blew off the heads of the boa-constrictors as they hung from the

trees, and of the other huge snakes that moved along the ground,

with explosive bullets, in every thicket through which they

passed, knowing that the game, never having been shot at, would

not take fright at the noise. Sometimes they came upon great

masses of snakes, intertwined and coiled like worms; in these

cases Cortlandt brought his gun into play, raking them with

duck-shot to his heart's content. "As the function of these