he gave in, finding himself
overpowered. This was the moment to secure him. So while the first negro
continued to hold the lance firm to the ground, and the other was
helping me, I contrived to unloosen my braces, and with them tied the
snake's mouth.

The snake now finding himself in an unpleasant predicament, tried to
better himself, and set resolutely to work, but we overpowered him. We
contrived to make him twist himself round the shaft of the lance, and
then prepared to convey him out of the forest. I stood at his head, and
held it firm under my arm, one negro supporting the belly and the other
the tail. In this order we began to move slowly toward home, and reached
it after resting ten times; for the snake was too heavy for us to
support, without stopping to recruit our strength. As we proceeded
onward with him, he fought hard for freedom, but it was all in vain. We
untied the mouth of the bag, kept him down by main force, and then cut
his throat.

The week following, a curious conflict took place near the spot where I
had captured the large snake. In the morning I had been following a
species of paroquet, and, the day being rainy, I had taken an umbrella
to keep the gun dry, and had left it under a tree: in the afternoon, I
took Daddy Quashi (the negro) with me to look for it. While he was
searching about, curiosity led me toward the place of the late scene of
action. There was a path where timber had formerly been dragged along.
Here I observed a young coulacanara, ten feet long, slowly moving
onward; and I saw he was thick enough to break my arm, in case he got
twisted around it. There was not a moment to be lost. I laid hold of his
tail with the left hand, one knee being on the ground; and, with the
right hand, I took off my hat, and held it as I would hold a shield
for defence.

The snake instantly turned, and came on at me with his head about a yard
from the ground, as if to ask me what business I had to take such
liberties with his tail. I let him come, hissing and open-mouthed,
within two feet of my face, and then, with all the force that I was
master of, drove my fist, shielded by my hat, full in his jaws. He was
stunned and confounded by the blow, and, ere he could recover himself, I
had seized his throat with both hands, in such a position that he could
not bite me. I then allowed him to coil himself around my body and
marched off with him as my lawful prize. He pressed me hard, but not
alarmingly