IV. _Serpents are not only Physick, but common Food in many Parts of the World, and esteemed a most delicious Entertainment._ Formerly, nothing more terrible to Men than these veneniferous Animals, but now (Men being better acquainted with their natural Qualities) are very familiar to many People; insomuch that there are but few Persons of Distinction, in _France_, and other Places, where they may be had, but make use of them, as _a good and most agreeable Diet_; and the ingenious Virtuoso makes living Vipers his Domestick Divertisement. The _Italian_ and _French Physicians_ do commonly prescribe the _Broth_ and _Jelly_ of _Vipers_, to purify and invigorate the Mass of Blood, exhausted with Age and chronical Diseases. We read of the _Ophiophagi_, a People so called because they are _Serpent-Eaters_. It is observed from _Aristotle_, that the _Troglodytes_, who are _Africans_, not far from the _Arabian Gulph_, leading a pastoral Life, lived by hunting—and fed on Serpents[68]. Footnote 68: _Strabo_, lib. 16. Βιος νομαδιχος—_Cluverii Introduct._ Among the _Andesian_ Mountains in _America_, is a Serpent called _Juanna_, big as a Rabbit, has a spotted Skin, four Feet, and is never observed to have any Voice, is much eaten by the Inhabitants, and counted better Meat than Rabbits, as it is prepared by the _Barbarians_[69]. Footnote 69: _Ray_, p. 329. _Atl. Geograph. America_, p. 129. The _Kanina Serpent_ that feeds upon Birds, is eaten by the Inhabitants, the _Brasilians_, and their _Negro-Labourers_, after they cut off the Head and Tail. _Ibid._ The _Dutch_, _Portuguese_, and others in that Country, feed upon the _Lyboya Serpent_; ’tis of a prodigious, large Bulk, and described in another Place. _Ibid._ In old _Mexico_, we read how the _Indians_ took a certain Serpent that carried thirty Young’s, which were each a Finger long, and crept about immediately; and the old one being above 20 Foot long, served the Natives for Venison[70]. Footnote 70: _Atl. Geograph. for America_, from _Laet._ p. 628. _AMERICUS Vespusius_, (a _Florentine_, who was the first, after _Columbus_, that discover’d _America_, and wrote the History of his four Years Voyages) says, he saw some Serpents in _America_, which the Inhabitants commonly feed upon: They were of diverse Colours, and as big as Kids. In the History of that Country, we find the Natives of the Land fed upon Adders, Serpents, Toads,——without any Scruple of Mind, or Injury to their Health. The Natives of _Tonquin_, a large Kingdom of _India_, beyond the _Ganges_, in treating their Friends, give them _Arrack_, a rich Cordial, in which Snakes and Scorpions have been infus’d; and is esteem’d an Antidote against all Poisons. _INDIA_ breeds Serpents in abundance of all Sizes, and Variety of most charming Colours: The People of _Siam_ catch prodigious Numbers of them in the Woods, and expose them to Sale in the Markets, as Eels in _England_, for Animal Food[71]. Footnote 71: