His exertions, however, were still vigorous, and Mr. Bass
expected, as he began to recover himself, that they would increase; but
in less than ten minutes he died. Having never before known a snake of
this size to be killed by a few very slight blows with a stick so rotten
as scarcely to bear the weight of its own blow, he was at a loss to
conceive how death had so suddenly succeeded so much vigour in an animal
so tenacious of life. Was it possible that his own bite could have been
the cause? When, three hours afterwards, the skin was stripped off, the
flesh for some distance round the marks of his teeth, was found inflamed
and discoloured.
The account of the Derwent river being now closed, and the whole of what
was learned of Van Diemen's land related, it may not be improper, says
Mr. Bass, to point out the manner in which this country and New South
Wales appear to differ in their most essential quality, that of their
soil.
In adjusting their comparative fertility, the contrasted disposition of
their soils is much more prominent than any inequality in their quantity.
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