The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1874-11-07
Whipping u snake.

THE next daY we went on up IN" VAL
Low of the Tchurish, crossed the dividing
ridge which marks lis hcad-sprlnS>, and
thence dcscer ded upon a wide desert step
pe interscctcd by sterile rocky ridge
which, like great sea-wavcS, succeeded
cnrh other for more than fifty vcrstS.
.On thes, bare ridges we began to see
srrprn,s. They were of several varieties.
The first We saw were oil slatry-%r"!
color, two or three feet long, and rather
slIrrish | do not think that these were
The horses did not shy from them as
they often do from vcnomouS snakes.
"Wctrod many under foot. But On one
of the succeeding ridges we fell in with
larger species, jet black in color more
than ward in length, and very active.
These, however. ran swiftly away ut
orr snrrnach. Farther on, n different and
very beautiful species began to rear their
heads and hiss at our approach. Thcy
were of pale green hue, clouded with
black, and had deep crimson spots on their
sides. They were as large rs the black
variety. but not nearly 50 active The
horses SHE'D slightly from these. Never
,hclcss We made our way without him
drancc till, on coming to the foot OF an I'M
usually high and stony ridge, my horse
suddenly stopped short, Snorting vI"icn-
tlv In n second | saw the cause of lis
alarm.
son rock. half dozen yards away, n
much larger serpent lay coiled. 1t n"d
seen us. Slowly it raised It's head foot
or more. Its eyes were red, like live coal
Its tongue played and it began to hiss
furion,lv. The Cossack, shouted I" warn
me that its bite was sure death. lhcN
knew il we'll and dared not 80 n"arrt.
Il feared lest il might strike the legs 81
the horses. and drawing one ofmy pistols
fired at it, neck, but missed II.
II was about to draw my other pistol;
when little Tchumpin, who had slipped
down from his horse, stole past my sicc'
whip in hand. e.,
i will soon kill it. BARN, - he said.
His air was 50 confident determined
to let him try. His whip was of the fash
ion i'm use with Tartar tcam>tcr>-a heavy
,sh,n stock, on which is fastened long
lash, or thong, oflcathcr. Carefully mca-
surfing the distance with his eye, the "ny
whirlcd the whip around his head in CIR
ole and struck out at the Kissing reptile.
The thong snapped almost rs loudly rs
the pfstnl shot rs the tip of II fell "r the
snake's crest causing it TO tal at full length
MI the rock. But it WAS only stunned.
Before il could recover itself, however
Tchumpin took up II stone, and throwing
i, made - def cast n t" nearly sever
il. head from its body. Two ofthe Cos,
I sacks, who had dismountcd, nov assisted
him to finish the reptile. On stretching
out this >crpcnt'> body found it t" mcS,
SIRE an inch over two wards in length. ana
is body was rather thick i'll proportion;
II had two vcnomous tangs. Its colo;
WAS a deep brown. with red and green
spancles on its sides. have since learn
Oh that the celebrated cobra Of India Is
no, more fatal in it, bite than this parts
calorcd serpent Of the stepPes,
/ "Afterthis adventure, Tchumpin went
ahead with his whip for several versts, and
killed several serpents ofthe same species
bu, none so large as the first.-fro1n '7th'
mmpn,"by C. 4. Stephens. ~. Nicholas
for November.