The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1872-03-15
Pigs and venomous serpents.

From the Oriental Sporting Magazins.
In Ceylon, i'm 1856, ! was returning
one morning from snipe shooting with a
tolerably fair bag of birds, when my at.
tention was arrested by dozen semi
wild pigs belonging to my friend, most
perseveringly engaged in endeavoring
to turn over with their shouts the half
rotten stem Of palmyra palm, and ell.
riosity 10 soc if they would succeed in
their endeavors-for had never seen
pigs work so unanimously in concert
before-caused me TO stop end watch
them. After two or three failures they
gained their point, turning the tree
halfway round, when q whole family of
cobras, large and small, glided from
under it. After them the pigs scamper-
ed hilter-skelter, showing as much ac-
tivity, although only halfwild, as Ben
gal boar would do. A very large cobra,
fully five feet in length, was seized by a
half grown SOW within twelve feet of
me, and while she was crunching up the
horrible writhing bonnie bOuche, which had
been seized about the middle Of the
body, distinctly saw the reptile bite
the sow twice on the snout, without the
nimalapparently caring the least about
it; the pleasure Of consuming the lus-
cious titbit entirely compensated for
any annoyance or pain that the pig
might have felt at the time. | saw the
sow mentioned some days afterward, not
the least affected by the bite Of the
cobra.
Another instance occurred on the
small island Pulobbin, situated in the
narrow channel of the sea between Sim
gapore and the mainland. ] had gone
over 10 Pulobbin to endeavsr TO shoot
man-eating tiger which was creating
great havoc amongst few wretched
Chinese convicts stationed on the island
to split granite and ship it to Singapore
for building purposes. In this instance,
| had been out all the morning in an
unsuccessful search for the man-eater,
and on my return, feeling rather done
up, / stretched myself at full length in
the raised portico OF the shooting hut
and was enjoying my pipe, when | no
ticed large black cobra slowly gliding
along the top of the bank within twenty
feet of me. In the side OF the bank
were several holes having much the APP.
pearance Of the nests Of our English
sand. martin, and they had evidently at
some previous time been the nests Of
either king fishers or some of the fly
catcher family. The cobra, having APP
preached the very brink OF the cutting,
suspended his head and about two feet
of his body over it, and commenced a
diligent search in these holes for rats,
birds, or any small prey which might be
concealed within them. Suddenly a
loud squeak from one of their occu-
pants showed that the unwelcome in
truder had been successful in its search;
and on the snake Withdrawing his head
from the abandoned birds nest, large
frog leaped vigorously out, but on
reaching the ground seemed TO be per-
fectly paralyzed with the venom Of the
bite, and in less than minute died.
The snake seemed 70 be fully aware
of the deadly effects of his own bite, as
it never attempted to follow its victim,
though it closely watched it from the
bank, its head being thrust about the
two inches over the bank, It's eyes fixed
on the frog, whilst the forked tongue
was thrust in and out of its mouth
showing the excitement of the reptile
at the contemplation OF the food be-
fore it.
Little, however, did the reptile antic
| ipate what was in store for it; for whilst
gloating over his wretched victim, a fine
half grown pig, belonging TO one of the
Chinese ticket. of-leave men, saw him
and rushed at hin. The snake wa:
completely taken by surprise, its head
at the moment being about four inche:
below the surface of the bank, thus pre-.
venting him seeing the enemy approach
ing from behind.
The pig, without q moments hesita
ton, seized the snake near the tail, and
commenced chumping him up rs a say
age would eat string Of maccaroni
Again and again the reptile bit him
with great violence, twice on the snout
once on the ear, and once on the fore
leg. The pig did not seem to care the
least about it, not stopping for one mo
ment until it had devoured the hideou:
reptile. 1t went off grunting its salts
faction at the unexpected and luxWiou:
repast which fate had thrown in its way
! saw the same pig some days afterward
and it certainly did not then evince
signs of speedy dissolution. On another
occasion | saw a pig giving chase tc
a snake, which only made good its es
cape by reaching the branches of 6
small guava-tree.
An intimate friend Of mine once in
formed me that he saw a whole family
Of fifteen cobras devoured by couple
of pigs when he was taking off the roo
of a bungalow at Mungledey, and al
though the pigs were bitten in at leas