Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-07-10
OUR NERVOUS READERS.
INDIANS WHO EAT SCORPIONS
AND YIPERS.
some of the Delights of Sleeping
with Serpents, Centipedes, Etc.
-Inoculation with Poison.
correspondence of the REooRD-USIox.I

Correspondence of the REcoRD-UNIoN.l
Mexico, June 30, 1886.
As Eden had its serpent, SO all these
Mexican Paradises have their disadvantages
in being infested with thousand danger
Gus creeping and crawling creatures. Es-
pecially in the low lands of the terra
caliente is eternal vigilance the price of
safety. How often-after delightful day,
aud an evening of music and dancing in
some gray-walled hacienda-have Betsy
and l sighed for suits of battle armor, as
our troubles nightly began in the solitude
of our chamber The fact Of being COM
PEELED to shake scorpions out OF the blan-
kets, to chase centipedes and vipers from
under the pillows, and to search the mat
tresses for possible tarantulas, Lizards and
serpents is not conducive to peaceful
slumbers nor is tired natures sweet
restorer" easily wooed when visions
dance before the weary eyes of venomous
things crawling up the bed-posts or spin
ming downwards from the wallsl Imagine
your sensations dear reader, to observe, on
awal1ing in the morning, a silvery some
thing futtering in the breeze upon your
window lattice, or stretched along the floor
at your bedside the cast-off skin of six
foot cobra or some other deadly crawler,
who has been making his toilet in your
neighborhood during the hours of dark
ness; or TO have your dreams broken in
upon by something dropping from the wall
upon your pillows, perhaps barely missing
your nose, which proves upon inyestiga
ton to be a happy family of scorpions with
their tails tangled together, or a NICE fat
spider, whose hairy legs, if spread to their
fullest extent, wonld measure several
inches from tip to tip Whatever the
nature of the alarm, upon no account must
YOU Jump out of bed without first striking
a light and looking carefully where you
step A friend who lives in the State of
Campeche-away down on the southern
shore of the Mexican Gulf-relates
SOME RECENT EXPERIENCES,
Which are not uncommon in that part of
the world. One night, when disrobed for
retiring, he had occasion TO step into an
adjoining room, in the dark. Noticing at
once a peculiar odor, resembling raw pota-
toes, which often indicates the presence of
a serpent, he wisely stood still and called
his wife to bring lamp and cane. She
lost no time in hurrying to his relief, know
ing well the meaning of such a summons,
and there on the threshold over which he
had carelessly stepped with bare feet, lay
an enormous cobra lone OF the most poison
GUS species known, which had come in
10 enjoy the GOODNESS of the place, and was
much iucensed at being disturbed. Luckily
these dreaded snakes can be killed by one
well-directed blow, and this presence is al
ways betrayed by an order as unmistakable
as the warning note of our northern rat
tiers. The same gentleman says that on
windy evening within week of the pre-
Vious adventure, he heard a door slam in
another part of the house and went hastily,
without light, to close it. This time it
was no sense of smell or hearing that fore
warned of danger, but doubtless il was the
instinct of selfpreservaton sharpened by
long experience which caused him to pause
with one foot raised and yell Justify for a
light. When the lamp and always ready
stick were brought, Albright green, triangu-
lar-headed viper was revealed, its long
white fangs just ready to strike with fatal
power.
SCORPIONS THICKER THAN FLIES.
One of the most common pests in Mexico
are the Glcdrdns. or scorpions, for during
certain seasons of the year they are as nu-
merOus as flies around a sugar-house
They are within the cracks of the wall,
between the bricks or tiles of the floor,
hiding inside of your garments, darting
everywhere with inconceivable rapidity,
their tails (the business end - which
holds the sting ready to fly up with dan
gerous effect upon the slightest provoca-
ton. Turn up corner of the rug or Ia
bIe-spread, and you disturb flourishing
colony of them shake your shoes in the
morning, and out they flop throw your
bath sponge into the water, and half a
dozen of them dart out of its cool depths,
into which they have wriggled for a Siesta
in short, every article you touch must be
treated ike dose of medicine" to be well
shaken before taken" The aveI age scor-
pion is mahogany hued and about two
inches long but | have seen them as long
as FIVE inches. The small, yellowish vari-
ETY. are considered most dangerous, and
their bite is most apprehended at midday
In Durango they are black, and so
ALARMINGLY NUMEROUS,
Having been allowed to breed for centuries
in the deserted mines, that the Govern
ment offers reward per head (or, rather,
per tall to whoever will kill them. Their
sting is seldom fatal, but is more or less Sc
we're, according to the state of the system.
Victims have been known to remain for
DAYS in commissions, foaming at the mouth,
with stomachs swelled as in dropsy, while
others do not suffer much more than from
a bee sting. The common remedies are
brandy, taken in sufficient quantities to
stupefv the patient; ammonia, administered
both externally and internally boiled silk,
and guyacum. 1t is also of use to press
large key, or other tube, on the wound, to
force ont part of the poison. As most of
my readers are aware, this species OF in
Sect-a genus of ArdchnidG, of the order
p,tlpsonaria-are distinguished from other
spiders by having the abdomen articulated,
with a sharp curved spur at the ex-
tremity, beneath which are two pores
from which the venom flows supplied by
two poison-glands at the base of the seq
ment The anterior pair of feet or pdtpi,
are modified with pincers or claws, like
those of the lobster, by which it seizes its
prey while the other feet resemble those
of ordinary spiders. Naturalists divide the
genus into sub-genera according to the
number of their eyes, whether six, eight, or
twelve They eat the eggs of spiders, and
also feed on beetles and other insect,
piercing the prey with their stingers, again
and again before beginning the meal.
When alarmed or irritated the scorpion
shows fight Immediately, running about
and
WAVING HIS STING IN ALL DIRECTIONS
For attack or defense, evidently aware of
its powers The young scorpions are pro-
duced at astonishingly frequent intervals,
the mother displaying far greater regard
for her offspring than their vicious nature
seems to justify. During their brief in
fancy she carries them about, clinging in
great numbers to her back, limbs and tail,
never leaving her retreat, unless-over-
burdened by their weight-her hold re-
lakes from the wall and down falls the
whole happy family in a wad. The un-
grateful children generally reward this
maternal devotion by destroying the mother
as soon as they are old enough, tearing her
piecemeal with the greatest ferocity. Betsy
and amuse ourselves by studying their
habits, and have become expert in catching
them by the tail with lassoes ofthread. after
wards suspending them in bottles of alcohol
TO send to microscopically-inelin friends.
Happening to be out of alcohol one day,
we put captured scorpion into an empty
bottle. Remembering it week later we
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