Home › Snake Stones and Bezoars › Snake Stones and Bezoars: Indians

Snake Stones and Bezoars: Indians

The bezoars of the New World seem to have differed considerably from those of India. They had a rough surface, were usually of a gray color, of various sizes and forms, and composed of a number of superimposed, coalescing layers, much thicker than those of the Oriental, or Indian, bezoar. They were usually of considerable size, either hollow within or containing seeds, needles and similar substances. They came from the West Indies, especially from Peru, and were brought thence by the Spaniards and Portuguese. The greater number were found in a kind of chamois; however, we are told that the bezoar was not found in all these animals, "but only in the old ones."