The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 94: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ANOTHER PLOT 79 never seen before. We will not dwell upon unnecessary details; suffice it to observe that after having inspected the various objects which presented themselves to their view in one portion of the gardens, they passed through the tunnel and entered upon the other division, Facing them was a placard indicating a particular direction, and with these words, ‘‘ To the Reptiles.” Sagoonah understood them, and a thrill vibrated through- out her entire frame. She felt for something that was con- cealed under her long white dress, and having assured herself that it was all safe there, she looked for a moment as if she had already achieved some grand triumph; then suddenly relapsing into her wonted demeanour, she followed the princess and our heroine into the reptile house. There, in cases of different sizes, and each having a frontage of thick plate glass, were all the most terrible specimens of the serpent species. In one a huge python, sixteen or seventeen feet long, and as thick in the largest part of its form as a man’s thigh, was creeping lazily out of a tank of water; in another an immense boa-constrictor was coiled around the branch of a tree placed there for his comfort and accommoda- tion; more serpents of the same species were to be seen in other cages, — some winding their slimy lengths over the eravel strewn on the floors, others coiled up on thick blankets, or protruding their heads from amidst the folds of horse- cloths, or licking the glass frontages of their dens with their forked tongues. The venomous reptiles were to be seen in much smaller cases on the opposite side of the room. There was the rattlesnake with a host of little ones coiling, writhing, and wriggling about their parent,— a horrible and loathsome brood. There was the puff-adder, with its hideous bloated head, the most transient glance at which was calculated to send a shudder through the frame of the beholder who knew that its bite was death. But not less venomous was the dark cobra, with its head reared up from amidst its coils, its hood expanded, and its throat of a shell- like appearance and whiteness. It was upon this object that Sagoonah’s eyes at once riveted themselves, and if any one had observed her at the time, it would have seemed. as if those luminous black orbs of hers reflected the reptile-fire which gleamed from the pupils of the hooded snake. But there was no one in the room except herself, her mistress, and EGOMIGIOOKS (CO)