The Circulatores, or Dealers in Serpents, devour’d at their Tables even their Heads, and pour’d the Gall into their Cups when they drank, laughing at their Neighbours Timidity, who transform their Imaginations into Bug-bears.
The Inhabitants of Mount Athos, between Macedonia and Thracia, are called Macrobii, that is Long-livers, or long-liv’d; and their Longevity is attributed to their feeding on Viper’s Flesh, which is a most elegant Nutritive[[73]].
[73]. C. Gesner, p. 76.
The Ethiopians are number’d among those who feed upon Serpents, as one valuable Branch of their sustenance.
In the Kingdom of Congo in Africa, the Negroes roast the Adders, and not only greedily feed upon them, but esteem them as a most delicious Food[[74]].
[74]. Purchas Pilgrim, Part ii. l. 7.
ST. HELENA, one of the African Islands, abounds with Serpents which the Dutch eat as a greater Dainty than Eels[[75]]. We read of a Man who liv’d at Colonia Agrippina in Germany, that fed upon Spiders, as the most delicate Dish.—N. B. This Cologne is called Agrippina from Agrippina the Mother of Nero (who poison’d Claudius her own Husband, to make Nero her Son Emperor) and would have the Town honoured with a Roman Colony, as being the Place of her Birth[[76]].
[75]. Atl. Afric. p. 741.
[76]. Tacitus’s Annals, Vol. 1. B. iv.
In Cuba, an American Island, they were pester’d with many sorts of Serpents, not so much from the ill Condition of the Soil, as by an old superstitious Whim of the Savages, who in former Times were not suffered to kill them, (this being a royal game, and a nice Dish reserved for the Higher Powers) and were not able afterwards to destroy them, when it would have been suffered[[77]].