St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1889-08-31

| "AS o"h AcnS tIts tuOuSu tnoy may De
conscious of interception of light. OF
feel the vibration Of an approaching
footstep. Certainly, no words can
exaggerate the awful power of the
poisons of some of the more virulen,
species-I say poisons, because there
may be as many separate and indi-
vldual venoms as there are venomOus
kinds. for any thing we know to the
contrary: though, in considering this
most mysterious attribute, we might
pause TO compare the effects of the
tiny. almost microscopic hair-tubules
OF tropical ne;tle. producing violest
lever OF the whole system. with. posi-.
bly,, gangrene OF the stung limb, or
those chemicals which affect the human
tissues when subdivided into millionths
OF a grain. But few know-and per-
haps fewer still will bclieve-that o!
the whole number Of serpent species
known in the world. less than one
eighth only are venomous, and that
one-fourth OF these are never seen on
land. being inhabitants of the ocean.
| Snakes. moreover. seem to be deemed
fair game for fiction and falsehood by
common consent. and SO generally is
this fact recognized in where
most of these monstrous anecdotes are
connected, or ut any rate first see the
light of print-that the term ''snake-
story" has passed into a byword and a
i s.,l, =, Ill
| derstood and acknowledged as eu-
phemism for that which requires con-
siderable more than the proverbial
grain of salt for its deglutition. When
the rumor comes of big fire, or an
earthquake. or a great commercial dis
aster. the incredulous ones shrug their
shoulders and say: ''Oh, it's only a
snake-storyr' Many of these absurd
yarns which find a place in the columns
OF Western papers as pure jokes are
quoted as sober facts by the press on
this side of the Atlantic. and crop up
in the Naturalist" department of
magazines which devote por-
ton of their space to that branch Of
science, especially-and write it with
sorrOw-in those which are published
for the young. Boys and girls accept
so confidently what they read. and
form and retain such strong impress
siOns therefrom. that any misleading
statement is far more deplOrable i'm
their case than one which may appeal
to those of more mature years. And
they are such capital observers. Some
OF my pleasantest associat ions with
tbs subject have arisen through the
interest and enthusiasm displayed by
young friends in connection with it:
and nothing delights me more than
the receipt of a letter from some youth
full ophiOlogist-often quite unknown
to me-asking for advice about the
purchase OF a pet snake, the method
OF its maintenance. or the compatible
ity Of such an institution with the cx-
tent of the writer's pocket-money or
the prejudices of his immediate rela-
tives.
Before relating my true snake story,
let me offer sample of the other
brand-the ''snake-s;ory" which is not
true. clipped it from a paper pub
lished in the very country in which
ana.
A boa-constrictor woke up thin and
hungry after a three months nap. and
set off to look for his breakfast. He
was soon rewarded by the capture of
an agouti. which he crushed and bolt
ed whole, after the manner of his kind.
His appetite being not yet appeased,
he went still farther afield in quest OF |
prey, and presently coming to a fence |
and essaying to pass through between |
the stakes, he was stopped midway by |
the lump i'm his body which was the |
outward and visible sign of the defunct |
but undigestcd agouti. As he lay i'm |
this position, another agouti happened |
to wander incautiously near his nose.
and was seized, CONSTRUCTED. and swal- |
lowed in like manner. AgOuti number |
two passes down the serpent's body to |
join its predecessor. but was stopped |
on the other side of the fence; and the
state of affairs now was that the boa
could neither go ahead nor astern, be-
ing damned by his fore-and-aft inside
and in that situation was
found, caught. killed, and made into a
''snake-story."
For the truth of what follows I can
vouch. as all the collateral and cOrrob-
orative circumstances. though not the
main incident, came directly under my
personal notice.
The wife of one of the overseers on
he Enmore estate in Demerara had
one morning laid her baby asleep in
is cradle while she performed certain
duties. Enmore is-orwas at
he time of which / write-the largest
in that country.
or so are the three provinces called.
which together make up British
Demerara. Berbice
md Essequibo. The estate has a sta
ion on the little line which runs
through several small towns, still bear
ng their quaint old Dutch names. as
ar as Mahaica The baby aforesaid
vas carefully screened from the blaz-
ng heat of the day within a cool,
,reen-j alousied veranda, and was
lightly covered with muslin net. TO
.uard its slumbers against the disturb
ng influence of flies. marabundas
spiders and ether small but
unpleasant deer, of which this favored
and is the happy huniing-grOund. 1t