Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1888-09-06
LIFE BENEATH THE EQUATOR.
WHAT \ TRAVELLER SAW IN THE TROPICS
DANGEROUS REHTILES.
No,r Norl- Nf,iI and F,nreSs

WHAT \ TRAVELLER SAW IN THE TROPICS,
DANGEROUS REHTILEs.
New York Mail and Express.
Did you ever live in the tropies?'
This question was asked by yellow
faced, bluff-looking man of reporter
of the Nail and Elpress, who admitted
that he had uot as yet gained that ex-
perieRce.
'Wen, you don't know what life is, or
rather what misery is. 1t is perpetual
summer there to begin with. To have
81 degrees at midnight, sunrise, midday
and sunset, from one end of the year to
the other. is somewhat mOnotOnOus.
Then there's the humidity. That's al
ways present. Why, my boy, the per-
centage of humidity is so great that tire
worksof your watch will rust in your
pocket. and a bearskin cloak is hardly
thick enough to keep the ordinary cloth
ing from becoming saturated in two
minutes after the sun had gone down.
And yet there would be to the eyesight
no sign of dampness in the atmosphere.
The moon and stars can be seen plainly
from whence you may be standing, yet
if you ascend a slight elevation you
will perceive that the place which you
had Just left is completely hidden amid
thick white mist"
''That must be unwholeSome"
"Well, l should think so. Severe fe-
vers are thought so little of that, in
street salutatiOn, the mention of a per-
son being stricken down is regarded with
about as much concern as if it had been
said that neighbor had caught cold.
What kind of fevers? On the Isthmus
of Panama and in the West Indies there
are remittent, intermittent and yellow
fevers; besides that worst of all climate
disorders, the 'Chagres fever That is
a concentration of about ten thousand
chiIls and fevers bound up in the same
person. Shakel Why, l shook myself
down from 156 to 70 pounds. And all
through that confOunded humidity. Be
sides which the disease drives a sufferer
crazy, and may go out of the world raw
ing. | was only saved by leaving that
place; but the marks of Yellow Jack
have, as you see, dyed my skin.
81 have known what it is to 60 to bed
with a cobra. Our beds were simply
canvas-stretched trestles, what is known
here as a DR.. Tanner, covered with
sheet only, the head being supported by
a pillow. The reptile had by some means
got into my room and concealed itself
under the pillow. Fortunately before
going to sleep discovered the presence
of the creature. There is an animal in
the tropics with nose like rat and body
like racoon. He as much an enemy
to the cobra as the cat to the rat. These
are kept in houses as. you keep cats. When
the presence of the cobra was ascertain
ed this animal was turned into the room.
He soon found the snake and there was
sharp battle, ending in the death of
the reptile. But this was nothing to my
experience with anacondas. l was trav-
cling through some woodland, with a
guide, when l noticed a lot of trees with
shoots hanging down from the branches.
These shoots grow downward until they
reach the ground, when they strike into
the earth and take root. There were
number of these hanging shoots all
around me. Suddenly my guide stopped
and, pointing to one of these apparent
shoots, took my rife from my hand. He
fired at the cause of his sudden stoppage,
and in an instant it fell writhing to the
ground. Itwas an anaconda over fifteen
feet long. My guides shot had broken
the creatures back. The agitation of
other branches not far distant betrayed
the presence of more of these serpents.
Neither my guide nor myself felt much
Inclination to pursue the path further,
nor did we feel quite safe until entirely
clear of the wood. 1t was only my guides
quick eyes that saved us both from being
crushed in the folds of this reptile"
ibid you ever see tropical storm?'
"Ifyou canimagine the lightning fash
ing and the thunder rolling and cracking
continuously for thirty hours, without
even moments cessation, with the rain
falling in steady downpour for ten
days, you may have some conception of
what a storm is like"