Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1888-09-21
THE FER GLANCE.
A TERRIBLE REPTILE WHICH
REIGNS in MARTINIQUE.
The Venemous Serpent Which is
Monarch of the Forest by
Day, and the Terror of
Roads by Night.

Nature is dangerous here, writes
Iafeidio Hearn in Hdrper's Magazine
about the island of Martinique The
powers that build here are also the pow
ers that putrefy; here life and death are
perpetually interchanging office in the
never ceasing TRANSFORMED. on of forces,
melting down and reshaping living sub
stance simultaneously within the same
awful crucible. And the lord of all, the
despot of these vast domains, is the
terrible lance, deadliest of occi-
dental thanatophidia.
There are eight varieties of him, the
most common being the gray speckled
with black, precisely the color that en-
ables the monster to hide himself among
the roots of the trees by simply coiling
about them and concealing his triangular
head. Sometimes he is beautiful flower
yellow, then he may never be dIstin-
guished from the branch of bright
bananas among which he hangs coiled !;
or he may be dark yellow or yellow
ish brown, or the color of wine lees
speckled with pink and black, or per-
feet ash tint, or black with a yellow
belly, or black with rose belly-all
hues of tropical mold, of old bark, of
petrefyng trees, of forest detritus. The
iris of the eye is orange, with red
flashes at night it glows like incandes-
cent charcoal.
And the Fer defiance reigns absolute
king over the mountains and the raw
ines he is lord of the forests and the
solitudes by day, and by night he ex-
tends his dominion over the public roads,
the familiar paths, the parks, the pleas
ure resorts. People must remain at
home after dark unless they dwell in the
city itsef. Even in the brightest noon
you cannot venture to enter the woods
unescorted; you cannot trust to your
eyes to detect danger; at any moment
a seeming branch knot of linias,
pink or gray root, clump of pendant
yellow fruit, may suddenly take life,
writhe, swell, stretch, spring, strike.
Then you will need aid indeed, and most
quickly, for within the space of few
heart beats the stricken flesh chills,
tumefes, softens, changes color spots
violaceously, and an icy GOODNESS crawls
through all the blood. If the physician
or pauseur arrives in time, and no artery
or vein has been directly pierced, there
is hope; but the danger is not passed
when the life has been saved. You moul-
der as the trees moulder; you crumble
and dissolve as dissolves the substance
of the balatas and the palms and the
accomats; the Death of-the- w oods has
seized upon you
Each female produces viviparously
from forty to sixty young at birth.
The haunts of the creature are in many
cases in accessible, inexplorable its null
duplication is prodigious; it is only the
surplus of its swarming that overpours
into the cane fields and makes the high
roads perilous after sunset. The intro
duction of the mangouste may, it is
hoped, do much toward protecting the
workers in the cane fields and on the
cocoa and coffee plantations; but the
mangoustes powers are limited, and the
ocean of death is illimitable.
The experience of fear has enabled
domestic animals to discern the presence
of the enemy while invisible to man.
Your horse rears and plunges in the
darkness, trembles and sweats; do not
try to ride on until you are assured that
the way is clear-your animal has per
ceived far ahead two scintilating points,
two moving sparks of fire. Or your
dog may come rushing back, whin-
ing, shivering; accept this warning.
The animals kept about country resi-
dences have learned to fight for their
lives; the hen battles hopelessly for her
chickens, the bull tries to gore his supple
enemy, the pig gives more successful
combat; but the creature who fears the
monster least is the brave cat. Seeing
snake, she at once carries her kittens
to place of safety, then boldly advances
to the encounter. She will walk to the
range and begin to feint, teasing HIM.
startling him, trying to draw his blow.
How the emerald and the topazine eyes
glow then-they are flames. A moment
more and the triangular head, kissing
from the coil, flashes swift as if moved
by wings. But swifter still the strong
stroke of the armed paw that smites the
horror aside, t1inging it, mangled and
gasping, in the dust. Nevertheless,
pussy does not yet dare to spring; the
enemy, still active, has almost instantly
reformed his coil; but she is again in
front of him, watching pupil
against vertical pupil. Again the lash
ing stroke; again the beautiful counter
ing; the living death is hurled aside,
the scaled skin is deeply torn, QUE eye
socket has ceased to flame. Once more
the stroke of the serpent; once more the
light, quick, cutting blow. But now
the trigonocephalus is blind, is stupe-
fed; before he can attempt to coil pussy
has leaped upon him, mailing the horri-
BILE fiat head fast to the ground with her
two sinewy paws. Now let him lash,
writhe, twine, strive to tangle her in
vain he will never lift his head; an
instant more and he lies still; the fine
white teeth have severed the vertebre
lust behind the triangular skull.