Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1892-07-29

men. And yet whenever we met IL
was pretty rough'for the snakes. The
fact is, I'm indebted to certain mem
bcrs of the snake family for what lit
tie money l possess For six years,
you know, | visited different parts Of
the world to interview various kinds of
snakes in the the interest of Jamrach,
the great London wild beast dealer.
| must have shipped him two thousand
odd live serpents of all kinds-big and
little, harmless and rank poison, What
he does with them all beats me, I've
a suspicion that our cousins in the tight
little island make pets Of them, but |
never inquired very closely. The crea'
lures do possess peculiar attractive
ness, but to see them to advantage you
must watch them in the open and I'M
awares. Did ever tell you how near
came to being fascinated myself?
Five years ago last Christmas l
shipped to London Il large cargo of
South American reptiles. Among them
were two twenty-iive-foot anacondas-
sf.nr-sizcd specimens as such snakes go.
They were neatly packed in separate
barrels, but one was hardly in shape
for travelling, as he was just shedding
his skin. Being such well matched
pair | hoped they would pull through
all right, but on arrival our friend was
dead, The result was that had hardly
got taste of home comforts when
there came cable calling for another
anaconda. | hated like anything to go
back to the swamps at that time of the
year, but had no choice. Guiana is
the nearest port for big snakes and
there | went, determined to hurry mat
tiers. Now, | could have got dozen
fair-sizcd crawlers in week, but hear
ing of some monster snakes up country
got the fever and set off to interview
them. | hired boat manned by half
dozen Indians and went seventy odd
miles up the Esscnqucbo. That's
wonderful country-a vcritablc land of
palms, Though within q few degrees
of the equator the Thermometer seldom
climbs above cightyfve degrees in the
shade. Brs critics Of the lovcliest hues
doat about all day in the sunlight; fire
flies light the bushes by night On
every tree limb sits gay-pumaged
bir6 and the rivers are full of colorcd
fish. CT course there are drawbacks
The insects are terrible pests, and be-
licvc It has more bad snakes to the
.sseare mile than any other country.
-.
every DAY, but none of them came up to
nv expectations, and after two weeks
of fruitlcss search began to think
was wasting time on what seemed a
fools errand Still, knowing the rcpu-
tation of the country, | hated to give
mp, and so decided to stay yet another
week. Three days went by, and still
nothing extraordinary turEed up. Then,
on the evening of the fourth, took my
gun and went out after game, as was
tired of eating the fish the Indians sup
piled with unvarying monotony.
Before had gone mile brought
down small antelope, and as there
was plenty of time to get back to camp
before supper hunted up shady spot
by the side of little stream and lay
down for quiet smoke, The tramp
and the heat had made me sleepy, and
dozcd away with half-closcd eyes.
About shutdown something made me
start up and saw sight that made
my heart jump to my throat Coming
slowly ont of the stream, waving his
head to and fro, spicd an enormous
anaconda. The stream was more than
twenty-five feet across, bat may
ncvr:r speak again if his head and FIVE
fee, or more of bis neck weren't clear
out of the water on -my side and yard
or so of his tail on the other For mo-
ment | sat perfectly still-paralyzed,
partly with delight at having at last
got on the trail Of such a
monster, and partly vita fright
at the sight There was nothing