WATER
SNAKES.
301
T h e first and t h e pythons of I n d i a b e e n called b o a s . n o t i o n s o f an enormous reptile capable o f seizing man, and even the great quadrupeds, came t o us from I n d i a and t h e coast o f G u i n e a . H o w e v e r indifferent names m a y b e , w e can scarcely admit t h e idea, that t h e hemisphere i n which V i r g i l described t h e agonies o f L a o c o o n , ( a fable w h i c h t h e Greeks of A s i a b o r r o w e d from m u c h m o r e southern n a t i o n s ) I will n o t a u g m e n t does n o t possess the boa-constrictor. the confusion o f zoological nomenclature by p r o p o s i n g n e w c h a n g e s , and shall confine m y s e l f t o observing that at least the missionaries and the latinized Indians o f the missions, if n o t the planters o f Guiana, clearly distinguish t h e tragavenados (real boas, with simple anal plates) from the culebras de agua, o r water-snakes, like t h e camudu ( p y t h o n s with d o u b l e anal scales). T h e traga-venados have n o transverse bands o n t h e back, b u t a chain o f r h o m b i c o r hexagonal spots. S o m e species prefer t h e driest p l a c e s ; others l o v e the water, as the pythons, o r culebras de agua. A d v a n c i n g towards t h e west, w e find the hills o r islets i n the deserted branch o f t h e O r i n o c o c r o w n e d with t h e same palm-trees that rise on t h e r o c k s o f the cataracts. O n e of these hills, called K e r i , is celebrated in t h e c o u n t r y on a c c o u n t o f a white spot which shines from afar, and i n which the natives profess t o see the image o f the full m o o n . I c o u l d n o t climb this steep r o c k , b u t I believe the w h i t e spot t o b e a large n o d u l e o f quartz, formed b y t h e union o f several o f those veins s o c o m m o n in granites passing into gneiss. O p p o s i t e Keri, o r the Rock o f the M o o n , o n t h e twin mountain Ouivitari, which is an islet i n t h e midst o f the cataracts, the Indians point o u t with mysterious a w e a similar white spot. It has the form o f a d i s c ; and they say this is the image o f the sun ( C a m o s i ) . Perhaps the geographical situation o f these t w o objects has c o n t r i b u t e d t o their having received these names. Keri is on the side of the setting, Camosi on that o f the rising s u n . L a n g u a g e s b e i n g t h e m o s t ancient historical m o n u m e n t s o f n a t i o n s , some learned m e n have b e e n singularly struck b y t h e analogy between the A m e r i c a n w o r d camosi and camosch, which seems t o have signified originally, t h e s u n , in o n e o f t h e Semitic dialects. This analogy has g i v e n rise to h y p o t h e s e s