210 THE CLERK AND THE SERPENT.

enough, tasting somewhat of frogs and tortoise,
but our natural repugnance to it was unconquer-
able; the idea of eating a serpent shocked our
stomachs too much!’

On one occasion, during the service of the mass,
the old sacristan, who had been a schoolmaster in
his time, acted as clerk; he was a little old man,
wearing enormous spectacles, which prevented him
from seeing. All at once, as he was moving the
book from one side of the altar to the other, he
felt something creep up between his legs, and look-
ing down saw a snake. It was a royal serpent,
a harmless reptile of great beauty, which had its
nest under the altar. As soon as the poor sacris-
tan perceived it, he commenced screaming at the —
top of his voice, and dancing about from side to
side, all the while pommelling the unlucky serpent
with the missal; at length he succeeded in making
it relax its hold, when it darted for safety into its
nest beneath the altar.

In the course of his travels M. the Abbé occa-
sionally gleaned curious facts relative to the natural
phenomena he observed. For example :—On one
of his excursions he came upon a crevasse—one of
those openings which the Mississippi and its tribu-
taries effect in their embankments, and through
which their waters rush and devastate the plain.
Thousands of negroes were at work up to the waist