At the distance of a cross-bow shot we found their huts, where they had made very large fires, and two were there cooking their food, and roasting animals and fish of many sorts. here we saw that they were roasting a certain animal like a serpent, except that it had no wings, and its appearance was so horrid that many of us wondered at its fierceness. we walked tot their houses or sheds, and they had many of these serpents alive, fastened by their feet and with a cord around their snout, so that they could not open their mouths, as is done to pointers to prevent them form biting. their aspect was so fierce that none of us dared to go near one, thinking they were poisonous. they are the size of a young goat, and a fathom and a half long. they have long and thick feet, armed with large claws, the skin hard and of various colors. the mouth and the face are like those of a serpent. they have a crest like a saw, which extends from the nose to the end of the tail. we concluded they were serpents and poisonous yet eat them. we found that the natives made bread of small fishes, which they take form the sea, first boiling them, then pounding them into a paste, and roasting them in the cinders, and so they are eaten. we tried them and found them good. they have so many other kinds of food, and a greater number of fruits and roots, that it would take long to describe them in detail.

identify what type of animal is being