Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-05-14
WHAT SERPENTS ARE GOOD FOR,
An Article of Food Among Savage
Tribes-Rat Catching BOas in Rio
de Janefro

An Article of Food Among Savage
Tribes-Rat Catching Boas in Rio
de Janefro.
Probably the most important use to
which serpent are put by man, the
world over, is as food-repugnant as
that idea Seems to be to a civilized
palate. Rev. J. L. Krape writes of
the boxers, Of east Africa, that they
let their nails grow as long as chose
of the vultures, explaining that they
are used SIN digging for ants, and IN
tearing to pieces the serpents, which
they Gevour raw. In the far east and
Polynesia, such meat has always
been an article of diet, the Andaman-
csc, for instance, liking the sea snakes,
although refusing terrestrial species.
| The Karens, of Burmah, and South
| Australians offer further instances,
while this kind of food has long been
accepted by the poorer classes of
China. In the Americas-North,
South, and Central-most Of the ma
tive races eat serpent fesh-sone
from choice, like the Brazilians :;
others occasionally, in ceremonial
way, like the Mexicans and Califor-
mans, and many to fight famine dur
ing periods Of scarcity. The rattle
snake especially has been an article
of food from one side of the continent
to the other; but this is partly owing
to the superstitious regard the
aborigInes of the United States had
(and have for the striking reptile,
coupled with the notion which be-
longs to the most primitive men, that
ones mind and temperament are in
fuenced by the moral qualities of
what is assimilated in the blood, a
notion that lies at the foundation of
nearly all cannibalism. The cunning
spitefulness and certainty Of the rat
tlesnake seems desirable virtue. to a
red Indian, hence he eats the snake
on certain occasions to acquire them.
Many tribes have daRces and cere.
monies in which the crotalus forms a
part. The subject of the symbolism,
religious significance, and worldwide
use Of serpents in sacred rites is too
large and involved to enter upon in
this connection, however, and I only
allude to it in order to say that at the
conclusion of these ceremonies, in
some instances, the snakes are eaten.
Along the coast of southern Califor-
MIA, however, according to Bancroft,
all snakes except the rattle were held
to be edible. AS for the Piutes Of the
Utah basin, whose food supply was
limited, and whose tastes were
more degraded, perhaps, than those
OF any other of the native
racesE of North America, they were
accustomed to impale the living snake
lengthwise on a stick, and hold it
writhing over the fire until it was boil~
ed powers Smiths report, 1876, p.
1879. John Josselyn, gent, in one of
his quaint old books published about
1872, in regard to New England, In
dams, when weary with travelling"
would take up rattlesnake with
their bare hands, '1aying hold with
one hand behind their head, with the
other taking hold of their tail, and
with their teeth tear off the skin of
| their backs and feed upon them alive;
which they say refresheth them"
Charlevoix, an even old writer, says
the Indians of Canada (of his day.
''chase it and find It's flesh very good.
I have even heard some Frenchmen,
who had tasted it, say that it was not
bad eating" When at Picolata, east
ern Florida, near the end of the cent
ury, the wise writer Of ''Bartram's
Travels" himself killed an unusually
long rattlesnake and dragged it into
the settlement. ''The adventure"
says Bartram, ''soon reached the ears
of the commander, who sent an officer
to request that, if the snake had not
bitten himself, he might have been
served up for his dinner; readily de-
lvered up the body to the cooks, and
being that day invited to dine at the
governors table, saw the snake served
up in several dishes, Gov. Grant be-
ing fond of the flesh of the rattlesnake.
I tasted it, but could not swollow il.
I remember hearing, quite lately, Of q
denizen Of the marshes along the
North Carolina coast, who, when he
couldn't get oysters, always ate snakes
they are as good as eels, he would
assert That serpents should figure
in the primitive pharmacop0ia
(Which is dictated chiefly by super
stition and whin) is natural. Con-
nected with the worshipful regard and
veneration in which serpents are held
by savage men III all parts OF the
world, VIC fad that this animal enters
largely into the list Of amulets
and charms, and that it forms
one of the most universal implements
in the mystic equipment Of medicines
men, fetish onjurors, and rain doc
tors the world around Among the
African Marutse medicine bags are
cut from the skin Of the python.
They also wear chest bands and waist
bands of boa or other snakes skin.
Krape says that the chief ornament
of the east Africans is the spine of
snake worn around the neck, and that
the natives of the Fernando Pc, male
and female, wear as an ornamental
belt its strung vertebra. It is stated
by Peter Jones, the interpreter Long
and others, that when the Ojibwavs
went to war, each took black water
snake, pulled out its teeth, tied head
and tail together, and fastened it