Boa

“ The curate of the village, who had gone in quest of the body to give it burial, and who saw the remains of the boa, described them to me as being of an almost incredible size. Unfortunately this circumstance happened at a considerable distance from my habitation, and I was only made acquainted with the particulars when it was too late to verify them myself: but still there is nothing surprising that a boa which can swallow a deer should as easily [226] swallow a man. Several other feats of a similar nature were related to me by the Indians. ”

“ In the middle of the afternoon, he arrived at his journey’s end.
He entered into the reception-room of Boa’s house, and found him sitting there. Boa welcomed him, and said to his wife, “Prepare food for our guest, Etoli!” And he said to Rat, “Stranger! eat! And then you will tell me what is the message you have brought.”
Rat ate and finished, and began to tell his message thus:—He said, “In our country we have nothing there but hunger. But there is there a tree, and this is its fruit. Whether it is fit to be eaten or not, you will tell us.” Boa replied, “That tree is Bojabi ”

“ The saliva with which the boa covers its prey tends to promote rapid decomposition. The muscular flesh is rendered gelatinously soft under its action, so that the animal is able to force entire limbs of its slain victim through its swelling throat. The Creoles call the giant boa Tragavenado (stag-swallower) , and fabulously relate that the antlers of a stag which could not be swallowed by the snake have been seen fixed in its throat. I have frequently observed the boa constrictor swimming in the Orinoco, and in the smaller forest streams, the Tuamini, the Temi, and the Atabapo. ”

“ The boa-constrictor has no teeth and no second stomach; it chews by crushing between its body and a tree the beast which it is to swallow. The chewing mouth of the boa has for one jaw the tree, for the other its own body ”

“ The great, ugly head of the boa reared itself up from the coils which it had, with the quickness of thought, thrown about the man between the two trees. This species of snake is not poisonous, and kills its prey by crushing it to death, making it into a pulpy mass, with scarcely a bone left unbroken, after which it swallows its meal. The crushing power of one of these boas, some of which reach a length of thirty feet, with a body as large around as that of a full-grown man, is enormous.
"I'm going to fire!" suddenly cried Tom. ”

“ The state of fear they had been kept in for three whole days had made them quite ill, but now the joy of Jack and Frank knew no bounds, for they leapt on the snake and beat it as if they would go mad.
My wife said that the death of the boa took a great weight off her mind, for she thought it would lie in wait for us near the Cave, starve us out, and then kill us as it had done the poor ass. ”

“ The boa and the rock-snake always swallow their prey head foremost. How is that fine neck and delicate head to make room for that bulky rabbit? thinks the spectator. Presently he sees the jaws gape, and slowly the reptile draws himself over, rather than swallows, his prey, as you draw a stocking upon your leg. The huge lump descends lower and lower beneath the speckled scales, which seem to stare with distension, and the monster coils himself up once more to digest his meal in quiet. ”

“ There were only wallflowers in the small leaf-green toque, and except for the sable boa in her hand (which so suddenly it was too warm to wear) no single thing about her could at all adequately account for the air of what, for lack of a better term, may be called accessory elegance that pervaded the golden-brown vision, taking the low sunlight on her face and smiling as she stepped through the window. ”

“ The boas, one kind of which, the boa-constrictor, has long been famous among monsters, are much like the pythons, but are found only in tropical America and in Madagascar, and spend the greater part of their lives in the trees. They are quite as large as the pythons, and quite as formidable. ”

“ In these dense forest lands, the wildest animals prey upon each other. Thus the boa often seizes and throttles the life out of even the puma, agile and fierce though it be. This particular boa had been watching a puma, evidently, when we came up. ”

“ This fable teaches.
XLVII.
"I hate snakes who bestow their caresses with interested partiality or fastidious discrimination," [pg 30] boasted a boa constrictor. "My affection is unbounded; it embraces all animated nature. I am the universal shepherd; I gather all manner of living things into my folds. Entertainment here for man and beast!" ”

“ I felt quite startled for the moment, for, of all the ways in which men have looked at me, no man ever looked at me in that way before. Did you ever see the boa constrictor fed at the Zoological Gardens? They put a live rabbit into his cage, and there is a moment when the two creatures look at each other. ”

“ About a year ago Mr. and Mrs. M. were away for six weeks, and left the boa in charge of a keeper at the Zoo. The poor reptile moped, slept, and refused to be comforted, but when his master and mistress appeared he sprang upon them with delight, coiling himself round them, and showing every symptom of intense delight. [140] ”

“ Persons
NOTE
Observe the cannibalism of the story.
Leopard married a wife. After awhile she was about to become a mother.
Boa also married a wife; and, after awhile, she also, was about to become a mother.
In a short time, like the drinking of a draught of water, the month passed, both for Leopard's wife and for Boa's wife also. Then Boa's wife said, "It is time for the birth!" So she gave birth to a child. And she lay down on her mother's bed. When they were about to cook food for her, she said, "I want to eat nothing but Njĕ!" ”

“ When I came to his cage, I didn't see anything but the branch of a tree, such as I had seen in other cages, for the snakes to wind up and down. 'Where is he, I wonder? I hope he hasn't got out,' I said to myself, thinking of [Pg 231] a story I read once of a person in a menagerie, who turned suddenly and saw a great boa gliding towards him. As I stood wondering if the big worm could be under the little flat blanket before me, the branch began to move all at once, and with a start, I saw a limb swing down to stare at me with the boa's glittering eyes. ”

“ I was holding it for him to drink, when Duppo pointed, with an expression of terror in his countenance, to the upper end of the tree, and there I saw, working its way towards us along the branches, a huge serpent, which had probably remained concealed in some hollow, or among the forked boughs, during the night. A second glance convinced me that it was a boa. To escape from it was impossible. If we should attempt to swim to the other trees it might follow us, or we might be snapped up by alligators on our way. ”

“ This species rarely reaches a length of more than 10 ft. It climbs well, prefers open forest in the neighbourhood of water, is often found in plantations where it retires into a hole in the ground, and lives chiefly on birds and small mammals. Like most true boas, it is of a very gentle disposition and easily domesticates itself in the palm or reed thatched huts of the natives, where it hunts the rats during the night.
The term “boa” is applied by analogy to a long article of women’s dress wound round the neck. ”

“ Bo¶a (?) , n.; pl. Boas. [L. boa a kind of water serpent. Perh. fr. bos an ox.] 1. (Zo”l.) A genus of large American serpents, including the boa constrictor, the emperor boa of Mexico (B. imperator) , and the chevalier boa of Peru (B. eques) .
μ The name is also applied to related genera; as, the dogÐheaded boa (Xiphosoma caninum) .
2. A long, round fur tippet; Ð so called from its resemblance in shape to the boa constrictor.
Bo¶a conÏstrict¶or (?) . [NL. See Boa, and Constrictor.] (Zo”l.) A large and powerful serpent of tropical America, sometimes twenty or thirty feet long. ”

“ They selected Rat, and [130] said to him, “You, Etoli, are young; go you, and inquire.” They also decided that, “Whoever goes shall not go by land along the beach, but by sea.” (This they said, in order to prove the messenger’s strength and perseverance; whether he would dally by the way ashore, or paddle steadily by sea.) Also, they told Rat that, in going, he should take one of the fruits of the tree in his hand, so that Boa might know it. So, Rat took the Bojabi fruit, stepped into a canoe, and began to paddle. ”

“ There are no serpents of any kind in Upper Abyssinia that ever I saw, and no remarkable varieties even in Low, excepting the large snake called the Boa, which is often above twenty feet in length, and as thick as an ordinary man’s thigh. He is a beast of prey, feeds upon antelopes, and the deer kind, which having no canine teeth, consequently no poison, he swallows whole, after having broken all its bones in pieces, and drawn it into a length to be more easily mastered. ”

“ My fair auditors have no cause for alarm. I have no living snakes to show. I might have captured several hundred, and brought them to this country and exhibited them, but, in deference to the well-known aversion cherished toward snakes by cultivated communities, I forbore to do so. The only boa constrictors that I have, are now before you. These are their heads. ”

“ According to a paragraph in La Nature, the people of Brazil have domesticated a species of snake for the purpose of keeping down rats. It is the giboia, a kind of boa, which attains about thirteen feet in length, but is no thicker than one's arm. ”

“ Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens: let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. ”

“ The snakes are plentiful about here. Uncle has just returned, but can’t find the enemy. December 1st.—I am just waiting breakfast, 7.25 a.m. This is our twenty-second wedding day; just fancy! We have indeed much to be thankful for. Here we are quite well and very busy—both desirable things. I believe the ducks and fowls are all right this morning, so I suppose the Boa has gone elsewhere. The monkeys came the other night and eat up the maize which the girls had planted. ”

“ Truth is what we are all after," replied the clergyman. But there was an indefinable something in his voice that indicated a wish for more alligator--much more.
The swamp ended in a dry jungle, interspersed with palm trees, elephants, lions, tigers, and serpents. Tiffles counted upon interesting his audience here. Snakes were first on the list. Two heads, with expanded jaws and forked tongues, were looking at each other above the jungle, and two tails were interlocked, also above the jungle, a few feet off. This conveyed the idea of two boa constrictors fighting. ”

“ We must flee from his face for, is not he as strong and brave as the elephant? And we, compared to him are but as 150 the dogs, or as the pigs.” And the company would separate, so when the boaster reached the place no one would be there.
Once, a young boy came from a distant province, and, hearing of the boaster, said, “Verily, I can bring him to have a face of shame before his neighbors, for, in one thing I can excel any man almost. I can run for a short distance and my heart does not beat faster, neither can any man say that my heart is quicker than when I am but seated, doing no labor. ”

“ The Monkey began his Tale of Woe. boar. The boar was at home, and the monkey began his tale of woe at once.
"Good Mr. Boar, I have heard of your excellent wisdom. I am in great trouble, you alone can help me. I have grown old in the service of my master, and because I cannot dance properly now he intends to sell me to the butcher. What do you advise me to do? I know how clever you are!"
The boar was pleased at the flattery and determined to help the monkey. He thought for a little while and then said:
"Hasn't your master a baby?"
"Oh, yes," said the monkey, "he has one infant son." ”

“ Boague, and really Stephen's cream-pot brings out the flavour of the tea. It's a grand idea, I must give Mr. Sangster some the next time he is kept late at a meeting of the Presbytery or the Kirk-session. He comes home so tired sometimes. These are searching times, Mrs. Boague, we have all need to keep our loins girded and our lamps burning. But you know that yourself, Mrs. Boague. And a sweet quiet home you have here, and such fine healthy children. It must be sweet to live here in the great solitude of nature, and most imposing. ”

“ And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not. And also pull out some for her from, the bundles, and leave it, and let her glean, and rebuke her not."
So she gleaned in the field until even; and she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. And she took it up, and went into the city: and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned.
And she said unto her, "Where hast thou gleaned today? and where hast thou worked? blessed be he that helped thee." ”

“ Joy filled the hearts of the woman and her son at the fall of their enemy, and they beat upon the drum and danced for gladness. Then the lad cut up the flesh of the boar, and smoked great portions of it. Moreover, he made a raft, and placed thereon bristles which he had plucked from the dead boar's back. And he said to the bristles, "The waves and the wind will carry you to distant countries. Wheresoever ye see men who bear no marks of mourning ye must not land. ”

“ A characteristic letter from Boake to his father may be quoted in full.
Mullah, Trangie,
29th December, 1888.
My dear Father,—Your last letter must assuredly have miscarried, as it is two months or more since I heard from you. From the tone of your letter I should say that the world is treating you better than hitherto. It is about time too.
So there is another inhabitant added to this continent. Poor little beggar! I wonder if he will ever wish he had never been born, like most of us do. ”