The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1883-06-21
California RattIesnakes.I


in California One is the snake of the
plains, the other the snake of the
mountains. The plain snake is short,
plethoric-looks much like an animated
bologna-sausage, and is almost as
deadly. In summer they congregAte
in squads about the. pools of water,
Snakes love water and will travel miles
to get it, Theplain snake IefasVls into
grass when mowR for hay, and is some,
times taken up with bunch by the
fork and pitched rattling on the hay
wagon. This makes it lively for the.
man on the wagon, and makes }hay-
making in certain partstl0f california.
much more of sensational and much
less of a poetica1 calling than in Some
other parts of the world. 1ds 10 a1 IN
Ii there is an excuse for ones drink.
ing anything but water 1t is when
caught out on these rattlesnake plains
in August and with the kind of water
there furnished The sdn bakes the
soil as hard as a brickbat and quite. as
dry. At intervals of ten miles you may
find pool. You may find it on the
north side of a sandstone or cement
gravel cliff. There will be two inches
Of water, one inch of scum and Six
inches of mud, all about churned by
the feet of hundreds of cattle, and as
you make for this lukewarna mess YOU
will see half-dozen ,bologna-sausage
rattlesnakes gliding through the dead
yellow grass for the ereyicesi in the
base of the elf. The water itself is
the color of coffee without milk, and
holds six different kinds of aquatic bugs
and worms to, the, square inch. You
can stock an aquarium with every
swallow. tits meat and drink Dorei
missed it in having never seen one of
these pools in the summer fringed with
bologna rattiesnakes. 4g9dI ao
1t is said that the rattlesnakeF of the
plains lives in the same hole With the
little burrowing owl If you walk in a
circle around one of these owls percAed
on the dirt pile by his hole, his head
will seem to turn clear round while he.
watches you, as if it went.on a pivot,
and nine times out of ten you viii fail
to see when he wiliz2es bis meek BACK
to catch syouo on the other tack $50 quick
is he with this motion. Whether or
not the rattlesnake and the owl do live
together in. these holes is not clear. No
one has thoroughly proved it. No one
can we'll pfo4eiit without putting an
arm down, to find out, and no one would
SO disturb the privacy and sanctity of
the rattlesnakeS' or burr0wing owls
hearth. Nor is it clear who makes these
holes; no one ever saw q burrowing owl
at.work shoyeling out the sand. Nor "a
rattlesnake. My ewn opinion is that
the ground-squirrel or gophers make
the holes. that the owl, finding onefun5
occupied. squats in it, and that the snake.
takes refuge in them when pursued
3 The mountain rattlesnake il much
longer than the plain snake, much, bet.
ter proportioned and would readily be
deemed a more beautiful reptile If man
could see any beauty ina rattlesnake..
He tapers from the waist to the tail in
accordance with the strietest eanons of
art, carries more rattles than his broth
ers of the low counties, glides in more
graceful curves, drinks ptner water.
from the clear, ice-cold springs of the
upper Sierras, and seems in every re-
spect a more aesthetic .disfribT1ter9 of.
venom With all the talk, past and
present, of the rattlesnake's deadly
poison, Inever could hunt to its hole.
a well-authenticated case of death by
it. This is not from any lack of snake
stories or of snake deaths, and manYof
these stories have heard, but in every,
case found the narrator told what he
had heard and not what he had seen.
was with man on Bed Mountain Bar
who was bitten. by a rattlesnakc, but it
was the rattlesnake that died. beng
stoned TO death. The man lived got
drunk, got well of the bite by getting
drunk, but sick at the stomach from the
same cause, and before his medicine had
ceased its operation he came near, Fill.
ing a brother man. 5A =
The generally accredited icure for the
rattlesnake's bite is whisky-as full as
possible. Many people in California
were so afraid Of the bite that they
kept full most of the time as a pro-
phylactic or preventive Hence the
remedy has killed far more than the
snake. This makesno difference. They
still go. on with their prophylactie.
Another cure for the rattlesnake bite is
to bury all of the bitten man in the
earth but his head. The earth is sup
posed to have a quality which draws
the poison from the wound. If the
man is bitten in the head he must, of
course, be buried head downward..3 'A's.
& Where the rattlesnake goes to die, or
what he dies of, or where he goes after
he dies, are all mysteries. Despite all
the digging in California. noone ever
excavated rattlesnake that had died
peacefully inits bed. ,,,s4ar..
The nearer you are to country fun
of rattiesnakeS the less they areltalked
about or feared. Where the rattle
snake is most dreaded is where he is
not, or ever has been, or probably neFer
win be. He is q game snake. He will
turn and make a fight, no matter how
great the odds against him. If he is
cut in two he viii continue the fight
with what's left Of him forward Il
yDu chop that in two he viii keep up
the battle with his fore-quarter. You
can't knock him out till you smash
his head; and even them the last inn
provised tail will sqtfrm The only
foolish thing he does is to bite, at 3
stick and throw so much Of his poison