The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-07-13
CAPTURING A PYTHON.
Rev. John Blanks Experience with
a Serpent.

1t Was Monster, But the Dominic
Tackled Him in the watsr--Ris
Snakeship Was Twenty
Feet Loug.
I've Rev. John Blank was an Ameri.
can missionary stationed at Rangood,
Hu nah. He was. likewise. an enthu-
i.>tic naturalist and fellow both of
the Royal Geological Society and the
Royal Geographical Society, which titles
had heen conferred upon him in appre-
citation of his labors in the matter per-
timing to the objects of these organiza-
tions. He was an interchangeable collec-
tor of everything of value in his favorite
studies, and was the means of sending
to England ana America many speci-
mems, both living and dead.
Several years ago Mr.. Blank had q
special request from the managers of the
great geological gardens of London for
living specimen of the python, the
largest member of the family OF large
serpents, whose habitat is the lowlands
and esJuaries of the seacoast in certain
parts OF the tropics, and of which terri
tory Burmah forms part.
Mr.. Blank, therefore, made search and
inquiry on all his many journeys into
the Jungles, and, although every native
fisherman and hunter in a radius of 100
miles was on the qui yive to capture a
python, month after month passed by
and still the report went to England
that no capture Of the desired kind had
yet been made A standing reward,
large enough to seem quite fortune to
the simple natives, was offered by the
missionary for rull-grown python, and
the matter became almost a monomania
with him in his anxiety to procure the
great snake, but still all effort was I'M
availing, and nearly year passed with
out success.
There was to be q great gathering of
the missionaries and their converts in d
remote part of the delta of the great
Irrawaddy River, and Mr.. Blank was on
his way thither in the mission boat.
The Burmese boats are hewn out of a
single log of teakwood, are wrought
into an almost perfect model for speed,
and with six sturdy Karens at the oars
pass through the water swiftly and
easily. Occupying the rear third of the
craft is the ''poung'' or cabin, rooted
over with light thatch, and here the
passengers take their ease, stretched on
comfortable couch or seated on stools.
Mr.. Blank was in this cabin, deeply en-
gagged in the mysteries of some theo-
logical work, the Karen boatmen were
almost asleep on their thwarts, yet
mechanically keeping up the steady
stroke of their oars. when great outcry
was raised by the old fellow at the steer
ing oar, "a rah unway geel va de ahp'
ia great snake in the waterl' The
alarm quickly brought Mr.. Blank from
his abstruse meditations to the ardent
realization of mundane affairs At q
bound he was out of the cabin and
eagerly scanning the water for sight
CT the cause of the steersman's shout.
Sure enough, some fifty yards in ad-
vance of the bait he could see, raised
soine two feet above the water, the head
of an enormous snake, and for prodig-
fous distance behind the head could bs
discerned the convulsions of his body
actively exerting every muscle to escape
from the neigh borhood OF the boat, and
as the python is far swifter traveller in
the water than on shore, he was making
good progress and rapidly widening the
distance between himself and his I'M
welcome neighbors.
AS soon as Mr.. Blank saw before him
the very object that he had been search
ing for so long, and perceived at the
same time that it was certainly the
largest python he had ever seen, he be-
man himself, and, with shout, Or
dered his men to pull as if for life. add
ing the promise of liberal rewards to all
in case of capture. Under these in
ducements the men bent to their work.
But how to capture him even then was
the question. Blank was magnificent
swimmer himself, and his boatmen, like
all the natives of that coast, were as
much at homo in the water as on land,
but the idea of attacking monstrous
serpent in the water with the hope of
taking him alive would seem at first
thought to be too preposterous to be en-
tertained for moment. just that, how
ever, was what the plucky dominic had
resolved ON doing, and with that plan in
view ne ordered two of the men to cease
rowing and prepare to follow him into
the water.
The great snake started, frightened
by the swimmers, but before ne could
gather any Roadway Blank seized him
by the tail, and by a quick jerk quickly
brought him to standstill. Enraged
out of his usual sluggishness the pyth on
turned with wonderful quickness to
seize his rash assaiiant.
a few minutes of this sort of work,
supplementing his previous exertions,
sufficed to so exhaust the python that
his motions became far less active.
Here a large provision box was
hastily emptied, and the python, now
limp and almost lifeless, was hauled
out of the river and put into it and the
lid strongly nailed down.
The snake proved to be magnificent
specimen, fully twenty feet long and
with a diameter of six inches.