Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1874-01-15
AN AMUSING LITTLE REP
TILE.
The COral-Snake.


Nothing is needed in a tropic for
est to obtain hospitable admission tc
the great theatre in which is played
sometimes comedy and sometimes
tragedy most direful, that mighty
play house. built, and warmed, and
painted with q glory of loveliness,
by the imperial sun and teemIng
Mother Earth; the theatre in which
mans presence is an accident and an
intrusion, in which, if perceived, it
overclouds the mirth, and gives to
the tragedy different climax. The
''mountains of old stone" as these
ancient sepulchres are called by the
natives, are always filled with living
things rabbits, armadillos, iguanas,
snakes, and tiger cats Even King
Jaguar himself does not disdain to
abide there if lie can find hole big
enough to stretch his huge carcass
in. | had not long TO wait, therefore,
before the curtain rose on scene in
the great forest drama, which has
heen and is performing night and
day from timeto eternity.
"Tweet, tweety," chirped "gua
tnso," or jungle rabbit, poking his
drolI red head from hole in the
overthrow cairn. The short fore
legs followed the head, then the
round. sleek body, and then the long.
kangaroo like quarters. Merrily he
hoped about, hither and thither, now
nibbling The tendrils of a "vine,"
now scratching at root with his
long claws There is no funnler ami
NAL in the jungle than guatuso.
unless it be monkey or raccoon,
nor, indeed, is there anv better eat
ing. was already engaged in COM
putation whether this big rabbit in
hand might not be a safer specula-
tion than a deer in the savanna, when
the little fellow suddenly uttered
cry of alarm and bounded homeward
Arrived at his hole, however, he did
not enter at once, but raised himself
on his hind legs to reconnoitre the
enemy. A dreadful enemy it was.
Like long. polished necklace. of jet
and coral and pearl in alternate beads,
the pursuPr appeared, living jewel
that sparkled and vanished among
the stones and fleshy leaves. The
hesd, ensmeled in black and scarlet,
was half raised as he slowly wound
along, and the eyes, small and rather
dim, were fixed upon his victim.
Beautiful rather than terrible he must
have seemed to one who had never
setn his like before Slender in
shape, glossy, and so richly, yet
tastefully colored, he reminded one
of some antique ornament that Cleo
patra or Sem ramis might have worn
round her dusky throat when sitting
in state upon her throne. But l
knew the death that laid beneath the
beauty; recogniz ed at glance the
terrible "coral-snake." Now, l
thought, is the opportunity to watch
the process of fascination of which
men tell, if, indeed, it be a real truth!
Surely no snake living has such oc-
easien TO use it as the clumsy corale
in chase of healthy guatuso. For
all his grace and color, this is the
most helpless of reptiles in taking
prey, and, while watching the slow
movements of the deadly snake, l
could not but wonder what the cause
.bf his inactivity might be. Put a
young corale of two feet long-he
becomes stumpy afterward-beside
rattlesnake or "tuboba," his body
seems as 1.-THE and powerful as theirs;
"trip off his jeweled skin, the mus
4 cles are as symmetrical. Yet the
rattlesnake or the tuboba, or any
serpent that exists, is hundred
hines more active, and more danger
ous to other animals.
Persons who believe in spasmodi-
cal providences will argue that the
elowness of the corale was specially
3apportionel to him to preserve men
from his deadly venom, Even sup
posing this reasonable, the desired
Eeffect must be due to some physical
cause, and that cause is still to seek
TTbe other side of the argument is
not much studied in the jungle, but
lit is somewhat difficult to see why
we should bethus carefully protected
from the corale, while the tuboba is
ALLOWED to carry his poison as rapidly
as he may please. Surely it is of lit
tle Importance to any man whether
he dies in twenty minutes or four or
fve hours, so his death be equally
certain in either case. Most of us
swho have necessarily thought upon
the subject seem to prefer the shorter