On some subjects the testimony of the natives of a wild country
is utterly worthless. The bite of the Jararacas is generally
fatal. I knew of four or five instances of death from it, and
only of one clear case of recovery after being bitten; but in
that case the person was lamed for life.
We walked over moderately elevated and dry ground for about a
mile, and then descended (three or four feet only) to the dry bed
of another creek. This was pierced in the same way as the former
water-course, with round holes full of muddy water. They occurred
at intervals of a few yards, and had the appearance of having
been made by the hand of man. The smallest were about two feet,
the largest seven or eight feet in diameter. As we approached the
most extensive of the larger ones, I was startled at seeing a
number of large serpent-like heads bobbing about the surface.
They proved to be those of electric eels, and it now occurred to
me that the round holes were made by these animals working
constantly round and round in the moist, muddy soil.
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