The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-09-10
HUNTING The MAcHETA.
That Creature Being q Big Snake
Found in the Venezuelan
Forests.
An Exciting Chase After One by
. Naturalist Who Had No
Fear.
1hr0uEh tho Grass. Across tho Pond, Up
In the Branches VI = Tree-The
Capture.

|G #E4#E" @#= S8pNuEGs @ #8WaB@%@|#E
Along the ~clanrest streams In the hills O.
northern South America, and at the mos
quiet crystal pools will you ind the long
graceful macheta.
Two inches in diameter aud seven fee
long, he lies stretched full length In III
sunny bushes over the water. Greenisl
black above. and along the sides colder
yellow, he 10 hard TO distinguish amidst til,
leaves and flowers. Perfectly motionlss
no lies there in the sunshine, his larg,
bright eyer on the alert. But you can tire
him ont by waiting, % that finally he vii
glide of. hardly moving q twig Is he makeI
his way through the branches, perhaps Il
chase frogs among the lilies or TO take up
new post amidst the ENHANCEMENT of some
towering vine whence he may snatch some
gorgeous humming- bird for a luncheon II
she hovsrs on her tiny wings before ,
nectar laden c~orolla.
II, however. you approach him too closely
or alarm him by q sudden movement, of hs
goes like q fash. You ses nothing more
than that the snake who lay there quiet al
death becomes in an instant as live as light.
ming. The branches and leaves culver
where he lay. but he himself has disap-
peared, leaving nothing except the motion
Of the foliage and it's quive1ing reflection
in the water beneath to show that anything
living has been there.
Leave the place aud return in half IN
house and you will probably find him, not
where he was before. but coiled in the very
spot where you had stood treading down
the grass on your previous visit. or if moi
there he will perhaps lie stretched on q
branch overhead closely Watching you or
else upon some rock or fallen tres near BY
the water with his round bright eyes scan-
ming your movements.
Away up in the hills of Venezuela behind
the town of Puerto CAbello il the rich 90
Gao estate of Cabra. In the very center of
this estate is a depression to which the
ground slopes on every aide. and here the
waters OF q rainy season collect, forming q
pool which even in the dry months ia sci
dom exhausted.
To this pool all the serpent population Of
the neighborhood ZONE to quench their
thirst and to feast on the frogs and birds
that abound round their common drinking
place. The spot is we'll shaded by the dark
green foliage OF the cacao, while here and
there the giant immortelle trees rear sloft
their spreading branches covered with
crimson flowers.
Round this serpent pool was one of my
favorite hunting grounds. Every day rs I
passed through the estate on my way to the
great woods beyond did make it my bus
iness to stop At the pool. / was always
sure to capture two or three snakes. and
amongst them usually a macheta. OF this
snake there are two varieties. the common,
pr black and yellow one already men
stoned. and the green one, which 10 not
usually met with except in wood
lands.
One day aaI approached the pool in COM
pany witt Sevesino and Jose, two Venezu-
elan youths who often accompanied me,
the latter caught me by the arm and
lying among the branches Of a bush just BY
the waters edge. We stopped. 1 dropped
the long stick carried for catching poi
sonou snakes, and leaving the lads stand
ing there I walked forward softly. As I
drew near the macheta faced round toward
me and set his neck as if to bite, which I
didn't fear. as he is not poisonous. He
was fully six feet long and u beauty. He
had recently cast his skin, and the black on
bis back and the bright orange yellow of
his sides and beneath looked fresh and
new. "
His large, l~ustrous eyes and quiverina
tongue were already within u yard of my
face and every moment l expected him to
bite. As ! moved to grasp him with both
hands ! struck against the thorns of an in
tervening branch and this alarmed him.
He uncoiled himself with a swish that set
evsrv leaf vibrating and shot like an arrow
from the bush into the water beyond. In I
dashed after him, walking or rather run
ming on the bottom. sinking deeper the
further / went.
But with head and neck stretched out in
front, just above the surface. he swan with
great swiftnsss. moving as fast through the
water as it he were coursing through the
grass, go that before l had got to the mid
die of the pond he had already gone out
on the further side and disappeared in a
thicket of wild ginger. where all our efforts
to find him proved unavailing. In our
search We tramped it into the esrth, but
not a sign OF him could We see.
About thirty yards away was q patch of
rank grass just two feet high. l CHANGED to
cast my eyes that way, and there. right in
the middle of it,. was the upright neck and
head of the macheta raised above its way-
ing tops, quietly Watching Out movements
Immediately l dashed toward him. Down
went his head and away he sailed through
the grass, lost to view for a moment. but
making q billowy oommotion in its tops as
he passed.
Presently he reappeared beyond dsshine
out over the carpet of dried leaves that al
ways covers the ground in q cocao estate,
Up flew fragments Of the withered debris
a. he scurried over the ground, seeming in
his quick, sinuous course, much longer than
ue really WAS. IelkAb ACIOA6 UIH way lay the
decayinR trunk of a fallen tree, and beneath
it he disappeared for an instant, then con-
tinued his course up the hill on thu fu Their
side. In . trailing vine that crossed 1t my
foot caught as l jumped. ! fell lightly
forward among the great rank leaves of a
young breadfluit. aliahtinR on my hands.
for only IN instant. leaping again to
my feet and continuing the pursuit..
Short Is was the delay the macheta
by IL. and gave me a good hundred
yards run further up the hill.
AT last, when he saw that l was close on
him, he made for a coffee bush, whose tops
touched the lower branches of a cocao tree,
and before | could catch up To him no was
high above my reach making his way along
through the branches with great speed, al
most rivalling the squirrel in activity.
The one thing necessary now was to keen
him in view: for If you once loose sight Of
q snake in the t. ees it ia next to impossible
to distinguish him again.
My companions soon came up and BY the
help Of long poles out for the purpose we
chased him into Il tree standing somewhat
apart, from which he could not easily rass
Into another. Here we had him cornered
1t last.
sent severino mp the tree TO shake it
all his might because this would COM
pei tho macheta to lash himself around n
branch in order to prevent himself from
falling to the ground. Thus was he brought