Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1889-04-27
VENoMOUS REPTILES.
6he Astonishingly Large Rate of Mortal
ity from Serpentine Venom.

VENOMOUS REPTILES.
rhe Astonishingly Large Rate of Mortal
ity from Serpentine Venom.
If the published figures are at all ac-
curate, from twelve to twenty thou
band persons die in British India from
knake bite, largely from that of the cobra,
which is a serpent of domestic habits. That
he reptile was not long ago exterminated
from all inhabited localities, says writer
n the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, is
bwing to the fact that it is worshiped by
tnany of the natives. Even to-day in Mala-
bar Hill, the most fashionable European
nuarter of Bombay, a short tune played on
Ia musical instrument rarely fails to bring
cobra out of some hole or creviee, for native
veneration is too much for English caution
PThe natives are the chief sufferers from
this folly. Very few Englishmen have
been bitten, for they do not walk out bare
footed, and usually take cane to poke the
grass through which they walk. We be-
ieve only four Or five whites of promi-
hence have been bitten by poisonous
Snakes in India since the opening
of the present century, and one of
these was a midshipman on a YES
sel in the Bay of Bengal. One of the dead
y hydriade, or water snakes, had been
fshed up, and the unfortunate youth
lanuleu III WlJuOuU knowing UQaG IL was
venomous. Had the Hindoos exercised
common sense, there would now be few
cobras outsides of the jungles. Martinique
and the neighboring islands of st. Lucia
each report a mortality from serpentine
venom rivaling that of India, for each of these
islands is overrun with the fer de lance, a
tercely aggressive viper, which has the
popularity of giving birth to sixty little
snakes at once.
African explorers have their troubles
with snakes, but they award the palm of
danger not to them, nor to the lions or
leopards, but to the fierce wild buffalo bulls.
During Prof. Drummond's recent journey
TO Lake Nyassa, two of his follow
ers were tossed by one of these savage
creatures, and it was almost miracle that
one of the wounded men survived the in
Juries to his shoulders and ribs. The puff
adder, an apparently sluggish creature, re-
sembling in build, though not in it's
gorgeous colors, the horrible black and
clumsy cottonmouthed moccasins of our
Southern swamps, has pleasant trick of
burying itself in the leaves and moss and of
striking backN ard at any person who hap
pens to come near it The naia hale, a first
cousin of the Indian cobra, but more ag-
gressive and irritable, and the mamba,
which runs down its victims, are the princ-
pal remaining poisonous serpents of Afri "a
There are green, black and 1ame-colored
mambas, the last mentioned being often
crested. The mambas sometimes reach
length of twelve feet, and are known to have
chased horseman for miles, Their bite is
almost certain DEATH
a survey of the serpentine kingdom es-
tablishes the fact that the most poisonous
snakes are afraid of human beings. The
chief exception are the mamba, the naia
haze and the great ophiophagus elaps, or
hamadryad, of Burmah. This creature,
which rivals the mamba in length, has an
/ expanding head like the cobra and naia
haze, but differs from both in some aiiatom-
icai particulars and also in the fact that it
is cannibal, living principally on other
snakes. One of them chased Burman in
the woods a few years ago The man ran,
and thought to escape by swimming across
a narrow stream. TO his horror, on reach
ing the farther bank he found that the snake
had crossed ahead of him. In his despair he
tore off his turban and threw 1t at the rep
tile. The latter was obliging enough to go
for the white rag and waste his venom
4 upon it, the man meanwhile making his es-
4 cape.
The nlambas are principally found in
Natal though they exist to some extent as
far north as Zanzibar, and may even have
| spread as far as the desert We have found
no mention of their presence in Egypt or IN
4 the Slnaltic Peninsula. There is nothing in
their habits, however, which would exclude
them from the Northern tropics and sub
tropics, for they flourish under similar eli
| matte in luences south of the line. We no
4 tlce that an item is on it's travels to the ef-
feet that the 'serpents" which killed so
many of the Israelites during their exodus
from Egypt were guinea worms, scientlhc-
ally kno IN as the aracunculus. These fear
full Gre lures bury themselves in human
flesh, producing sores which often prove
fatal. We doubt, however, whether they
can be made to fulfill the demands OF the
Scripture narrative. We read in Numbers,
xxi, that "the Lord sent fiery serpents
among the people and much people of lsra-
ell died"
Geology has made us acquainted with eX-
tinct reptiles with whom one would not like
to meet, even were he clothed in coat OF
mail and armed with n repeating rifle.
From some of these monsters the dragons
and griffins which figure in the folk lore
of all nations were undoubtedly depicted.
They have happily gone, never to return, as
have most of the rattlesnakes which former
ly infested our Oldest States. 10 TINS DAY,
however, an occasional rattler is killed III
the Blue Hills of Milton, less than dozen
miles from Boston, and the sea serpent, an
apparently solitary relic of the saurian
days, every now and then makes his ap-
pearance in the ocean.
Recent travellers in Alaska have heard
from the Indians, though their faith has not
been strengthened by sight, that herds OF
mastodon are yet feeding in the almost IN
accessible interior pastures OF our new pos
sessions. We hope the story may prove to
be true, and that paleozoic specimen may
vet be on exhibition in our menageries. Our
belief is not strong in that direction, how
ever, though when one has seen the octo-
pus, or devil fish, first brought into proml-
nence by Victor Hugo, he is prepared to be-
l;eva almostanv thing The choice would