The largest snake of the steppe is the coluber trabolis, which, according to some, has been seen of the length of eighteen feet, but instances of five or six ells long are of frequent occurrence. Legends are not wanting among the Cossacks of gigantic serpents that, at no very remote period, infested the reed-grounds of the Dniester, whence they sallied forth to kill men and oxen, and now and then to amuse themselves by running down a rider and his steed, no horse being fleet enough to effect its escape, if one of these ogre snakes had once fairly started in chase of it ; but those fabulous embellishments were hardly wanting, the plain truth being often formidable enough. " We were bathing one day," said an old colonist to me once ; " there were four of us, all strapping young lads, and we were just going to put on our clothes, when we discovered an enormous snake among some stones close to the spot where we stood. We were none of us timid fellows, but this was so formidable an antagonist to cope with, that we were at first inclined to leave him undisturbed. The fear,
however, of being thought afraid, soon overcame every other apprehension,
and we sent a few volleys of stones by way of opening the battle. The snake showed no signs of fear, but reared herself up three or four feet from the ground, hissing as loud as a goose, and determined, apparently, to bring us to closer action. Our stones were either badly aimed, or her glossy skin made them glide off without hurting her, and the sticks we had with us were much too small to be of any use ; we therefore amused her by bombarding her with stones, each of us in turn stepping aside to provide himself with a club. Thus armed, we rushed in upon her in a body, and saluted her with a shower of blows. At first, she seemed disposed to show fight, but not liking the maimer of our attack, she soon turned to seek safety in flight, and we pursued her with stones. At last, a large stone struck her on the head and stunned her for a moment, for she stopped and lay writhing in the sand. We were not long in profiting by our advantage :
in another moment, the ' stroke of mercy ' had been given. She was found to measure ten feet in length, and her body was about as thick as
Another time, it was noticed for several weeks, by the colonists of two adjoining villages, that large tracks were continually made through their cornfields, as though a sack of flour had been dragged through them. They were at a loss to think who the trespasser could be, till one day a young foal was found half killed in the field, and from the appearance of the wounds it was immediately suspected that a large snake must be prowling about the villages. A few days afterwards these suspicions were confirmed, by the arrival of four or five carts, that came galloping into the village. It was hard to say whether the drivers or the horses were most frightened. They had been camping out during the whole night on the steppe, as is commonly done by agricultural labourers, the great distance of the cornfields from the farmer's house makins" it often impossible for his men to return home every day ; indeed, during the busy season, they often remain on the steppe from Monday morning till Saturday night, and spend only the Sunday at home. Our frightened friends gave so formidable an account of the huge snake by which they and their horses had been scared, that the Schulze (the first magistrate of the village) thought it his duty to order a levy en masse, and in^^ted the neighbouring colonies to join in the snake-hunt. About a hundred young men were got together, who sallied forth, armed with guns and clubs, and spent the whole day in beating every cover where the insidious game was likely to lie concealed. They fomid nothing, however, and were quizzed and laughed at on their return ; but the schidze kept his party on the alert., and the next day the snake was again seen by some shepherds, who had fied with their flocks in dismay, but not before the huge reptile had killed one of their horses before their faces. The schulze and liis posse comitatus took the field again, and this time they succeeded in getting sight of the enemy. Several shots were fired. The snake was wounded, and immediately took to flight, leaving a track of blood to mark her course, which was pursued for some time till lost in the reed-gromids of the Dniester, where the creature probably died, for she was never heard of afterwards. Some of the more imaginative among the sportsmen insisted upon it that the snake was at least thirty feet long. The schulze, whose computation was the most moderate, and probably the nearest to truth, calculated the length of the animal to be at least three and a half fathoms.