News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-06-03
THE HOME OF BIG SNAKES.
EPISODES IN AN ARTISTS VISIT
TO zULULAND.
The Boa Constructor and the Apes
killing the Big Snake-The
Monkeys Picnic.

The Boa Constructor and the Apes
killing the Big Snake-The
| Monkeys Picnic.
The following interesting extract is
from an artists account Of his adven-
lures in South Africa, published in the
San Francisco Examiner: This is a place
for serpents and all kinds of snakes. Here
in the cool nights the little green
monkeys take shelter in the thick foliage
of the tropical vegetation, locked in each
others arms like brothers and sisters.
But how often is their sleep disturbed by
sudden clasp in the Jaws of a boa con-
| stricter or black mumbra, who noise
lessly creep upon their innocent victims
along the branches and seize them before
| they have time to awaken. Owing to the
deadly malarial effects of these ''dongas"
or hollows, the natives in their hunting
excursions give them a wide berth.
Speaking of monkeys brings to mind
a humorous incident. One day, be-
ing on the edge of the berg, sketching a
| grand view of the mountain, looking
| along the edge my attention was attracted
toward number of balloons that were
frisking about among the rocks. As the
animals are very shy, 1 remained per,
fectly quiet and went on with my paint
ing, but hoping that they might come
nearer. Being thus engaged, partly with
the landscape and partly with the
balloons, what should I sees in the long
grass but an immense boa constructor He
seemed at least twenty feet long and one
foot in diameter. He was crawling along
| toward the balloons. and watched the
iTosult with intense interest. No sooner
d-a his snakeship shoY his head above
!, the long grass than the as. %als scam
pered off in second. TR about tie
agility of prairie dogs and ground sSoss -
relsS< No one would imagines' 80
| fellows, big and clumsy as tgssSS,e -
could dfsperse SO quickly. -
seemed just as quick, for with a fewS<
springs on his tail he seemed to be among
them, but he did not-succeed in captur-
ing any of them. Snatching up. my
| shot gun, i was determined to have that
serpent's skin. | vent up to the place
where he disappeared behind the rocks
| There he was, about hundred yards
away, crawling slowly along the edge of
the precipicc. / was gaining steadily ON
him, but did not like to run for fear of
alarming him-starting him into run,
as it were, either from me or tsWard me.
| wanted to'make sure of hi.T without
giving him a chance, if co1T6 help it.
| was always a coward when fighting
rattle-snakes in Mendocino County; but
this whopper, twenty feet long, made me
quake in my boets worse than if there
were fifty snakes hidden there.
After following him some time be
stopped crawling; he raised his body on
a rock, and, turning his face toward me,
saw me. l was within range of him with
heavy shot. Bang! bang! went both bar
rels. The stock of my gun kicked me
affectionately, and when the smoke
cleared away the serpent was not in
sight Reloading my piece, l advanced
cautiously, with my finger on the trigger.
all the while. When / got to the spot
there lay my victim, twisting and tying
himself up in a knot and unraveling it
again with ightning-iikerapidity. Then
| he stretched himself out at his full length,
and, raising himself upon his tail,
bounded into the air several times max
ing circle of sixteen or eighteen feet
at every Jump, till at last, with a mighty
effort, he bounded again; and fell to the
earth with crash. He was dead, past
all danger to man or beast He weighed
at least 100 pounds. My next anxiety
was as to how l could get that beauti-
| fully cOlored skin. He was on the very
edge of the precipice. A final spasm of
| the lingering life that clings so tena- j,
ciously to the snake tribe might destroy
my hopes. / could only sit and wait.
1t. was fully an hour before l had the
courage to. commenced the skinning and
after considerable labor / succeeded.
When he was skinned he looked so white :
and clean that person could be tempted
to eat him There were no Kaffirs
around or they would make. short work
ser1ent il t6ey % sn AZ S 90, NSn fiss iAesa
n kind of superstitious reverence Tor
them. especially for the larger kind. But
when white man kills one they readily
eat it all except the head, which they
believe to be poisonous.
When / got back to my easel, chair
and umbrella, l was nearly dumbfounded
at seeing the same tribe of balloons play
ing high jinks with my painting mater
ials. Two little fellows were up among
the ribs of the umbrella, and another
had his head out through rent in the
| top. He looked like a little sweep with
his head through the chimney on frosty
morning. 1t was one of the most comical
things in the monkey line / ever wit
messed One big baboon was exploring
with all his might the contents of a box
of flake white, while another was daub-
ing the muzzle of a little baby that was
sitting on its mothers back, she herself
being engaged in breaking the handles
and pulling out the hairs of my brushes.
never, in any monkey cage or menagerie,
saw so many different colored monkeys.
One big fellow, half red, half blue, with
great white patch over his left eye, was
pulling the canvas NOW twisted into a
rope) from big old woman, with two
squallirg baby monkeys with white muz-
zles and pink hair. Half dozen others
were fighting for the easel Ike sailors
playing the "tug of war" The whole
business was too much for me. So, lay
ing down my serpent's skin, opened fire
on them. Then came the humorous part
of the whole scene. Talk of scamper-
ing. The family opened out, running to
all points of the compass. Balloons in
green, yellow, pink, purple, scarlet,
white with black spots, and black with
yellow and every color spots Such
variety of uniforms you never saw. Big
fellows, four feet high; little fellows,
crying and squalling for their mothers,
mothers looking and crying for their
babies. had to stand aud laugh till
my sides were sore.
The excitement over, went up to
clear the wreck The umbrella was
broken and torn past all repairs; colors
were smeared upon everything; oil cans
bitten and indented; canvas, brushes,
everything utterly ruined. If you can
imagine the undivided attention of
band of two hundred balloons, for about
two hours, to the limited space occupied
by an artists kit, you will have some
idea of what the ruin was which have
attempted to describe. Ineed not say
that was so disgusted with ply bargain.
in the serpents skin that I.yas:teppted
to throw it over the cliffs. Nothing .was.>
worth carrying from the wreck but the
chair. which was too strong for them to
break up. The easel was broken and
bitten all over, and looked as if it hadj
been made out of tree afflicted with
smallpox.
Effect of Mind on Neuralgia.