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last night I got into her chamber; she in vain attempted to follow me; thy guards saw her, and I escaped amidst showers of arrows, of which you see here the marks. 1 come to give myself up, as a victim to you, to expire with her for whom I wished to live." He had not finished, when the king ordered the two prisoners to be unbound and brought before him. He interrogated Selico: he was desirous to know what motive could be powerful enough to make him wish for so cruel a punishment. Selico, whose heart beat with joy to find that his Berissa had not been faithless to him, was not afraid to inform the monarch of every particular. He related his misfortunes, the indigence of his mother, and the resolution he had taken to gain the four hundred ounces for her. Berissa and her father listened, sheding tears of admiration. The chiefs, the soldiers, and the people were affected; the king felt tears run down his cheeks for the first time: such is the force of virtue that even barbarians adore it.

The king, after Selico had finished, stretched forth his hand and raised him up, then turning to the European merchants, whom this sight had brought there," Tell me, (says he) you whom wisdom and long experience have taught the nicest valuation of a man, how much is Selico worth?" The merchants blushed at this question; but a young Frenchman, bolder than the rest, cried out, ten thousand crowns of gold. Let them be given directly to Berissa, replied the king, and with this sum she shall not purchase, but marry Selico. After this order, which was immediately executed, the king retired, surprised at the sensation of joy which he had never before experienced. Faculbo the same day gave his daughter to Selico. The next day all three set out with their treasure. for the hut of Darina, who almost expired with joy, as well as his brothers, at the sight of them. This virtuous family were never again separated, enjoyed their riches, and in a barbarous country were for a long time, the brightest example under heaven, namely, happiness and opulence acquired by virtue.

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The Cæsar sailed from the continent of India in 1817. Notwithstanding the crowded state of the ship, two passengers, of rather a singular nature, were put on board at Batavia, for a pas

sage to Britain; the one, a snake of that species called Boa Constrictor; the other, an Ourang Outang. The former was somewhat small of its kind, being only about sixteen feet long, and about eighteen inches in circumference; but his stomach was rather disproportionate to its size, as will presently appear. He was a native of Borneo, and was the property of a gentleman residing in Britain, who had two of the same sort; but, in their passage up to Batavia, one of them broke loose from its confinement, and very soon cleared the decks, as every body very civilly made way for him. Not being used to a ship, however, or taking, perhaps, the sea for a green field, he sprawled overboard and was drowned. Its companion, lately our shipmate, was brought safely on shore, and lodged in the court-yard of Mr Davidson's house at Ryswick, where he remained for some months. At an early period of the voyage we had an exhibition of its talents in the way of eating, which was publicly performed on the quarter-deck, upon which he was brought. The sliding door of its cage being opened, one of the ship's goats was thrust in, and the door immediately shut. The poor goat, as if instantly aware of all the horrors of its perilous situation, began to utter the most piercing and distressing cries, butting instinctively, at the same time with its head towards the serpent, in self-defence.

The snake, which at first appeared scarcely to notice the poor animal, soon began to stir a little, and turning its head in the direction of the goat, it at length fixed a deadly and malignant eye on the trembling victim, whose agony and terror seemed to increase; for, previous to the snake seizing its prey, it shook in every limb, but still continued its unavailing show of attack, by butting at the serpent, who now became sufficiently animated to prepare for the banquet. The first operation was that of darting out his forked tongue, and at the same time rearing a little its head ; then suddenly seizing the goat by the fore-leg with its mouth, and throwing him down, it was encircled in an instant in its horrid folds ! So quick indeed, and so instantaneous was the act, that it was impossible for the eye to follow the rapid convolution of his elongated body. It was not a regular screwlike turn that was formed, but resembling a knot, one part of the body overlaying the other, as if to add weight to the muscular pressure, the more effectually to crush its object. During this time it continued to grasp with its mouth, though it appeared to be an unnecessary precaution, that part of the animal which he had first seized. The poor goat, in the meantime, continued its feeble and half-stifled cries for some minutes, but they soon became more and more faint, and at last expired. The snake, however, retained it for a considerable time in its grasp, after it was apparently motionless. It then began slowly and cautiously to unfold itself, till the goat fell dead from its monstrous embrace when it began to prepare himself for the feast.

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Placing its mouth on the front of the head of the dead animal it commenced by lubricating with its saliva that part of the goat; and then taking its muzzle into its mouth, which had, and indeed always has, the appearance of a newly-lacerated wound, he sucked it in as far as the horns would allow. These protuberances opposed some little difficulty, not so much from their extent as from their points; however, they in a very short time disappeared; that is to say externally; for their progress was still to be traced very distinctly on the outside, threatening every moment to protrude through the skin. The victim had now descended as far as the shoulders; and it was an astonishing sight to see the extraordinary action of the snake's muscles when stretched to such an unnatural extent, an extent which must have utterly destroyed all muscular power in any animal that was not, like itself, endowed with very peculiar faculties of expansion and action at the same time. When its head and neck had no other appearance than that of a serpent's skin, stuffed almost to bursting; still the workings of the muscles were evident; and his power of suction, as it is erroneously called, unabated: it was, in fact, the effect of a contractile muscular power, assisted by two rows of strong hooked teeth. With all this, he must be so formed as to be able to suspend, for a time, its respiration; for it is impossible to conceive that the process of breathing could have been carried on when the mouth and throat were so completely stuffed and expanded by the body of the goat, and the lungs themselves (admitting the trachea to be ever so hard) compressed, as they must have been by its passage downwards.

The whole operation of completely gorging the goat ocupied about two hours and twenty minutes, at the end of which time, the tumefaction was confined to the middle part of the body or stomach, the superior parts, which had been so much distended, having resumed their natural dimensions. He now coiled himself up again, and lay quietely in its usual torpid state for ahout three weeks or a month, when, its last meal appearing to be completely digested and dissolved, it was presented with another goat, which it devoured with equal facility.

Few of those who had witnessed the first exibition were desirous of being present at the second. A man may be impelled by curiosity, or a wish to ascertain the truth of a fact frequently stated, (which seems almost incredible) to satisfy his mind by ocular proof; but he will leave the scene with those feelings of horror and disgust which such a sight is well calculated to create. It is difficult to behold, without the most painful sensations, the anxiety and trepidation of the harmless victim, or to observe the hideous writhing of the serpent around its prey, and not to imagine what our own case would be in the same helpless and dreadful situation.

SERPENT CHARMING.

me !"

In the room stood two men who apppeared to be Arabs, with long bushy hair and black beards; and I was told that they were a particular race of men that could charm serpents. A wooden box, about four feet long and two feet wide, was placed near the door, with a string fastened to a slide at the end of it: this string went through a hole in the door. The two serpent-eaters were dressed in haicks only, and those very small ones. After they had gone through their religious ceremonies most devoutly, they appeared to take an eternal farewell of each other; this done, one of them retired from the room, and shut the door tight after him. The Arab within seemed to be in dreadful distress ; I could observe his heart throb and his bosom heave most violently; and he cried out very loudly, "Allah, hou kiber!" three times, whieh is, as I understand it, "God have mercy upon The Arab was at the farthest end of the room; and at that instant the cage was opened, and a serpent crept ont slowly; it was about four feet long, and eight inches in circumference; its colours were the most beautiful in nature being bright, and variegated with deep yellow, a purple, and a cream colour, black and brown spotted, &c. As soon as he saw the Arab in the room, its eyes were small and green, and kindled as with fire; it erected itself in a second, its head two feet high, and darting on the defenceless Arab seized him between the folds of his haick, just above his right hip-bone, hissing most horribly: the Arab gave a horrid shriek, when another serpent came out of the c . cage. This last was black, very shining, and appeared to be seven or eight feet long, but not more than two in diameter: as soon as he cleared the cage, it darted its fiery eyes on its intended victim and springing like lightning on the Arab, struck its fangs into his neck, near the jugular vein, while its tail and body flew round his body in two or three folds. The Arab, set up the most hideous and piteous yelling, foamed and frothed at the mouth, grasping the folds of the serpent, which were around his arms, with his right hand, and seemed to be in the greatest agony striving to tear the reptile from around his neck, with his left, he seized it near its head, but could not break its hold By this time the other had twined itself around his legs, and kept

biting all around the others parts of his body, making apparently deep incisions; the blood issuing from every wound, both in his neck and body, streaming all over his haick and skin. I was chilled with horror at this sight; and it was with difficulty my legs would support my frame. Notwithstanding the Arab's greatest exertions to tear away the serpents with his hand, they twined themselves still tighter; stopped his breath, and he fell on the floor, where he continued for a moment, as if in the most inconceivable agony, rolling over, and covering every part of his body with his own blood and froth, until he ceased to move, and appeared expired. In his last struggle, he had wounded the black serpent with his teeth, as it was striving, as it were, to force its head into his mouth; which wound seemed to increase its rage. At this instant, I heard the shrill sound of a whistle, and looking towards the door, saw the other Arab applying a call to his mouth; the serpents listened to the music; their fury seemed to forsake them by degrees; they disengaged themselves leisurely from the apparently lifeless carcass; and creeping towards the cage, they soon entered it, and were immediately fastened in. The door of the apartment was now opened, and he without, ran to assist his companion; he had a phial of blackish liquor in one hand, and an iron chisel in the other; finding the teeth of his companion set he thrust in the chisel, forced them open, and then poured a little of the liquor into his mouth; and holding his lips together, applied his mouth to the dead man's nose, and filled his lungs with air; he next anointed his numerous wounds with a little of the same liquid; yet no sign of life appeared. I thought he was dead in earnest; his neck and veins were exceedingly swollen; when his comrade taking up the lifeless trunk in his arms, brought it out into the open air, and continued the operation of blowing for several minutes, before a sign of life appeared · at length he gasped, and after a time recovered so far as to be able to speak. The swelling in his neck, body, and legs, gradually subsided, as they continued washing the wounds with clear cold water and a sponge, and applying the black liquid occasionally: a clean haick was wrapped about him, but his strength seemed so far exhausted, that he could not support himself standing; so his comrade laid him on the ground by a wall where he sunk into a sleep. This exhibition lasted for about an hour from the time the serpents were let loose, until they were called off, and it was more than an hour from that time before he could speak. I thought that I could discover that the poisonous fangs had been pulled out of these formidable serpents' jaws, and mentioned that circumstance to the showman, who said that they had indeed been extracted; and when I wished to know how the swellings on his neck and other parts could be assumed, he assured me, that though their deadly fangs were out, yet that the poisonous quality of their breath and spittle would cause the death

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