones, heing about twenty feet long. . Various stories are related b y the Arabs o f Sahara respecting the B oahs; but the y are mpstly ingenious fables, orig ina lly in tended to inculcate some moral lesson. W ith o u t speaking o f all the various kinds o f serpents which are either timid, harmless or not venomous, I must observe, that * Ky herk el bled beshuelhu.
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