The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-07-15
KILLING A BIG SERPENT.
An Artists Experience I'm south Africa
with Balloons and Boa Constructor.

1
with Balloons and "A Boa Constructor.
One day being on the edge of the
berg, sketching q grand view of the
mountain, looking along the edge my
attention was attracted toward a num-
Der of balloons that were frisking about
among the rocks, says South African
correspondent of the San Francisco En-
dnllner. As the animals are very shy,
| remained perfectly quiet and went on
with my painting, but hoping that they
might come nearer. Being thus en-
gagged, partly with the landscape and
partly with the balloons, what should |
see in the long grass but an immense
boa-constrictor He seemed ut least
twenty feet long and one foot in diane
ter He was crawling along toward
the balloons, and l watched the result
with intense interest. No sooner did
his snakeship show his head above the
grass than the animals scampered off in
II second. Talk about the agility of
prairie dogs and ground-squirrels! No
one would imagine that those fellows,
big and clumsy as they seemed, could
disperse so quickly. The serpent seemed
just rs quick, for with few springs on
his tail he seemed TO be among them;
but he did not succeed in capturing any
of them. Snatching up my shotgun, L
was determined to have that serpent's
skin. | went up to the place where he
disappeared behind the rocks. There
he was, about hundred yards away,
crawling along the edge of the preci-
pice. 1 was gaining steadily on him,
but did not like TO run for fear OF alarm
ing him-starting him into run, as it
were, either from me or toward me. l
wanted to make sure of him, without
giving him chance, if / could help it.
l was always a coward when fighting
rattlesnakes in Mendocino county; but
this whopper, twenty feet long, made
me quake in my boots worse than if
there were fifty snakes hidden there.
After following him some time he
stopped crawling; he raised his body on
a rock, and, turning his face toward
me, saw me. | was within range of
him with heavy shot. Bang! bang!
went both barrels. The stock of my
gun kicked me aficctionately, and when
the smoke cleared away the serpent was
not in sight. Reloading my piece, | adj
vanced cautiously, with my finger on
the trigger all the while. When | got
to the spot, there lay my victim, twist
ing and tying himself up in n knot and
unraveling it again with lghtning-like
rapidity. Then he stretched himself
out to his full length, and, raising HIM
self upon his tail, bounded in the air
several times, making circle of six
teen or eighteen feet ut every jump, till
at last, with mighty effort, he bound
ed again and fell to the earth with
crash. He was dead-past all danger
to man and beast! He weighed at
least one hundred pounds. My next
anxiety was rs to how could get that
beautiful colored skin. He was on the
very edge of the precipice. A final
spasm in the lingering life that clings
so tenaciously to the snake tribe might
destroy my hopes. | could only sit and
wait. 1t was fully an hour before / had
the courage'to commence the SHINING,
and after considerable labor | sue
ceeded. When he was skinned he
looked so white and clean that per-
son could be tempted to eat him. There
were no KatlirS around or they would
have made short work of him. They
won't Kill snake or serpent if they
can avoid it. They have kind of SUI
perstitious reverence for them, especial
ly for the larger kind. But when
white man kills one they readily eat it
ali except the head, which they believe
to be poisonous.