Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1884-01-05

shutting of the eyes were fully ex-
planned. My feeling of horror dis
appeared, and 1 watched the beasts
every movement. Digging my
penknife into Chiniah, ] made him
almost spring off the machan. AT
ter staring like a mad man for
awhile he perceived the python,
and was, if possible, in a greater
panic. ''He is thirty cubits long,"
he uttered, land will swallow the
wOod-cutter first and us afterward."
/ gave silent laugh and pointed
TO the rifles. The movements of
the snake were inaudible, but we
could see the disgusting process of
covering the body with saliva, and
after fully two hours, hU opened
his horrid jaws and began to swal-
low the body head foremost. Now
d pythOn's teeth are so arranged
that once anything enters his mouth
it can not be elected again. Gradu-
ally the head and neck disappeared,
then the shoulders and up to the
waist, when there was a terrific
roar. A tiger sprang from a cover
right on to the python, Selling him
by the back of the neck.
l have no doubt that death was
instantaneous, as far as the snake
was concerned but his huge body,
in circumference equaling a mans
and nearly thirty feet long, in con-
vulsive movements, wound round
the tiger, and we could hear the
bones being crushed one after the
other. The roar the tiger gave at
the first squeeze was appalling; but
In few moments the rOars turned
into means, the means into a CUR
CLING sound, and gradually they,
too, ceased, while the cOntOrtiOns OF
the snake continued for over an
hour. / never saw such frightful
sight. What is man or his strength
compared TO that of either of the
beasts lying dead before us? We
were speechleSs with horror and
surprise at the denouement, and at
the amazing strength of a moribund
snake. All signs of life had ceased,
and we had dozed for awhile, when
we were awakened by the noise OF
tearing of flesh.
Peeping over our leafy panoply,
there was tiger, or tigress, making
IA meal off either the snake, its own
kind or the dead man. The moon
was under a cloud, so / waited pa
tiently until it shOne again, and
then aiming as well as l could for
the shoulder, / fired both barrels,
and the tigress, for such she proved,
rolled over and over, growing and
roaring, and at last craWled into the
ravine, whence we could hear her
until close upon daylight, when it
ceased; and, with it, i knew either
that she had Crawled away or died.
Waiting until full daylight, we
descended from our perch. We first
sought the tigress. She lay dead.
We then examined the three bodies,
which presented much the appear
ance of LAGOON in the embrace of
the serpents. Although life had
been extinct for several hours,
when we tried to unravel the coils
from the tigers body they resisted
so stOutly that had to send to the
village for assistance. With the aid
of over twenty men, and by cutting
open the jaws, we released the body
OF the wOOd-cutter and stretched out
the body of the python it measured
70 IL feet long. The tiger had bit
ten clean through the vertebra just
behind the function of the head and
body. The tiger, one of the largest
l ever saw, as be measured 10 feet 2
inches in length, was as if, he had
been beaten into jelly; his bones
were crushed to powder. The poor
wOOd-cutter was cremated the same
afternoon the two tigers and snake
were despOiled of their skins, and
never afterward sat up at night over
any kill-nOr do L wish ever to do
so again.