The repetition of syllables in these strange dialects seems to point at some intention. Can those frequently occurring _raras_ and _cucus_ represent degrees? For instance, we are told that the Jarrara_cucu_ is ‘the largest of the Jarraracas.’ And we are quite sure that the _Cucu_rijuba, ‘which killeth by winding certain turnes of his tayle,’ is the boa constrictor; and that the _Cururiubù_, ‘which keepeth alwaies in the water,’ is the anaconda, these syllables evidently representing bulk or something formidable: as we have them abounding in _curucucu_, the most formidable of all serpents. Then _Ibibo_ might imply beauty or gay colouring. A snake, _Ibiboco_, with red and black rings, ‘the fairest but of foulest venom,’ is undoubtedly _Elaps lemniscatus_; while Ibiboboca, ‘_ainsi nommé par sa grande beauté_,’ is ‘_harmlesse_.’ _Peba_ as a termination may imply danger; as there is the Jararac_peba_, ‘most venomous,’ and a ‘very venomous’ rattlesnake, Boicininin_peba_. The curious repetition of _in_ in _Boycininga_, rattlesnake (p. 272), seems to hint at the length of its rattle and the degree of crepitation it produces, especially as we find the substitution of _g_ for _c_ in some of these words, and the soft _gi_ rapidly repeated is not unlike the true sound. There is a long and slender tree snake ‘that eateth eggs, and goeth faster on the trees than any man can runne on the ground, with a motion not unlike swimming.’ Its correspondingly long name is _Guiaranpiaquana_! Vain indeed would be any speculation as to what that may mean. Vain also, and I fear tedious, may all this guess-work be to discover meaning and poetry in what may probably be dead languages. Who shall say how many thousand years ago these singular repetitions conveyed to the savage mind (but _was_ it savage?) an idea of the creatures around them? [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER XXIV. _DO SNAKES INCUBATE THEIR EGGS?_ WE come now to treat of facts no less interesting than surprising in ophidian biographies. Already we have recounted almost marvellous powers possessed by this class of animals—functions which are volitionary, such as the management of their trachea, the voluntary folding back or unfolding of certain teeth, the practical adaptation of their ribs and coils to what we may almost call manual work, and now, most astonishing of all, the voluntary deposition or retention of ova, even of young.