Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1881-11-10

4
was almost enveloped in cloud of smoke
from the torch, which seemed TO prevent
the bees from settling upon his body
which, but for his waist-cloth. was en-
tirely bare and exposed to their stings
Arriving directly beneath the limb t.
which the comb was suspended, by {
dexterous spring he threw himself partly
over it, then, drawing up his torch SC
that its smoke completely envelopet
his body, he rested for some moments
before creeping out on the branch to cut
off the comb. Thousands of bees were
flying about him, and thousands more
were cllnging in black masses to the out
side OF the comb. But, upon Benu's
holding out the torch beneath it, they
all rose IN dense cloud, filling the fores
with their deep, solemn hum. Defended
| by the smoke, Benu had, in moment OF
two more, made double moose of his
smaller line round the comb; and then
| with few deft cuts from his chopper,
he cleaved off the comb from the limb
and lowered it unbroken to the ground
In three minutes more he had walked
down the tree, much as he had walked
| up, and stood among us, none the worse
Tor his exploit with the exception of q
few stings.
Afterward, | repeatedly saw Fola.
! ANIME, Motuleet and dozen others of
| our native squad climb up for nests in
the same way. 1t was their customary
method. Nothing would have induced
me to attempt such feat nor could
any of our sailors be induced or caioled
into attempting it.
I a lIttla WOW ont fro,,, o,,~ L,.4r -, ~, =
further side, and just beyond the three
dardee trees, there was rocky gully
or gulch, twenty-five or thirty feet in
depth, and from forty to fifty feet wide
so steep We're its sides, and SO tangled
with creepers and vines, that to cross it
we should have been forced to make a
| long detour, either below or above, had
it not been for bridge, which nature
! had provided in the shape of tree
which had fallen across the ravine,
! spanning it completely from bank to
bank. 1t had been very large, old
tree. The shattered top lay on the side
next our huts and the ends were over
run by a luxuriant wild grapevine,
loaded down with clusters of grapes,
| the outer skins of which were covered
with hair But their flavor was deli
cious, though on first putting one in
| your mouth the hair gave you very pc
culiar sensation. Winding through the
top of the tree with the vine, there was
q beautiful crown-lily, displaying its
| glorious festoons of blossoms side by
side with the strange hairy grape clus-
tiers, so that most singular and gor-
geous effect was produced. The trunk
of the tree, which was at least four feet
in diameter, offered a perfectly safe
bridge across the gully; and for the
first four days we were constantly going
back and forth on it. 1t had evident '
been used for this purpose, either by
men or wild animals, long before our
arrival, for the log was worn smooth,
apparently by the many feet that had
passed and repassed on it.
Though still tolerably sound and
strong, the log was plainly hollow
one, and out near the middle of it there
was hole on the upper side. / noticed
this hole the first time L went across,
and thought what an ugly thing it would
be to step into it when crossing with
load. 1t must have been not far from
q foot and a half in diameter.
Several times, while walking over this
7 log, | noticed strange, sickening odor
coming from it, which, though faint,
was very nauseating, and once, when
standing still for a moment, looking
down into the gully beneath it, I saw
some lunches Of what appeared to be
bones wadded together. There were a
coed many of these lying there among
the rank grass, and I concluded that a
number Of animals had died or been
killed there, and that the peculiar odor
came from these.
The fourth evening we were there, Just
| at sunset, when the natives were coming
| from bee-hunting, each with his great
sack of mashed comb on his head, sud
denly heard fearful cutlery in the di-
rection of this gully.
"Some of 'em have tumbled off'n that
log !" Myers, one of the sailors with me,
called out, and we all ran from the hut
where We were eating supper, to see
| what had caused so dreadful shrek.
On coming in sight of the log that
| spanned the ravine, strange spectacle
| presented itself Dangling from the
under side of the log, struggling and
shrieking, hung one of the natives-a
brother of Benu, named Osi. At the
same instant perceived the folds Of a
monstrous, notified snake, rising in
| great loops above the log, and heard a
native, who was standing at the farther
| end of the log, screaming: "UlGr ie-
| hal! U'tar hh0i!" (Great snake Great
snake y " 1dsahu! tdSGhu! "(Help
helpD "Come forth, white chief. with
your fire gun +"
Without waiting to get my gun, Tor
| poor Oats shrieks were awful to hear /
seized a large handspike lying near, and,
dashing out on the log, delivered two
heavy blows upon theserpent's wrlthIng
folds, either of which, feel certain,
would have broken an oxs back. Feel
ing these, the monster dropped Oati,
whom it had seized by the thigh in its
mouth and was holding up by main
strength, ana, rearing its huge, flat
| tened head six or seven feet above the
log, looked me full in the face, its great
eyes dilated with fury and its tongue
licking the air with strange, kissing
| sound.
1t was sight to startle the bravest of
men. / struck at its head and leaped
backward on the log, but lost my foot
ing when close to the bank of the gully,
and, slipping off the tree-tru1nz, went
| tearing down through the vines to the
| bottom. The fall did not hurt me
| much, but / was snarled up in the
vines, and it was some moments before /
could struggle out, or even clear away
the foliage sufficiently to see whether
| the great snake was after me or not. /
could hear a tremendous shouting and
noise, however, and soon the reports of
several guns.
The moment got clear of the hands,
| ran through the bushes and grass,
down the bed of the gully: and here
| came upon Oati, crawling off on his
hands and knees. His thigh was bleed
ing profusely from several deep, ugly
looking holes, and his ankle was out OF
Joint from the fall.
There was so savage hattie going
on above us, that my shouts for assist
ance were unnoticed. After several eff
forts l succeeded in throwing Oad's en-.
kfe-joint back into place; and then, bind.
ing mp his leg as best | could, helped
HIM along to place where it was posi-.
bic for us to climb out
But altogether this had occupied fiji
teen or twenty minutes; so that the fight
which Myers and Benu ANIME, Fola ant
the rest were making with the t'tGr ie
Adi was now for the most part over. The
shots had driven the serpent hack int
the log; whence. according to Oati, il