The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1827-11-07
From Csnninghan's "71sO gears IN .Ne'o
Sn,lfh Uales.n ]

very numerous. and all except the uiauhoH"
snake believed TO be poisonous, this being
the only one eaten by the natives. me
diamond snake sometimes grows to the
lenrth of fourteen feet, but few Of the 9TH
ers exceed four. The large snakes, as,
for instance, the boa, may generally be set
down indeed as not poIsonous.l AL our
other varieties, however, are reputed ny
the natives as highly ycnome9s, and, as lar
rs colonial experience goes, the fact IS con-
firmed. Our two most venomous snakes,
the brown and the black, appear to me to
be male and female. At time when |
saw these kinds of snakes together, | had
two dogs with me that had acquired the
dangerous habit of snake killing one ne
ing a fine pointer, newly from England, and
the other coonial-bred kangaroo dog.
The pointer seized the black sIake first,
and was shaking it briskly about, when the
brown snake which had retreated some SIX
feet distant, suddenly raised its head, dart
ed its long tongue two or three times out,
its eyes mean time sparkling wildly, then
made a sudden rush at the doc, colling
round his legs and biting at him with the
greatest fury imaginable. | ran forward
to assist him with a spade, but bebre | got
up the dog dropped the black snake and
seized the brown, swapping il up into
mouthsful. To make sure chopped on
the head of the black snake, leaving bare
inch of the neck attached, and then per-
! formed the same operation on the brown.
On turning, observed he kangaroo dog
behind me make & sudden spring and look
anxiously round to where his hind feet had
stood, where lay the had of the black
! snake, which | thought had merely startled
/ him, by his treading upoI it, little deemlng
/ that it could inlure him in that mangled
state. The pointer hadset down as dead,
but, after few minutes pace, conceived
hopes of his safety from lis running briskly
off on the scent of an emu. My attention,
however was soon attracted to the kanga-
roo dog, by his suddenly DOSING the power
of his hind quarters, which incapacity
made him tumble down as if in a fit. Con-
ceiving it TO be something Of this kind cut
his ears with knife, which brought him Il
/ little round, but he could not rise, and lay
painting with his tongue lolling out, and his
/ eyes dim, watery, and CLASSY. In little more
than half an hour. from the time | saw him
start from the snakes head, he was dead,
and his body swelling fast. l now be-
thought myself of that circumstance, and
Immediately gave up all lnpes ofthe pointer,
who was now out of 1t, and whom |
found dead, swollen, andputrid, few days
after, within a short distance of the field
toward which was the time walking
These snakes are.eowardly creatures, and
always fly the IMAM, so that it is only
by accidentally pling upon them, or
in picking up freNl that people are bit
ten, comparatively few deaths have tax
en- place from this cause since the founda-
ton Of the colony
There is a man in this colony, named
Wilkinson, well known by the appellaton
of the "snake man." who has become so ia
nlillar with, ana fond of, these reptiles, that
he seldom travels without having some of
the most yenomous cooled IN h., barc bosorn,
or stuffed into the crown Of his hat. While
in the service of a Paramatta clergyman,
he came home one day with the tailed of
good-sized snake hanging out from under
his hat, curling over his brow like love
lock, and when told of it by the lady of the
house, he very cody gave the tail a sharp
pinch between his finger and thumb, to
make the animal draw its stray member in.
lie had some constantly crawling about
his bedroom, too, and often occupying a
portion even of his bed, without his express
ing the least apprehension. He says he
was taught by a French surgeon to tame
these reptiles, which he accomplished by
simply contining several in a bag together :;
through which procedure, the snakes soon
loose all inclination of biting, permitting
themselves afterwards to be freely handled.
as he has often demonstrated by thrusting
his bare hand among a bagful of them, and
holding them fearlessly up like bunch of
eels. Whatever be his mode obtaining.
however, it is certainly most effectual. He
at first approaches them cautiously from be-
hind, as they lie basking, seizes them close
by the head, presses the thumb under the
jaw, forthwith consigns them to his wallet,
and trudges eagerly on in search of more !,
and though he has caught some thousands,
he has never been once bitten.