The Whole
Country Is Plain And Fertile, Abounding In Good Pasture, And Is Covered
By An Infinite Number Of Large And Beautiful Trees, That Are Not Known In
Europe.
It contains several lakes of fresh water, none of them large, but
very deep, and full of excellent fish, which differ much from those that
are caught in Italy, and many water serpents, which the natives call
_Kalkatrici_.
They use a kind of oil with their victuals, which tastes
like oil of olives, has a pleasant flavour of violets, and tinges the
food even better than saffron, but I could not learn what it was produced
from[1]. There is likewise a plant which produces large quantities of
small kidney-beans.
In this country there are many kinds of animals, but serpents are
particularly numerous, both large and small, some of which are venomous.
The large ones are more than two paces long[2], but have neither legs nor
wings, as has been reported by some persons, but some of them are so very
thick as to have swallowed a goat at one morsel. These serpents retire in
troops, as the natives report, to certain parts of the country where
white ants are found in prodigious swarms, and which, by a kind of
instinct, are said to build houses for these serpents, of earth which
they carry in their months for that purpose, resembling ovens, and often
to the number of 150 in one place[3]. The Negroes are great enchanters,
and use charms upon almost all occasions, particularly in regard to
serpents, over which they have great power. A Genoese, worthy of credit,
who was in this country the year before my arrival, and who likewise
lodged with Bisboror, the nephew of Budomel, told me he once heard a load
noise of whistling about the house in the middle of the night. Being
awakened by the noise, he saw Bisboror get out of bed and order two
negroes to bring his camel. Being asked where he meant to go at that time
of night, he said he had business which must be executed, but would soon
return. On coming back after some time, and the Genoese expressing
curiosity to learn the object in which he had been engaged, Bisboror
asked if he had heard the hissing noise about the house during the night,
and said that it had been made by the serpents, which would have killed a
great many of his cattle, if he had not sent them back to their quarters
by the employment of certain enchantments. The Genoese was astonished at
this story, but Bisboror said he had no need to wonder at this small
matter, as Budomed could do a great deal more extraordinary things with
the serpents than he could. In particular, when he had a mind to envenom
his weapons, he used to draw a large circle, into which, by means of his
enchantments, he brought all the serpents of the neighbourhood, from
which he selected those he thought most poisonous, and allowed all the
others to go away.
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