The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1892-08-11
A GIANT ANACONDA.
Thrilling Tale Of Adventure b
s' ~ South Amaraca. ~
The Deadly Peril from witch Q Hunts,
Of Big Reptiles, After Ise1n3
Charmed" Finally t 'r'


~About year and o half ago." said
dealer In wild animals TO o reporter tor
the Detroit Free Press, II, shipped TO
London o cargo Of South American rep
tiles Among them were two twenty
hve-foot Observation-Disclosures spect
mems as such snakes go. They were
neatly packed IN separIte barrels. but
one was t.;.@,lly in shape for traveltns;.
as he was Just shedding his skin Be
ing such wel-matched pair, hope<',
they would pull through all right. but
on wriva! our friend wes dead The
resui, was tha. had hardly got IA taast.
Of homa comforts when there came q
cal,ie calling for another aHoroptll. !
swamps at that time Of the year. but !
hal NJ choice. Guiana Is the nearest
port for big snakee, and there went,
Determined 70 hurry matters. Now, I
cophi have got q dozen fair-sized crowl
err lu y week, but bearing of some mon
ster snakes up country ! got the fever
cpd started of 10 interview them. I
hired o boat manned by half doocn
Indians and. went se~entp-odd miles mp
the Essequibo. 4'+5.,,, A-- 30.
I'VE tracked several big serpenss
every day. but none Of them came up
30 my expectations, and after two
weeks Of fr71itless search began 10
think was wasting time ON what
seemed b he q FOOLS errand Still,
knowing the reputation Of the country,
! hated TO give up, and 50 decided to
stay yet another week Three days
went by. and still nothing extraordt
nary turned 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 supplied with un-
varying monotony. Before had gone
q mile had brought down a small an
telope, and as there was plenty Of time
to get back to camp before supper ]
hunted up shady spot by the side Of a
little stream and lay down FOR a quiet
smoke. The tramp and the heat had
made me sleepy and dozed away with
half-closed eyes
About sundown something made me
start p,and saw sight that made my
heart Jump to my throat Coming
slowly out of the stream, waving Its
head to and fro, spied an enormous
anaconda The stream was more than
twenty feet across. but may never
speak again If his head and five feet or
more Of his neck weren't clear out Of
water on my side and q yard or 80 Of
his tail on the other. For a moment I
sat perfectly still--paralysed, partly
with the delight of having at last got on
the trail OF such monster and partly
with fright at the sight There was
nothing to do but watch, so sat there
and saw him come out Of the water.
"He was about fifty yards away, and
I noticed his colors were different from
the usual run of anacondas. Black on
top, he had gray sides with brown
spots, and only his belly was yellow.
He must have just cast his skin, for it
shone dazzlingly. For awhile he lay
motionless on the grass, then he raised
his head and wagged It up and down
How he spotted me | can't even
guess but when noticed he was look
ing straight at me I felt decidedly
queer. Ny gun, double barrel, was
loaded with bucl1shot, but had no no
ton of courtipg an encounter. Yet it
would not do to run, for no man can
! outfoot snake. So sat there per-
fectly still, not daring to move, and
waited, IN few moments the ana
conda dropped his head and lay SEEM
! ingly motionless, still looking toward
me. Watching him closely discovered
ne was moving, yet couldn't detect
tho culver of scale. Then saw he
was coming closer--coming for me-
actually stalking mel As the thought
flashed through my mind my hair stood
on end.
''On he crrpt-gliding so slowly. SO
insidiously / couldn't tell how he
moved. but he was getting closer all
the time. don't know If I prayed. but
with all my might ] tried to shake off
the frightful torpor that had seized me.
The sweat poured all over me, but I
couldn't move finger. Thirty feet
twenty feet away. Nearer yet--ten
feet-then he raised his head That
movement saved me-before that aw-
full, motionless, gliding approach of
death was powerless, but the sudden
break gave me back my powers. To
seize my gun, spring to my feet, yell,
let Ay both barrels and take to my
heels didn't take second. AS l fed
heard the brute Kissing like barrel
full of mad cats, but didn't stop to
size up the damage. Reaching camp
moro dead than alive, hustled the In
dians into the boat, and we spent the
night ive miles down the stream.
My tale scared the Indians, and we
sat up all night, gun In hand With
morning our courage revived and we
went back to investigate. The snake
had gone; 50 had the antelope, SO guess
I didn't hurt him badly. We tracked
him to dense swamp, but neither
money nor threats could induce those
Indians TO follow him In; to tell the
truth, didn't press them very hard
We left the neighborhood that same
day, and contented myself with ship
ping ,Jamrach o couple of twenty-foot-