Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1869-02-10

STORY or \ SNAKE CilAnAIEE.
Fearful results oG EeeI,ie--n,..ss.
DuChallu, in his last book about
Africa, says
One day | witnessed fearful
scene. y man, native Of Goree, an
island on .the coast Of Senegambia,
who had the reputation of being a
snake-charmer, and was then at the
Gaboon, had succeeded III capturing
one Of these large maja. He was =
| bold man, and prided himself on
never being afraid Of any snake.
however venomous the reptile might
be; nay, not only was he not afraid
of any of them, but he would fight
with any Of them, and get hold of
| them. [ had often seen him with
snakes in his hands. He was care
ful, OF course, to hold them Just by
| the neck below the head, in such a
manner that the head could not turn
on itself and bite him.
| That day he brought into n large
open place, perfectly bare Of grass,
one Of these wild maja that he had
| just captured, and was amusing him
self by teasing the horrid and loath-
some creature when | arrived. 1t
| was a huge one.
Most of the people of the village
had fled, and those natives who, like
myself, We're looking on, kept long
| way oil. Not Mpongwe man, not
Il single inhabitant of the whole re-
gion | have explored, would have
ever dared TO do what the Goree man
did.
Two or three times, as the snake
| crawled on the ground, we made off
in the opposite direction with the ut
most speed, myself, 1 am afraid,
leading off i'll the general stampede
though | had provided myself with
| a gun.
1t was perfectly fearful, perfectly
horrid and appalling to see that man
making plaything of this monster;
| laughing as we may say, at death,
| for it could be nothing else, /
| thought.
| At first when l saw him he had
the snake around his body, but he
held it firmly just below the neck,
and I could see by the muscles of his
arm that he had to use great
strength. AS long as this part Of the
! body is held firmly the snake loses
| much of its great power Of crushing
one to death, as the boa-constrictOr
OF python does with larger animals,
| and as small snakes does with small
Ter game; but with this naja the dan
| ger would have been the venomous
| bite
Then with his other hand he took
| the tail of the snake, and gave it a
swing and gradually unfolded the
| reptile from his black body, which
! was warm and shining with excite
ment, but always holding the mead
| On sudden he threw the snake on
! the ground. Then the creature be-
| gan to crawl away, when suddenly
| the Goree man came in front of il
with light stick and instantly the
monster erected itself almost to half
! its full length, gave Il tremendous
whistle, which we all heard, looking
glaringly and fiercely in the mans
| face with its sharp, pointed tongue
out, and then stood still as If it could
not move. The Goree man, with
| his little stick in his left hand, touch
| ed it lightly, as though to tease it.
| 1t was fearful sight-and If it had
| been near enough, the snake would
no doubt have sprung upon its an
| tagonist.
The man, as he teased and infuria-
| ted the snake with the rod he held in
| his left hand, drew the attention of
| the reptile toward the stick then
suddenly and in the wink of an eye,
almost rs quick as lightning, with
his right hand he got hold of the
| creature just under his head.
The same thing that / have de-
! scribed again took place. The snake
/ folded itself round his body; then
! he unfolded the snake, which was
once let loose, and now this horrid
/ 90 fIy u rf.l 4 I n
as ne was thrown upon the ground
/ he erected himself, and the glare of
! his eyes was something terrific. 1t
was indeed an appalling scene; the
! air around seemed to be filled with
/ the whistling sound OF the creature.
Alas a more terrible scene took
/ place The man became bolder and
| bolder, more and more careless, and
| the snake probably more and more
/ accustomed to the mode of warfare
| of his antagonist, and just as the
I monster stood erect the man attempt
/ ed TO seize its neck as he had done
/ many and many time before, but
| grasped the body too low, and be-
fore he had time to let so the head
| turned on itself and the man was
( bitten / was perfectly speechless
/ the scene had frozen nay blood, ana
| the wild shrieks of all those around
rent the air. The serpent was loose
and crawling on the ground, but be-
/! fore it had time TO go far, long pole
came down upon its back and broke
I its spine, and in less time than I
take to write it down the monster
was killed.
To the French doctor who had
! charge of the little colony the man
went happily he was just al handl
all the remedies were prompt and
powerful; the man suffered intense
Iy, his body became swo lien, his
mind wandered, and his l;fe was de-
SPARED of but at last he got be tier,
and though complaining OF great
pain near the heart, he was soon
able to go out again. y short time
: after this accident, having an AK in
his hand, going as he said 20 cut
wood, he suddenly split his own head
in two. He had become insane,
esrr1 ! zr