The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30
STORIES OF THE JUNGLE,
In which Natives. Tigers, Snakes,
Etc, Greatly Abound

49,
Etc, Greatly Abound.
An Invalid witnesses n Terrible Fight with
o Cobra-A Night Adventure at a Pool
Of Rendezvous for Wild Beasts.
When one reads Of the great number
of people who come to their deaths each
year in India from serpents and wild
animals and crocodiles, the figures can
hardly be credited by one who has not
visited that country. India is the par
adise Of all that is savage, revengeful,
venemous and sly, beginning with the
thug and ending with the flea. The
climate and topography of the country
favor the wild beast more than man.
1t Is the natural home of every species
of reptile-of many species of car
nivora-of almost every poisonous in
sect which car be named. The offer of
large rewards for the killing Of poison
GUS serpents has taken tens of thous-
ands of dollars from the Golfers of the
Government without decreasing the
number Of snake bites by one. The
tiger, leopard, jaguar, panther and
other fierce creatures have been thinned
Off by the natural settling of the various
provinces, but one has only to go a few
miles from the railroad lines to find
them to-day as they were found twenty
years ago. 1t win forever be q combat
between man and beast in that country,
with the odds in favor Of the beast.
In making my way from Penjab to
Lahore, in the days before the railroad,
having the company of two American
esportsmen and a British officer, I was
bitten on the cheek by some poisonous
insect which dashed at me as we were
riding in the shade. 1t struck me like
o flash, and was off before / could raise
my hand. Being new to the country I
supposed it to be some insect common
to the weeds, but it was scarcely three
minutes before I began to suffer great
pain, and in five 1 had to dismoun:.
The natives were agreed that the bite
came from a jungle hornet, and that I
would be a sufferer for some days.
Fortunately for me. we were close to
the outskirts of a village called Halla-
rad, and when / could no longer stand
on my feet, which was about seven
minutes after being bitten, 1 was car
ried into the village and a native doc
tor set to work on me. / was then
raving with pain, and my face was
ewelled until I could not see. It was
four days before the pain left me, and
49, ~ loI roaox-l r,,A3oso,,k
strength to ride. In this interval
occurred the adventure / set put to re-
late.
On the fifth or sixth day after my
misfortune, q hammock was slung for
me out doors under a tree, and a native
sat at its roots to administer to my
wants. He held the end of my ham,
mock cord in his hand, and once in a
while gave it a pull and kept me slowly
swinging. The village was a scatter
ing one, containing about 200 natives,
and from my elevated position l had a
pretty good view around me-. There
was q jungle about forty rods away,
while the ground between was covered
with rank grass and weeds at least
knee high. In front of the hut to the
left of my tree sat a young woma who
was making some repairs on a garment
belonging to her father. On this morn
ing most of the men in the village had
gone off on a hunt, and every thing
was as quiet as a Sunday morning in a
New England hamlet.
The balmy air and the motion Of the
hammock would have induced sleep
had ! not slept thirteen hours out of the
preceding twenty-four. 1 was quiet,
but wakeful. In the course of half an
hour the hammock ceased to move,
and I saw that the servant below was
fast asleep. Almost at the same mo-
ment 1 caught a flash of something al
the edge of the jungle, and then / no.
ticed a movement of the grass. / was
sportsman enough to comprehend that
some animal or reptile wa moving to-
ward me, but I had no enthusiasm-noI
even common curiosity. l traced the
progress of the unknown creature by
the motion of the grass, but did no
speculate as to what it was. The coun
try is oyerrun with hares, field rats ant
other small ard harmless animals, ant
the fact that something was moving il
the grass would not have been consid
cred by the natives as worth investigat
ing. was looking at the ground, blu
thinking of matters in America, whel
] suddenly caught sight of the head o
q monstrous serpent raised above thu
grass. The head was steady for a few
minutes, and then moved slowly from
right to left and back like the pendu
lum of a clock. At this time the reptil
was about a hundred feet away, an,
right at the edge of the tall grass. Be
tween me and him the ground was bare
the grass having been killed out by tn
feet of the villagers.
/ suppose that there was still stuff
cicnt poison in my system to deadel
my sensibilities to a certain extent.
felt no fear of the serpent, nor did
wish for my gun to give him a shot.
had no fears of the woman seated wit
her back to the grass. nor for the nativ
fast asleep below me. This CON
placency on my part is to be accounte
for, as / said, on the ground that m
nervous system had been deadened an
had not yet recovered its activity. TIL
serpent presently crawled into view
and / saw that it was II cobra of enorn
Gus size. As soon as the snake ws
clear of the grass he raised his head fc
a closer survey. The woman and til
man were about the same distance frol
him, each being the side of a triangle
As I saw him hesitating about a choic'
/ calmly reasoned that he wonld con
my way. He had two victims under
troc, and only one the other way. q