The strange life of Charles Waterton

"From 1782 to 1865 there lived, mainly at Walton Hall in the county of Yorkshire in England, a man whose name was Charles Waterton. He was the Last Great Eccentric. Squire Waterton was also a farmer, a naturalist, and such a traveler as only an Englishman can be. His whole life made a pattern of odd adventure, some of whose highlights were his encounters with a boa constrictor, which he disposed of by a punch to the jaw; with a crocodile, which he rode up and down the Essequibo River; and with an unfortunate donkey. which he first poisoned experimentally with curare and then revived by means of a bellows..." -- Book Jacket.