The national leader., 1889-06-15
TIE FOOTHILLS.
FOR SOME CHEERFUL
! TROPICAL PRODUCTS.

"rpions of Bermuda-A
0 description of the Get Up and
Habits of the Tarant,,.
"a 80 hio" whar come from. strangerYn
~ Onin man with big whiskers and wide
nneo white nat. "Course We don't Pm
- -,oli lhe foothills of the Sierras. Dive
:" ",, "na. I'm headed furg Bet ye don't!
rnOeu straight fur Nassau and Bermu-
-s1tei OUT among the foothills, l reckonl
sn. ye wasn't. It's great country. But
nain no centipedes out thar. missed
on'ipeoeS | was kind O. used to 'em,
u spent year or two with 'em down in
,nuay and Nassau. Another drawback
tne foothill country is that it's a little
nort o scorpions Thurs a few out thar. but
not enough to make it cheerful and it,d have
oeen trif1e dull for me if it hadn't been for
the tarantulies Know what tarantulv is
don't yel Course ye know that.
REGULAR LADY KILLER.
0ueSs ye never see one O. them big spiders,
though, did yef Thought not. They size up
nrsV rate out on the adobe grounds of the
0ierra foothills, but they amt more'n half as
Dig as tarantulies is in Bermudy and Nassau.
I've seen EN- down thar as big as your hat.
but guess they hain't got no more fire in
tner jaws than the foothills tarantuly car
rles Tarantuies is thick as flies out thar
mong the foothills When the nights is warm
they sally out on the promenade so numerous
that ye have to watch out or yell step on
some OF EN- and hurt 'em. Many a fine
mornm' I've got up and seen tarantuly hair
enough on the ground to temper a square rod
O mortar. It's hair they shed in free fights
tween themselves durin' the night. You
might walk over the adobe grounds of the
foothills for month and wouldn't notice ye
was walkin' over a tarantuly settlement.
Maybe ye'd see what ye thought was dead
leaf or piece O. dirt make sudden flip kind
Of movement, but the chances is that ye'd
think it was OWN to the wind a stirrin'
somethin' or other on the ground. I'll bet
that's what ye'd think But it wouldn't be
the wind stirrin' nothin' It'd be the trap
door of tarantuly's den closin' shet A good
many folksd think, when they first see
tarantuly's den, that it's dice box some
body's dropped III bet you'd think SO yer
self, now. Tarantuly's dens looks a powerful
lot like dice boxes, but don't ye never go and
pick one up, thinkin' yer found little Curl
osity, or yell see that yer found a curl
osity bigger'n heap, and maybe there won't
be whisky enough in yer flask to out pizen
the pizen the tarantuly has socked into ye.
But when ye see what ye might think was
the wind stirrn' leaf or somethiA', thatu
be tarantuly shettin' his trap door. He's
been a-peeking out at ye, and, not Hkln' yer
cut. has shet himself in, and ye can bet he's
holdin' the door, too That door is fitted on
to the den by hinge on one side. It's made
out O. leaves and sticks and dirt, which Is
glued together with some patent cement the
tarantuly makes himself
at hain't no sign that the tarantuly Is to
home when his doors shet, for railways shets
il when he goes cut on the war path or on the
mash Didn't know the tarantuly was great
masher, did ye! Cert'nly ye didn't. Why,
he's regular dude on the mash. He'll stand
on the corners by the hour, strokin' down his
whiskers with some of his paws-and tar
antuly is close on to all whiskers and paws
ond watchin' out for lady tarantulies. When
one comes along toward whar he stands, he'll
null his chin whisker and strike posish and
hinder skin his eye sideways at Miss Taran-
tnlv as she promenades up his way. If she
Masses close enough to him he'll shoot out one
of his long forelegs at her and give it little
t1vi+cb and draw it back quick, just as if he
49,. a;rtin, with her and sayin', oh, you
saccv thing, you I'll strike ye real hardP
Wonldn,t hardly believe that, would yea
Course We wouldn't; but it's true as some
,,.oocbin' I've heard. But it's when the ta-
rantnly of the adobe ground foothills comes
Lo,oa go that he's great. He comes home with
inch He sails up on the dead run, and be-
ue-, oon begin to see how he does it he
- that door O. his'n open and is inside o
~ - ohebang with the door shet and locked
lN;al-or,n l-I the brown lizard er the foothills
qul0 rSal-o off its tail. Thar! Thar's some
can tI, So 80 that helps to drive augwee off, out
thar ,mong the foothills
'n'- A LIZARD TALE
-o,,,dn't believe that there's lizard
"You wouIun ~ - +ho+ - o., a., -, +o;I
ant thar that's built SO that 1t can nip It's tai!
off as easy as you can snap yer nnge[s' anu
M theS set right in and grow another INSIDE OF a
,raa[, .ne1 y would yei Hardly, ye wouldn't. But
9,s WEE, the kind of a lizard that sprouts out
tnS And the fun of it is that there hain't
In1E g., that wiggles that the adobe ground
no9il ,tr dotes on more'n he does on that
tal1nVIJ n,or 3su walk ten mile any time
proEh .;ot,t u sock his jaws into one Of
O day o. n \ hain't more'n once in hum
em. tbai ne can make his meal on one.
dreo ,iqarss 5 swift on their feet, but the
"lnein sar, and when he gifts on the
tarantug ,;aa,, !jss sure to haul up with it.
trail cf w n lbs for its tail Quicker'n
But be ai"s yer blanket the lizard gives
an lnlln ~ n and the tail comes off and
that t"llou slht on. Thur never was a
the liar Is tarantuly that haint had
full grow Fr,r from him and leave moth
lizard y =. n i,is mouth more'n hundred
in but its - at every time it's done the
s; :: e. !: 4 6: g: ): ): :: Fl: { !: = 81:
seem to undei dbI.t itl 1t does that, but any.
little tou3n been out to the Sierra foot
body that's :, IL, I'm givin' it to We straight.
hills II know tolts the TAIL all the same, as
The tarans .sss ever his surprise, and then
soon as ne ED s1'i 4. another lizard to tackle
ferages af9,'1sl M 3tarantulies goes good ways