The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-07-05

men. And yet whenever we met it
was pretty rough'fo the snakes. The
fact is, I'm indebted to certain mem
bers of the snake family for what lit
tie money l possess. For six years,
the world to interview various kinds Of
snake in the the interest of Jamrach,
the eat London wild beast dealer.
l 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
suspicion that our cousins in the tight
never inquired very closely. The crea-
lures do possess a peculiar attractive
ness, but to see them to advantage you
must watch them in the open and un-
awares. Did 1 ever tell you how near
came to being fascinated myself?
Five years ago last Christmas I
shipped to London large cargo Of
South American reptiles. Among them
were two twenty-fve-foot anacondas-
fair-sized 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 a well matched
pair, l 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 I 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-sized 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
q dozen Indians and went seventy odd
miles up the Essenquebo. That's
wonderful country veritable land of
palms. Though within few degrees
of the equator the thermometer seldom
climbs above eighty-fve degrees in the
shade. Butterflies of the loveliest hues
float about all day in the sunlight; fire
flies light the bushes by night. On
every tree limb sits a gay-plumaged
biro and the rivers are full of colored
fish. OF course there are drawbacks.
The insects are terrible pests, and l be-
ieve It has more bad snakes to the
square mile than any other country.
Eve tracked several big serpents
every day, but none of them came up to
my expectations. and after two weeks
of fruitless search / began to think
was wasting time on what seemed
fools errand. Stall, knowing the repu-
tation of the country, hated to give
up, and 10 | decided to stay yet another
week. Three days went by, and still
nothing extraordinary 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 snip
piled with unvarying monotony.
Before l had gone a mile brought
down a small antelope, and as there
was plenty of time to get back to camp
before supper 1 hunted up q shady spot
by the side of q Little stream and lay
down fer q quiet smoke The tramp
and tho heat had made ne sleepy. and
/ dozed away with hslf-closed 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, spied an enormous
anaconda The stream was more than
twenty-five feet across, but may /
never speak again if his head and FIVE
feet or more Of his neck weren't clear
ont Of the water on my side and yard
or so Of his tail on the other. For mo-
meut ! sat perfectly still-paralyzed.
partly with delight at having at last
got on the trail of such q
monster, aud partly with fright
at the sight There Was nothing
70 do but to watch. Sc l sat there
and saw him come wholly out Of the
water. He was about fifty yards away
and / noted his coIors were different
from the usual run Of auacondas.
Black on top, he had gray sides with
brown spots and only his belly was ,>l-
Low. He must have just cast his skin,
for ii shone dazzhngiy. For awhile he
lay notionless on the grass, then he
raised his head and wagge6 il up and
down. How he spotted me can't even
guess, but when / noticed he was look-
ing st raight az me felt decidedly
queer. Ny gun. q 6ouhiebarrel, w0