The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1882-09-10

In the summer 1880 got nasty squeeze
| from big python in the Jardin Zoologique
at Antwerp, which laid me up for several
| days. had observed this snake, n female,
| about fourteen feet long, in one of the dens,
and from the white etllorescence about her
| lips knew that she was suffering from carries
of the jaw with liberation of the mucous
| membrane, so fatal to snakes in coniine-
ment; and, having pointed this out to NJ.
Vekemann, the resident director, obtained
his permission to make trial of an ointment
which believed | had found eflicacious i'm
the early stage of the disease among my own
| snakes. Now, as i'll luck would have il, the
| regular keeper was absent on this particular
morning, and his place was filled 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 it for granted, of course
that he was accustomed TO snakes, and gave
| him the box of ointment to hold until was
ready to use it. When | had brought the
pythoness fairly down to the floor gripped
her hard by the neck, which had the effect,
as intended it to have, and as it always has
with snakes, of making her open her mouth
| | pressed her head away from me at the
same time to prevent 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 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 prevent her resting long
enough ON one spot to apply undue pressure.
My face could protect for myself with the
| 1nft Ian 10 1 lula l., ,l.,,,
| as a matter of course. | turned round to
make sign to him to be ready and to give me
| the ointment, when, judge of my dismay as
| | caught sight of his stolid face, with n sort
| of dull impartial interest on it, looking at
me through the glass in front, and the door
| closed on the outside He had got fright
ened by the noise of the other pythons, and
had quietly gone ont again. | was about to
make an impatient gesture, when in that
same instant the serpent frightened on me so
suddenly and violently that | momentarily
lost consciousness. then found myself stag
gering about the den, fighting for life.
| expected to feel my ribs give way every mo-
ment, yet my chief fear at the time was of
! falling through the glass. Ipushed the rep
| tiles head away from me with all my might,
lest it should cross my breast, and can re-
member catching sight ofmyself, mulberry
cOlored figure, in the mirror. knew, too,
that was trampling about over the
other pythons, who, furious at the dis
tnrbance, We're now darting about the
den above and all around me in
every direction; and / exerted every
energy to keep my feet, for | had presence of
mind enough left to know that if | went
down it w0uli be all over with me. The
heat was sitting. could bear it no longer;
the cage spun madly round and round be-
fore my eyes, and everything seemed to
flame and roar. | let go the head. The
snake twisted sharply back over my right
shoulder close to my face, but did not bite
me, and slid OF; ON to the ground. | Just
recollect falling against the door with out
stretched 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 reason. | brought up
n little blood, and drank little brandy,
after which soon got better; but was not
well enough to walk home, and the bruise
in my side did not fade for many day.
suppose the whole affair did not last more
than q few seconds, but | found il quite
long enough. Fortunately, the snake had
only small part of her body across my
left side and back had he encrcled me
with a whole coil should have been crushed
like an egg-shell. -Chambers's journal,