I Passed In My Journey By Ganete
Ilhos, A Palace Newly Built, And Made Agreeable By Beautiful
Gardens, And Had
The honour of paying my respects to the Emperor,
who had retired thither, and receiving from him a large present
For
the finishing of a hospital, which had been begun in the kingdom of
Tigre. After having returned him thanks, I continued my way, and in
crossing a desert two days' journey over, was in great danger of my
life, for, as I lay on the ground, I perceived myself seized with a
pain which forced me to rise, and saw about four yards from me one
of those serpents that dart their poison at a distance; although I
rose before he came very near me, I yet felt the effects of his
poisonous breath, and, if I had lain a little longer, had certainly
died; I had recourse to bezoar, a sovereign remedy against these
poisons, which I always carried about me. These serpents are not
long, but have a body short and thick, and their bellies speckled
with brown, black, and yellow; they have a wide mouth, with which
they draw in a great quantity of air, and, having retained it some
time, eject it with such force that they kill at four yards'
distance. I only escaped by being somewhat farther from him. This
danger, however, was not much to be regarded in comparison of
another which my negligence brought me into. As I was picking up a
skin that lay upon the ground, I was stung by a serpent that left
his sting in my finger; I at least picked an extraneous substance
about the bigness of a hair out of the wound, which I imagined was
the sting.
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