Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-06-03
FRANKS OF AFRICAN MONKEYS
An Artist, ReiDR Disturbed in His Work,
Kills the Intruder.

An Artist, ReiDR Disturbed in His Work,
Kills the Intruder.
The South African correspondent of the
San Francisco Examiner says:
Speaking Of monkeys brings to my mind
very 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 attract
ed toward number of balloons that
were frisking about among the rocks.
AS the animals are very shy, remained
perfectly quiet and went on with my
painting, but hoping that they might
come nearer. Being thus engaged, partly
with the land scene and partly with the
balloons, what should | see in the long
grass but an immense bOa-constrlctorl
He seemed at least twenty feet long and
one foot in diameter. He was crawling
along toward the balloons, and | watched
the result with intense interest. No
sooner did his snakeship show his head
above the long grass than the animals
scampered of in a 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 as quick, for with
few springs on his tail he seemed to be
capturing any Of them. SnatchIng upmy
shotgun, was determined to have the
serpents skin. / went up to the place
where he disappeared behind the rocks.
! There he was, about 100 yards away,
crawling slowly along the edge of the
precipice. l was gaining steadily on
him, but did not like to run for fear of
alarming him-starting him into a run,
as it were, either from me or toward me.
Z I Cd To Of
! giving him a chance If could help it.
was always coward when fighting rat
tlesnaKes in MendOcinO county; but this
whOpper, twenty feet long, made me
kquake in my boots worse than If there
we're fifty snakes hidden there.
! After following him some time he stop
ped 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 bar
Tels. The stock OF my gun kicked me af-
fectiOnately, and when the smoke cleared
! away the serpent was not in sight. Re-
| loading my piece, advanced cautiously,
my finger on the trigger all the while.
When got 10 the spot there lay my vie
tim, twisting and tying himself up in a
knot and unraveling II again with light
himself out to his full length and, raising
himseltupOn his tail, bounded into the air
several times, making a circle Of 16 or lS
feet at every Jump, till ut last. with a
mighty effort, he bounded again and fell
10 the earth with crash. He was dead
| past ali danger to man or beast! He
weighed at least 100 pounds. Ny next
anxiety was as TO how could Get that
beautifully colOred skin. He was on the
very edge Of the precipice. A final spasm
in the lingering life that cliugs so tena-
ciOusly TO the snake tribe might destroy
my hopes. could only sit and wait. II
was fully an hour before | had the cOur-
age 10 commence the skinning, and after
considerable labor succeeded. When be
was skinned he looked so white and clean
that person could be tempted TO eat him.
! There were no Katllrs around or they
would make short work Of him. They Will
not kill = snake or serpent II they can
avoid it. They have kind OF supersti-
tious reverence for them, especially for
4 the larger kind. But when a white man
/ Kills one they readily eat ~ all except
the head, which they believe to be poison
l Ou9.