In fact the oldest authority that we have met with, the famous John Ray, distinctly assigns the name, and the serpent to which the name properly belonged, to Ceylon. This occurs in his Synopsis Methodica Animalium Quadrupedum et Serpentini Generis, Lond. 1693. In this he gives a Catalogue of Indian Serpents, which he had received from his friend Dr Tancred Robinson, and which the latter had noted e Museo Leydensi. No. 8 in this list runs as follows:—
"8. Serpens Indicus Bubalinus, Anacandaia Zeylonensibus, id est Bubalorum aliorumque jumentorum membra conterens," p. 332.
The following passage from St Jerome, giving an etymology, right or wrong, of the word boa, which our naturalists now limit to certain great serpents of America, but which is often popularly applied to the pythons of E. Asia, shows a remarkable analogy to Ray's explanation of the name Anacandaia:—
c. A.D. 395-400.—"Si quidem draco mirae magnitudinis, quos gentili sermone Boas vocant, ab eo quod tam grandes sint ut boves glutire soleant, omnem late vastabat provinciam, et non solum armenta et pecudes sed agricolas quoque et pastores tractos ad se vi spiritus absorbebat."—In Vita Scti. Hilarionis Eremitae, Opera Scti. Eus. Hieron. Venetiis, 1767, ii. col. 35.
Ray adds that on this No. 8 should be read what D. Cleyerus has said in the Ephem. German. An 12. obser. 7, entitled: De Serpente magno Indiae Orientalis Urobubalum deglutiente. The serpent in question was 25 feet long. Ray quotes in abridgment the description of its treatment of the buffalo; how, if the resistance is great, the victim is dragged to a tree, and compressed against it; how the noise of the crashing bones is heard as far as a cannon: how the crushed carcass is covered with saliva, etc. It is added that the country people (apparently this is in Amboyna) regard this great serpent as most desirable food.
The following are extracts from Cleyer's paper, which is, more fully cited, Miscellanea Curiosa, sive Ephimeridum Medico-Physicarum Germanicarum Academiae Naturae Curiosorum, Dec. ii.—Annus Secundus, Anni MDCLXXXIII. Norimbergae. Anno MDCLXXXIV. pp. 18-20. It is illustrated by a formidable but inaccurate picture showing the serpent seizing an ox (not a buffalo) by the muzzle, with huge teeth. He tells how he dissected a great snake that he bought from a huntsman in which he found a whole stag of middle age, entire in skin and every part; and another which contained a wild goat with great horns, likewise quite entire; and a third which had swallowed a porcupine armed with all his "sagittiferis aculeis." In Amboyna a woman great with child had been swallowed by such a serpent....
"Quod si animal quoddam robustius renitatur, ut spiris anguinis enecari non possit, serpens crebris cum animali convolutionibus caudâ suâ proximam arborem in auxilium et robur corporis arripit eamque circumdat, quo eo fortius et valentius gyris suis animal comprimere, suffocare, et demum enecare possit...."
"Factum est hoc modo, ut (quod ex fide dignissimis habeo) in Regno Aracan ... talis vasti corporis anguis prope flumen quoddam, cum Uro-bubalo, sive sylvestri bubalo aut uro ... immani spectaculo congredi visus fuerit, eumque dicto modo occiderit; quo conflictu et plusquam hostili amplexu fragor ossium in bubalo comminutorum ad distantiam tormenti bellici majoris ... a spectatoribus sat eminus stantibus exaudiri potuit...."
The natives said these great snakes had poisonous fangs. These Cleyer could not find, but he believes the teeth to be in some degree venomous, for a servant of his scratched his hand on one of them. It swelled, greatly inflamed, and produced fever and delirium:
"Nec prius cessabant symptomata, quam Serpentinus lapis (see [SNAKE-STONE]) quam Patres Jesuitae hic componunt, vulneri adaptatus omne venenum extraheret, et ubique symptomata convenientibus antidotis essent profligata."