The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1881-02-10
Some Snake Stories.

Lust evening three cavalry soldiers
sat in a South town lager beer saloon
md over their foanIng glasses an'
uipcS rehcarscd experiences during las'
w mcr on the pldnS and barren sand,
- Sew Mexico aud Arizona. They
ysrr brawnv, muscular fellows, with
bright intelligent eyes and weather
II afen faces and that indifferent. mt
a nfcourse air characteristic OF tn.
| .rpniiersinan aud old soldier. '.Snak, (,
exclaimed one of the saberefs, - lac
hlew away the cloud of smoke tina
.l.nls 81 concealed his o~euntenance IL
il ught | had seen sDakes among the
Du ties or clay hills of Wyoming Du'
never knew what reptiles were unuil
| got down into Arizona. Why. We
seen fifty %tarantulas in a single file col
umn, the leader as big as the rim O
your hat, following a buffalo trail to
the water to drink. Tarantulas always
follow each other in Indian file. Some
people think that a tarantulas' bite is
not poisonous, but | tell you it IS
certain death. I've seen u tarantula
jump four feet to strike a horse in the
face, and in fifteen minutes afterward
that horses face would swell to all enor
nous size. He would act as though
he had the blind staggers and then IN a
little while dropdead. Mocasins.b by the
thousandl The plains of Arizona and
New Mexico are full of rattle-snake, and
evcIIwhtle in the vicinity Of Il stream
of water are the mocca>InS. Their
bite, too, is certain death. Strange
these snakes never bite wild ANIMALS y
the Indians. No one ever heard Of al
Apache Indian having been bitten by
a make. They seem to be OF one and
the same nature. You never heard oil
snakes fighting among themselves, Dor
of IN Apache lighting snakes. Deer
and antelope know how to defend
themselves from snakes. | once was
out hunting and got very close to a
fac looking buck and WAS about to
give him "A shot when my interest was
excited by the strange conduct. His
eyes appeared fixed upon some object On
the ground, and through the telescspe
my of rifle | was able to see, close before
him, and enormous rattlesnake. He
had coiled himself into that peculiar
the rattlssnake takes just as it
IS absut to strike. Instantly the deer
stamped upon him with both Of his
front feet aud trod the reptile into
a Jelly. | shot the deer and got the
snake. 1t had twelve enormous ~rattles.
All the wild animals appear to be on
the lookout for reptiles. \ wolf never
lies down without walking round and
round in Il circle for some moments.
until it has trsd every inch OF
ground, almost uron which it lies. So
with the elk, deer and antelope or any
wild animal"
But why are not more persons bit
ten blythe mOccasin than are y lnquir-
ed a b~ystander. Il hear they are IA
very difficult reptile to kill
Yes. they are difficult to kill, unless
you know how to make them kill them
Selves" replied the frontiersman and
The first thing a maccasin
does, when it is alarmed, is to initiate
itself with the air. Then it is as 1abby
As a sponge, aud if you We're t. hurl a
stone upon it, it would have no seem
ing effect. The way to dispose OF the
moccasin, and | have put hundreds OF
them u Of the way, is Just to strike it
with a switch or your riding whip SO as
to sting it, and it will instantly bite itself
aud in three minutes be a dead snake"