The emperor boa, or boa constrictor as well as all the others to which the name boa applies are, according to Cuvier, natives of America. The engraving represents one of these terrible snakes in the act of strangling a deer.

The Aboma (_Boa cenchrea_) has scaly plates on the muzzle, and pits or dimples upon the plates of the jaws.

Endowed with powers which in a semicivilized state of society must operate powerfully on the mind; at ease and freedom alike on the land, in the water, or among the trees; at once wily, daring, and irresistible in their attack, graceful in their movements, and splendid in their coloring--that such creatures, to be both dreaded and admired, should become the subject of superstitious reverence, is scarcely to be wondered at. The ancient Mexicans regarded the boa as sacred; they viewed its actions with religious horror; they crouched beneath the fiery glances of its eyes; they trembled as they listened to its long-drawn hiss, and from various signs and movements predicted the fate of tribes or individuals, or drew conclusions of guilt or innocence. The supreme idol was represented encircled and guarded by sculptured serpents, before which were offered human sacrifices.