ants of those districts
that the number of the venomous, compared with the innoxious reptiles,
is comparatively small. Of the poisonous serpents, only a few kinds are
known whose bite is attended with very dangerous consequences. The
minamaru or jergon (_Lachesis picta_, Tsch.) is, at most, three feet
long, with a broad, heart-shaped head, and a thick upper lip. It haunts
the higher forests, while in those lower down his place is filled by his
no less fearful relative, the flammon, (_Lachesis rhombeata_, Prince
Max.,) which is six or seven feet in length. These serpents are usually
seen coiled almost in a circle, the head thrust forward, and the fierce,
treacherous-looking eyes glaring around, watching for prey, upon which
they pounce with the swiftness of an arrow; then, coiling themselves up
again, they look tranquilly on the death-struggle of the victim. It
would appear that these Amphibia have a perfect consciousness of the
dreadful effect of their poisonous weapon, for they use it when they are
neither attacked nor threatened, and they wound not merely animals fit
for their food, but all that come within their reach. More formidable
than the two snakes just described, but happily much less common, is the
brown ten-inch-long viper (_Echidna ocellata_, Tsch.). It is brown, with
two rows of black circular spots. The effect of its bite is so rapid
that it kills a strong man in two or three minutes. So convinced are the
natives of its inevitably fatal result, that they never seek any remedy:
but immediately on receiving the wound lay themselves down to die. In
the montanas of Pangoa this viper abounds more than in any other
district: and never without apprehension do the cholos undertake their
annual journey for the coca harvest, as they fear to fall victims to the
bite of this viper. The warning sound of the rattlesnake is seldom
heard in the hot montanas, and never in the higher regions.

"Nature, who in almost all things has established an equilibrium,
supplies the natives with remedies against the bite of the serpent. One
of the cures most generally resorted to is the root of the amarucachu
(_Polianthes tuberosa_,[185] Linn.), cut into slips and laid upon the
wound. Another is the juice of the creeping plant called vijuco de huaco
(_Mikania huaco_,[186] Kunth), which is already very widely celebrated.

"This latter remedy was discovered by the negroes of the equatorial
province Choco. They remarked that a sparrow-ha