The Wounds given by these Serpents, are full of a thin stinking Matter, attended with blue Swellings, and Pain in the Heart and Bowels. N. B. Great Things have been frequently done by little Things.

XLVI. The Ambua, so the Natives of Brazil call the Millepedes and the Centipedes Serpents. Those Reptiles of thousand Legs bend as they craul along, and are reckoned very poisonous. Those Lizards of hundred Legs are commonly found in the Woods, where they destroy the Fruit, and also do mischief both to Men and Cattle.

In these Multipedes, the Mechanism of the Body is very curious; in their going, it is observable, that on each side of their Bodies, every Leg has its Motion, one regularly after another; so that their Legs, being numerous, form a kind of Undulation, and thereby communicate to the Body a swifter Progression than one could imagine, where so many short Feet are to take so many short Steps, that follow one another, rolling on, like the Waves of the Sea.

The Palmer-Worm is also called Millepes, because of its many Feet, which are as Bristles under its Body: It is about six Inches long, and moves with incredible Swiftness. The upper part of the Body is cover’d with hard swarthy Scales, and it has a sort of Claws both in its Head and Tail, of rank Poison, as the Historian says.

XLVII. The Jebeya is another Brazilian, and a Serpent very ravenous and destructive: It has four Legs, and a long Tail like a Crocodile; it lies flat and close on the Ground, artfully concealing itself, ’till the Prey comes within reach, and then darts out a couple of sharp Fins from its Fore-quarters, and kills whatever it strikes.

XLVIII. The Giraupiagara is an American Serpent, so call’d, because of its being a great Devourer of Eggs. ’Tis of a Negro-Colour, but a yellow Breast, and of great Length and Agility. It glides (as if swimming) on the tops of Trees, faster than any Man can run on the Ground.[[231]]

[231]. Nieuhoff in Atlas, America.

It lives upon Birds, whose Nests it constantly plunders. ’Tis observable, that the Cuckow feeds very much upon Eggs, which accounts for the vulgar Notion, that it always has one or more little Birds, as Menials to attend it, these being some of those, whose Houses it plundered. There is another Charge preferred against the Cuckow, viz. The Contempt it puts upon our Vegetables, by spitting upon them; whereas in those Dobs of frothy Dew, we find little Green Insects, that are Grashoppers in the Embryo.

XLIX. The Caminana is another Brazilian Serpent, of a great length. The Body is all over green, and very beautiful in prospect. This also runs up the Trees, not so much because of the green Leaves, as in pursuit of Birds of all Colours; and having devoured the Contents of the Nest, seizes the Dam, and drinks her Blood.

The pleasing Appearance made by this Serpent in Green, puts me in mind of the Turks, who have so great a Superstition for the green Colour (because it was consecrated to Mahomet) that they forbid Christians to wear it on pain of Death; but the Persians (who are Mahometans as well as the Turks) allow it to every body, and laugh at this Superstition; so that when Sultan Amurath sent an Ambassador to Sha-Abbas of Persia, to complain that he suffer’d that venerable Colour to be prophaned by Christians, he scoffingly said, that he would forbid the green Colour to be prophaned by Christians, as soon as Amurath would hinder the green Meadows to be prophaned by his Turkish Cattle[[232]]. The Eastern Turks abhor the blue Colour, because the Jews, they say, threw Indigo into Jordan to hinder the Baptism of Christ, but the Angels brought Water from Jordan to baptize him, before it was polluted. Atlas.