The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-03-15
INcunsrs or LINZ N INDIA.


I persons are killed every week by the bites
of these lOathsOme reptiles, buff this is
to Be Of any importance-they are COM
monty natives; the Europeans do not go
not attempt the particular work that they
do, and are differently lodged. One of the
| chiefs on the Scinde railway, who was in
charge Of the eKurTachee, district-ands the
Kurrachee, as is well known, is the chief
part of Scinde-informedm me that at the be-
so numerous that although he confined his
walks to the road in the vicinity of the
town, he WAS obliged to carry long stick
with which to throw them out Of his way !;
these were not, Of course, all venomous SER
pents. ',ssai,. $40 iiiii
T any considerable time in India, who has
not, on at least one occasion, seen snake
| in his bedroom, which is not very much to
be wondered at, seeing that the warmth of
the clothes must be very attractive to the
| reptiles. Three or four instances have come
| to my own knowledge where the cobra has
been found under a pillow ON which a man
has been sleeping all night. 1t is but sell
dom, however, that sleeping man is bitten
by the reptile and, indeed, the snakes, if
more deadly, do not bite q fourth of the
number that are bitten by scorpions,' which
latter are perfect curse. IL is hsrzsiy worth
while to expatiate upon the miseries caused
by the insect plaques of the tropics, but
Anglo Indians lay far greaterstress ON these
than ON the danger from reptiles. lfia
Some of the incidents related are posi-
lively horrible. A lady told me that her
husband, surgeon, died in one of those
short illnesses SO Characteristic of the tr0-
pics; he felt unwen in the morning, and
before shutdown was a corpse. His widow,
mere girl, could not believe that he was
dead, and refused to leave him, frantically
expressing to the doctor her disbelief Her
Inns tnr 1pnA
when this occurred, and the surgeon, point.
ing to the floor, said:
My dear: Mrs. -, if you persist in
doubling me, look there"
And by some mysterious instinct, II broad
column of ants had scented the room of
already within the door. and scaling the
rude couch OH which lay the so lately living
man. 81.
In speaking of snakes, am reminded of
an anecdote once heard OF the wife OF an
Indian. railway official, who was trimming
with alarge knife some plants which formed
Il border to hower-bed. She was cutting
the tops OFF, and while so engaged, she was
scared by seeing the coils of one of the most
deadly serpents of the country, amongst the
leaves. With Il loud shrek she dropped the
knife and the plants, and Il man employed
IN the garden ran to her assistance. On
hearing the cause of her alarm, he sought
to kill the snake with the hoe the creature
was plainly to he seen within about, but,
although struck. it made no effort to escape
OF turn on its assailant. At last it lay mo-
tionless, and the gardener vent,lred to pick
it mp, when he found it was headless.- To
the horror of the lady, the head. was dis
covered among the leaves which she had
thrown down on seeing the snake !, she had
grasped 1t uncpnseiousiy among the tops of
the plants, and with her garden-knife had
severed it from the body. The bite of that
SDecleS OF snake nSnnlly fat in
hours. s.=r.-,-.- ----7- T7---
OF course, the interior of IL large city is
freer from reptiles than is the lonely, up
country village; but even Ia cities it is not
uncommon, after storm of rain, to see q
cobra twisting in the flooded cutters; which
same is q very suggestive fact, and not a
pleasant one. If only 0he~venomous ser
pent were known to be at large in, we will
say, Hyde Park, what terror and consterna-
ton would peryade the west of London
yet let 1t be common thing that such crea-
lures should infest the place for few years,
and no one would trouble himself about it,
One gentleman had a very narrow escape,
the particulars of which / learned from
himself. He was about to remove from one
inland station to another-not railway sta
lions these, although may observe, he was
a surveyoT-and his trunks were packed up.
These were removed to IL sort of a shed,
awaiting the buflocks that were to take
them on, when it struck him that a small
one was lnsufhciently corded. lie lifted it,
and saw that one girth of the cord had come
off. 1t was twilight, which is equivalent to
saying it was almost dark, and he could see
the cord lying on the spot from which he
had taken the box. He stopped to pick it
up, but as he did so, the supposed cord
reared itself in the hideous curve of the CO.
bra, and threw back its head The surveyor
leaped desperately aside just as the creature
Launched himself at him. Not all the med
icaments in the world could have given him
twenty -four hours life had he been a ward
closer to the line of it's spring. lie snatched
a steefspoirited rod which ne used in his
profession, and stretched the snake, with a
broken back, upon the floor. 1T was be-
ileved that the cobra had dropped from the