The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-09-16
HUNTING TARllTULAS.
A Risky Business Of the West In
dies.
Each rarantula issaworth Half Dol

"Catching the ground spider is fun, u
! said he. 1t is a jumper, and when you
| are trying to take it two eyes and quick
! leap are necessary to get away from it.
| If it is spider it is not only big one,
but very quick and quite cute. 1t will
attack any time, and in going .about the
country you must keep IAN eye on the
tarantuIa holes in the ground, or one
may sting you any moment, and then,
as a rule, good-by. I've hunted them
many day, for they bring SO cents
| apiece at the stores in st. Thomas and
that is good bit to q boy who has to
cast about mighty sharp to make dime
in a warm country where the negroes,
who are poor, are many, and the white
people few. You see, mister, Jour chanc-
es in the tropics are not like they are In
this country, where there is SO much to
do, and SO many ways to pick up PEN
MES now and then at almost anything.
Fifty cents for tarantula, dead or alive,
seemed heap of money to us young
darkies down there, and getting bit was
not thought of enough to brighten us
from the hunt after them.
aWe have no other dangerous insects or
| reptiles on that island except the taran-
lula, but there are lots of them. You
| must be mighty careful in going about
not to get stung, for very few people live
| if they are Bit. The best and only thing
to do if you are caught is to use the
poison of the spider and sing or play
music lust as soon as possible. The
| noison puts you to sleep at once, and it
is mighty hard to get person awake
afterwards.
aThere are about 10000 of my race on
ST. Thomas of the Is, 600 who are on the
island, and at least half the families.keep
bottle of rum with tarntulas IN 1t IN
their hobses AS soon as they are struck,
if they can get where it ssis quickly they
may live. The sore part is rubbed with
it. and sometimes they take it inwardly.
But you see, mister, the bite is apt to
put them to sleep before they can get at
the poison in the rum botJle like what
is in their. body, and then they are. al
most sure to die"
aWhy do they bring 5ocents apiece?" /
asked.
"They are sent to England. to be used
l-for medicine That is what merchant
in St. Thomas told me. He said that it
was hard for him to get enough, for lots
of them were wanted in England. L
don't know how they fix them up, but
that is what the man that l used ito
hunt them for told me-"
"How do you catch them?"
"Well, mister, you see we have tall
grass growing all over the island, and
when we've go hunting we pick some OF
it and take along When we get where
the tarantula holes are we just strip the
head off a piece of this grass, make
loop in the end and slip it over the head
of one of these little harmless house liz
ards, of which there are thousands. You
can find them everywhere, even IN the
houses. They won't hurt anybody, and
we pay no attention to them. When one
is caught just take him to the hole. drop
him in little way, and the big spider
comes up quickly after him. just pull
him slowly away from the hole and the
tarantula comes along. You have the
house lizard in one hand, shingle in
the other, and kind of turn around, you
put your foot over the hole and throw the
Single over the tarantula, if you can.
Each one is worth SO cents dead or alive,
if YOU don't break his body. You have
to strike him just right every time to get
the SO cents Then you put him in
bottle with big neck, and go looking
for another hole, and there do just as
you did before"
Suppose that he strikes your"
well YOU DO dulCh WHICH,
YOU hit him, and look sharp all the time
after he follows the lizard out of the
hole, for he has his eye on you as well
as on the lizard If he gets on you then
there is trouble, and nothing can save
you except that poisoned rum told
you about and constant playing OF some
kind of musical instrument, or singing
some well known song. But everything
has to be done with great quickness.
There is no time to wait. I've seen them
die almost as soon as they were bitten.
] have plenty of stories about the spider
that come to me now and then when
am away from them"
"Aleck Beech was good boy, and he
used to go hunting with me-" said the
boy. HE had lots of courage and did
not mind the danger at all. One day
he was caught and / was scared. He had
il big spider following his lizard and he
sort Of lost his head. We were mighty
poor then and that tarantula was in
teresting to us. The big fellow followed
the lizard out Of his hole, and everything
seemed all right, but Aleck did not look
sharp. He was too anxious. Then he
it..wrong and the tarantula caught him.
Black as he was he seemed to get white
in the face when he was hit, and ran
as hard as / could to a house near by for
a bottle of poisoned rum. Then L ran
back and found him asleep. The poison
medicine, but it did no good. shook
him and he was like rag. Having
lived all my life in the West Indies |
knew what all this meant, but Isdid not
know what to do. A woman from the
house where I had found the poisoned
rum knew what was going on, and she
ran and sat down by Aleck and began
to play the guitar she had brought with
her. We first dragged him into the
shade, to make everything comfortable,
but we did not expect to save his life;
Yet we did. The black woman played
the musical instrument, and the strains
from her fingers were even more potent
than the poison of the tarantula, which
| applied to HIM. What seemed most
encouraging was the song, which the
woman sang in Spanish:
Isl despues de esta vida haj otra vida
Aigo en- que quedes Ell eorazon amar;
Eb Ell alma mujer tie lleveria
Mas ALA de la tum ba mas ALA.
aThese airs are well known on the
island. And then she kept ON playing
while I bathed his leg. Soon his eyes
began to twitch Finally he blinked
Then his eyes opened, and he looked
around Just as though he had been asleep
naturally. Then she played more, an he
Scanned fo oct alive After q while he