When provok’d, the Neck of this Creature swells, and the Wound then given, is most dangerous. Its Teeth are of considerable length, growing out of the Mouth like the Tusks of a Boar. The Historian says, that two of the longest Teeth have little Cavities in them, covered with a thin Skin, that slides up when it bites, by which means the poisonous Liquid runs out, and drops into the Puncture; after which, it recovers its Station. In _America_, says a celebrated Historian, are found _Asps_ with Stings in the Tail, wherewith they strike and kill[120]. Footnote 120: _Jonstonus Hist. Nat. de Serpentibus._ p. 15. The Banks of _Nilus_ abound with _Asps_, who have Sagacity enough to remove their Habitations to a place of Safety, several days before that River overflows the Rising-Grounds about it: ’Tis also said the _Crocodile_ and _Tortoise_ recede with their Eggs, to a Situation not accessible by that mighty Flood; a Flood that makes the Land of _Egypt_, a Region of Fertility, a Flood dreaded by these Animals, and ador’d by the _Egyptians_, those Sons of Contradiction, who consecrated their Animals to the Gods, and then worshipped them, and upon Occasions kill’d them. (Can we behold such Instincts in the _Crocodile_, _&c._ without acknowledging the Divine Wisdom that ordain’d ’em!) No Nation more knowing, and more sottish, _e. g._ Upon the Statue of _Minerva_, or the Goddess _Isis_, was this Inscription, _viz._ _I was she that was, that am, and shall be, and that am every thing_. Which being an exact Interpretation of the Word _Jehovah_, and the same Definition the Almighty appropriates to himself, I can’t, says the Learned _Jurieu_, conceive, how a Nation that was arrived to such a high Degree of Knowledge, should have worship’d _Bullocks—as Gods_. _PLUTARCH_ gives a strange relation of them, _viz._ that in case of any extraordinary Calamity, as War, Plague, Famine, the _Egyptian_ Priests used to threaten the _sacred Beasts_ most horribly: If they failed to help them, they whipt them till the Blood follow’d; and if the Calamity did still continue, they kill’d those sacred Beasts by way of Punishment[121]. The Reverse of this is given us in a _Clan_ of _Tartars_, who, when exposed to any imminent Calamity, sacrifice their Priests, in order to intercede for them with the Gods in the other World. Footnote 121: _Jurieu_ from _Plut. de Is. & Osir._ It has been said, that the _Asp_, when exasperated, did, with an erected Head, cast out of its Mouth liquid Poison; but it now appears, it darts it only by its Bite, or by Poison taken from it by Force, and poured into a Wound made by another; and both the Wounds so made, soon terminate in an _easy pleasant Exit_; which is supposed to be the reason why Queen _Cleopatra_ chose this kind of Death, that is, to poison herself by an Aspick Dose. This reminds me of a certain Herb I have read of, in _Arabia_, which (according to the Tradition) _if a Man slept upon_, he died in his Sleep without any Pain.