Mexico weekly ledger., 1882-09-21
A ssrpent's squsese.


A ssrpent's squsese.
Fighting for Life In Gage.
In the summer of 1880 I got q nasty
squeeze from big python in the Jardin
Zoologique Of Antwerp, which laid me
up for several days. I had observed
this snake, q female about fourteen feet
long, in one Of the dens, and from the
white efflorescence about her lips, knew
that she was suffering from carries Of the
jaw with liberation of the mucous
membrane, 30 fatal to snakes in con-
finement; and having pointed this out
to II. Vekemann, the resident director,
/ obtained his permission to make trial
Of an ointment which believed I had
found efficacious in the early stage Of
the disease among my own snakes.
I came ON the following morning,
armed with my ointment; but the lady
rocks, where one could scarcely catch
sight Of her, much less get ut her
There were other pythons in the cage,
some OF them nearly twenty feet long,
some..not moro than five or six; but though
they projected their heads and commenc-
ed to hiss, they did not attempt to at
tack; and the keeper. an intelligent
man who spoke French, said they would
not come at US II we did not touch
them. A little one jumped harmlessly
at'my leg as / stepped over him. For
three days the pythoness remained in
her rocky, or rather plastery, retreat;
but on the fourth ] caught sight Of her
'atpthe very top Of the cage, and at once
climbed up and brought her down. The
poor things mouth was in worse state
than7 had anticipated, She came down
quietly enough, and though nervous.
was not spiteful. and allowed me to
handle her.
Now, Is ll-luck would have il, the
regular keeper was absent on this par
ticular morning, and his place was fill
ed for the time by another from some
other part of the gardens, who spoke
nothing but Flemish, of which tongue
am as profoundly ignorant as he most
certainly was of the creatures under his
temporary charge. went into the den
with him, taking 1t for granted, of
course, that he was accustomed to
snakes, and gave him the box of oint-
ment to hold until I was ready to use
it.
When had brought the pythoness
fairly down to the floor, I gripped her
hard by the neck, which had the effect
AS I intended it to have, and a. it al
ways has with snakes-of making her
open her mouth. Ipressed her head
away from me at the same time, to pre-
vent her catching hold OF any part Of
my clothing, in her efforts to bite. In
her fright and rage, she drew her body
up across my back, and twisted her tail
round and round my other arm. All
that I now required of the keeper was,
by teasing or pinching her here and
there, or by unwinding the tail when
necessary, to cause her to shift her coils
constantly, and prevent her resting long
enough on one spot to apply undue pres.
sure. My face I could protect for my.
self with the left hand. This I CON
cluded he understood, as . matter oi
course.
turned round to make Q sign to him
to be ready and to give me the oint
ment, when, Judge of my dismay
caught sight Of his stolid face, with 9
sort Of dull, impartial interest oni it, look
ing at me through the glass in from,
and the door closed on the outside! HI
had got frightened by the noise Of the
other pythons, and had quietly gons
out again.
Twas about to make an impatient
gesture, when in the same instant the
serpent frightened on me SO suddenly
and violently that momentarily los
consciousness. then found myself
staggering about the den, fighting fol
life. I expected to feel my ribs give way
every moment. yet my chief fear at the
same time was of falling through tht
glass.
l pushed the reptiles head away from
me with all my might. lest it should
cross my breast, and can remembel
catching sight Of myself, a mulberry
colored figure, in the mirror. knew
too, that l was trampling about over the
other pythons, who, furious at the dis
t,lrbance, were now darting about The
den above and all around me in ever,
direction; and I exerted every energy
to keep my feet, for had presence OF
mind enough left to know that il l went
down it would be all over with me.
The heat was sitting. I could bear
it no longer. The cage spun madly
round and round before my eyes, and
every thing seemed to flame and roar.
| 1 let 90 the head. The snake twisted
| sharply back over my right shoulder
close to my face, but did not bite me,
and slid off on to the ground. just
recollect falling against the door with
outstretched hands, but nothing more
until found myself sitting on the steps
outside. coughing violently, while the
phlegmatic keeper was putting hot
key down my back, for some occult rea
son. l brought up little blood, ant
drank little brandy, after which
soon got better; but was not wei
enough to walk home, and the bruise ir
my side did not fade for many day.
suppose the whole affair did not las
more than q few seconds. but found i
quite long enough. Fortunately th'
snake had only small part of her bod,
across my left side and back; had sh'
| encircled me with whole coil shoult
have been crushed like an egg-shell.
Curiously enough. my left arm wa
quite paralyzed. and did not fully re
cover the use of it for q week. l die
not know it at the time. but she mus
have pressed her tail under my armpit
and SO compressed the nerves. The &C
cident was one of the stupidest AM
most preventable in the world, and wa
entirely owing to my taking the wron,
man into the cage to assist me. ma
add that went in some days later witt
the proper keeper, and performed tn
operation, not only without danger, bu
without the least difficulty.
The EARLY Attractions Of . Western Vii
lage.
We heard . Western village praise
very highly by friend the other even