The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1840-01-25
From the Adventures Of Cadet in India.7

From the Adventures Of a Cadet in India.
A FgAt-Snakc 0sai Dogs.-Near the
roots of many Of these plants, were holes,
resembling rabbit burrows. Suddenly one
of the dogs, spaniel, which had been
hunting about at some distance in advance
of US, gave yell, which summoned the
others to him, and VIC followed as fast as
our bipedal powers would permit U.S.
The dogs united in a general howl, and
when we came up with them, we found
them scratching almost mad'y in the
ncighborhood of one of the above men-
toned holes, but at very respectable
distance from it, for, from its interior is
sued an indiscribable sound, which might
have appalled, a lion. As near as | can
convey an idea of it, it was a fierce hiss
ing, mingled with growI. Conceiving
that the tenant of this ASYLUM might be a
weazle, or some animal of that tribe, we
poked at the aperture with our sticks; and
cheered the poor dogs on to an assault
We could not, however, with all our en-
deavors, induce our best dog, though a
noted scratcher, to invade the sanctuary;
on the contrary, it appeared to be his OBJ
ject to fill up the hole, by throwing the
earth irto it. He also bit off every branch
of the mudar plant, laying each cautious
ly over the same place. At this time, one
of the party suggested thai the occupant
might be snake; whereupon we would
have called off the dogs, but they were
under the influence of spell, and paid
not the least attention to us. AT length,
to make long story short, as with Justice
| can, an enormous cobra dc capello burst
forth, fu,iousI y cnragcd; on the first ap-
pearance of his head, the four footed tribe
retrcated few yards, then halted, turn
cd, and held the foe at bay, whilst the ra-
tlonal portion of the party commanded
themselves to the protection of their loco
motive engines, so well spoken of in HUI
dibras, and so naturaIlyreierred to on such
occasions.
Our ignominious flight continued to the
full distance of twenty PAGES, when we
halted and faced about. We then wit
messed most extraordinary spectacle
In the centre of a large circle formed by
the dogs, rose the snake, with head dis
tended, and about a yard of his body
erect, gracefully curved like the neck of
a swan. In this attitude he wheeled ra-
pidIy about, fixing his diamond Ike eyes,
quickly as light, on any antagonist, which,
bo!der than the rest, attempted to draw
the circle closer around him. This war
of demonstrations lasted for perhaps a
quarter of an hour, the dogs bark :ng furi-
ously all the time, when one of them the
spaniel too) made a spring upon the reptile
when his head was partly turned in ano-
thcr direction, but he undcrated the acti-
witty Of his foe, and was bitten.
A general attack now commenced, and
the snake was soon torn to pieces. He
died not unavcnged, as Byron says. Two
of the dogs received their death wounds,
by being bitten in the upper lip, viz: the
spaniel before mentioned, and valuable
Scotch terrier. For about ten minutes af-
forwards, THAR spirits appeared to be un-
naturally excited; they then began to sick
en- and reich, though they were unable to
vomit violent convulsions and death soon
followed. The spaniel, which was first
bitten, died in about twenty minutes, and
the terrier in about half an hour after the
infiction of the wound.
Eau de luce would have saved them,
had we had it at hand. have myself
witnessed the cure of man who was Bit
ten by a very yenomous snake; he was
restored by teaspoonfill of eau de luce,
given in half wine glass of water; and
although he was in state of insensibiIity,
and foaming at his mouth, with his pulse
apparently gone, yet in less than twenty
minutes he became convalesccnt and able
to walk.
An appalling Situation.-In Cooper's
Naval History, we find the following in
teresting descri ption of a scene on ship
board, which illustrates in striking man.