Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1890-06-06
INDIAN ARROW POlSONS.
aATTLEsNAKE VENOM IS THEIR
UNIVERSAL BASE.
The Pluto Tests Its Efficacy on Him
self, While the UngallanS Apache
1rIcs Il ON His SauRW.

/ base OF OOtn the Apache anu lnc IiuIt
arrow poisoning" says Oliver II. Patton,
who was for many years ranchman on
the Southwestern plains, ais provided
by that most hideous and deadly OF its
kind, the blOating rattlesnake Of the
Staked Plains. II is so hideOus, and its
death dealing qualities so sure, that it is
. terror even to an Apache Indian, and II
there is one thing that is worse than
rattlcsnake in the opinion of plalnsmen
and settlers it is an Apache Indian. The
Piutes, although more cowardly gang
than the Apaches, hold this rattlesnake
in less horror, but they give it plenty OF
room. The Piutes draw on the snake for
their poison after the reptile is dead. The
Apaches, in spite of their fear of the
snake, make it contribute its venom TO
them while it is alive.
1.-THE rattlcsnake of the Staked Plains
grows to a length of six feet, and attains
girth of ten inches at the thickest part.
! They have tremendous sets of rattlcs. |
saw Que once that was over five feet long
and had twenty three rattles in it, and |
heard of snake being killed that had
string Of twenty seven rattles. The head
of the Stsked Plains rattler is an enor-
nous triangular thing, often five inches
! long from the thin neck to the blunt
I nose, and three inches wide, measuring
/ from base 20 base of the jawbone. This
snake has fangs an inch long, and Is ire
/ quently fitted with two sets. The poison
sacs at the base Of these fapgs are as big
/ as hazel nut The snake is a bright
yellow in color, and is distinguished by
much the same markings that character
izc the rattlesnake of this State and
Pennsylvania. The Staked Plains rattle
snake is r dreadful enough customer any
day in the year, but during August takes
on the fulness of its frightfulness, both
in appearance and in conduct. About
the middle of August, when the weather
is insuiTerably hot, this snake becomes
/ bloated from some cause until 1t is a third
larger than its normal size. Its appear
ance is as il the snake had been blown up
like bladder, or charged with gas like
O balloon This rattler is always sluggish
! and slow in its movements, and, like all
of its kind, usually makes an effort to get
out of the way of intruders, but in
August it simply lies still in bloated re-
pulsiveness, and it will not move for
anything, being ready at all times to
strike at everything that comes near it.
AS near a. you can get at it, this rattle
snake at this time Of the year is simply
q swollen reservoir of venom, aud its bite
will then send even an Apache Indian to
the happy hunting grounds, and quickly
at that.
"A Plute Indian who wants to lay in a
stock of poison for his arrows kills, at
this time of year. enough Of these rattle
snakes for his purpose. He cuts off their
heads and takes them to his lodge. He
places in one of the rude earthen vessels
that are among the Pluto household cf-
fects ten or a dozen OF these snake heads
To them he adds perhaps pint of taran-
tula killers, as the big Texan or Mexican
wasp is called, or, rather, he puts the alb
domen of the wasp in with the snake
heads. This wasp has a sting that injects
q poison subtle enough almost instantly
TO kill tarantuls, which is itself about
as poisonous a member of the animal
kingdom as one would care to meet with.
The poison of the tarantula killer is in
the lower abdomen of the insect, and il
is this the Piute brave mixes with his
rattlesnake heads. He then pours in a
pint OF water, seals the lid of the vessel
on with moist clay, and places the vessel
in pit where he has made bed of red.
hot Goals, and, besides that, builds a
blazing fire on top of it. This fire is kept
burning fiercely for several hours, when
it is swept away, and the Indian digs his
vessel out of the Goals. With a long
pole he knocks the lid off, and does not
venture near the pot until the steam that
arises from it as soon rs the lid is taken
of entirely ceases TO appear. The
Piutes say that to inhale the smallest
quantity of that steam would be instant
death Whether that is true or not am
not able to say, as ] never saw it put to
the test. After the fiery ordeal to which
the snake heads are put is over, brown
ish residuum remains in the bottom Of
the kettle. That is certainly the double
quintessencc of poison, if its action on
human blood, or, at least, Indian blood
is any indication. The Piute always tests
this poison before trusting his arrows to
it. He cuts a cash in the heshy part of
his leg and draws the blood, which he
lets trickle down his leg. When the red
stream has run down six or seven inches
he dips stick in the poison and touches
it to the lower end of the bloody streak
II the poison is all right it actually burns
the blood almost like hot iron touched
to water, and rapidly runs up the trick
ling stream. The Indian has his knife
ready and scrapes the poisoned blood of
dry. II it was permitted to reach the
wound it would be all up with the Piutc.
The arrows are dipped into this poison,
and the Indian feels that whatever such
an arrow hits had much better not have
been born.
"Thc Apache Indian COLLECTS his poison
in much simpler way. Dreading the
Staked Plain rattlesnakes as he does, he
nevertheless makes 1t his business to go
among them at the very time they are
the most deadly, lying in bloated hide
business all through that dreadful coun-
try, to gather this venom for his arrows.
He does this by placing the liver or
heart OF deer, freshly torn from n vic
tim sometimes not yet dead, in front OF
snake, within easy striking distance.
The snake protests against the presence
of the object, and quickly SINKS It's fangs
into it again and again. In a few seconds
the heart, or liver, will take on pur-
plish black hue, so quickly does this
| r,,icl,r, nAInrA Ii Wnnn Tho Indinr hhirL q