Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 2 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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The
Coluber Mapanare Of The Rio Magdalena Has Two Hundred And Eight
Ventral Plates, And Sixty-Four Double Caudal Scales.) These Grow To
Four Or Five Feet Long.
They appeared to me to be the same species as
those I saw in the Rio Magdalena.
This serpent is a beautiful animal,
but extremely venomous, white on the belly, and spotted with brown and
red on the back. As the inside of the hut was filled with grass, and
we were lying on the ground, there being no means of suspending our
hammocks, we were not without inquietude during the night. In the
morning a large viper was found on lifting the jaguar-skin upon which
one of our domestics had slept. The Indians say that these reptiles,
slow in their movements when they are not pursued, creep near a man
because they are fond of heat. In fact, on the banks of the Magdalena
a serpent entered the bed of one of our fellow-travellers, and
remained there a part of the night, without injuring him. Without
wishing to take up the defence of vipers and rattlesnakes, I believe
it may be affirmed that, if these venomous animals had such a
disposition for offence as is supposed, the human species would
certainly not have withstood their numbers in some parts of America;
for instance, on the banks of the Orinoco and the humid mountains of
Choco.
We embarked on the 8th of May at sunrise, after having carefully
examined the bottom of our canoe.
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