The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-26
SNAKES OF THE TROPICS.
Adventures With Scorpions in Qua
temaIa.
From the ST. Louis Republic.


! since, to pay my respects 10 Jose Maria
1 Reyna Barrios, president Of the republic
/ and now dictator. l having made up my
mind TO take up my abode in this attract
/ i've tropical country. We had halted for
/ the night and placed our mules in the
! porUrero and swung our hamm Ocks in the
/ best shack" we could find, which, how
I ever. could not be highly recommended as
a frst-class hostelry.
The house was built Of palmetto poles
and mud, consisted Of one room. had no
floor, Of course, and the roof was made,
! as usual. OF manacca leaves, which grow
90 feet long and are very plentiful
We had partaken of frijOles, tortillas
and boiled eggs and were talking with
the family about their pueblo aud the
prospect OF the roads before US, which
point was bo-hering Us not little on &C
count of its being then the rainy season
and time when few people Travelled.
The conversation being trihe laborious
for me on account of being very tired, |
proposed a game Of cards. My cOmpan-
ion, the host and mis- daughter and myself
sat down on boxes or OK hide-seated
chairs and were playing simple native
game, very interesting and well adapted
to kill time with.
l had never seen scorpion except in
bottle, well surrounded with alcohol, and
have always dreaded meeting them, al
though expecting to encounter them at
all times.
Judge Of my feeling when two good, big
ones ran across the little table at which
we were sitting. The senorita was first
first to see them, and shouted ALI
cranes!" at which there was a general
breaking up of our game and a chase
made for the scorpions.
| attempted to kill one with stick, but
the family laughed AT my ignorance, and
/ was surprised considerably at the tough
ness of the little animals, which were
finally captured by the old lady, who cut
their tails OF with scissors, and l was
much amazed to see those vicious mem
bers strike repeatedly at the scissors,
even after dismberment.
AT another time in an interior town |
was startled by a scorpion dropping on
the bed while ! was calling on the family
with mutual friend and a Guatemala
official. The natives bother very little
about scorpions and are sometimes stung
by them, but l have yet to receive my
first sting, and, being very careful TO
shake out my clothes and turn my boots
upside down when 1 dress in the morning,
l hope TO avoid them for a long time.
When l made my first trip 10 the trop-
les | expected to find many annoyances,
and amongst, the most pronounced evils
l looked for snakes to take the foremost
place. My disappointment was so great
that | could not refrain from remarking
10 my friends on my return to the
United States that all the snake stories
Of the tropics must have been myths and
produced in great measure by magma
| ton assisted by fevers and perhaps whis-
ky or a quardiente.
My first trip to this part of the country
was made during December, January and
February, and the season of the year UNI
| dOubtedly had much to GO with the
scarcity Of snakes, although the varia-
| ton of temperature is almost nothing.
| Still. there is difference in the atmos-
| pheric conditions between the rainy
| season and the dry
made three trips into the interior of
British Honduras, Spanish Honduras and
| Guatemala last winter, and during the
| time was in those countries l saw only
one little baby boa constructor, and that
was dead, having been stepped on by one
| of our mOzos and killed. This gave me a
| very fine impression of the country in re-
| gard TO snakes and l was much pleased,
but when I commenced to travel more ex-
| tensively into the interior, and the season
advanced TO the real summer, and the
| sun had asserted itself in true tropical
| fashion, ] commenced to see snakes, not
the kind unusually referred to with that
remark, but real flesh and blood serpents
| with fOrked tongues.
The first one saw was a whipsnake
| and | was surprised at the way nv com
panious scattered when they spied it. The
first to see it was a state official who was
in the lead, he being a nabob and owning
the best mule in the company.
This gentleman had attended ball the
night before and had either danced too
much or was in some way debilitated so
that he did not fancy killing the snake.
This was my idea of it, but when I ad-
vanced and offered to drive upon him and
polish his snakship wilh my whip was
called off by general shout from all
hands, so let the snake 60 much to my
disappointment.
Later on in my travels / was one day
visiting low, level coffee finca, and saw
near one of the houses a beautiful black
and yellow snake nine feet long glide
rapidly away from us as we advanced to
the sunny spot where he had been enjoy
ing the sunshine.
My experience this summer has entirely
reversed my opinion on the snakelessness
of this region, but so far from their beng
a detriment, | think they are a blessing
to mankind, although some kinds OF
snakes are certainly very undesirable
pets.
Several friends keep snakes in their
warehouses to prevent the depredations
Ol inc FdJS, ana Jne latter Will not be
found where snake is kept. | had occa-
sion to occupy a deserted store thirty
miles up one of the rivers in this state
and, after hanging my hammock and
lighting fire, found 7-foot snake Skin
dangling from the beams above, where il
had been shed while Mr.. Snake was for
aging for rats and mice. The skin now
ornaments my desk. AT a banana fnca
residence where | was visiting we killed
quite snake, also, much to the annoy
ance of some of the members of the
family, as the snake was hunting out
some toads that were secreted inside the
balcony posts-a toad that climbs all abou
the house, and makes most abominablC
noise-a noise that is loud and continuou.
and impossible todescribe.
There are other annoyances, such as
centipedes, scorpions, red bugs, garrap
tas, TO make life a burden here, but then
when one considers the beautiful climate
the equitable temperature, the land an(
mountain breezes that come nearly every
day the year around, the fruits, the NOM
tain scenery, the simple, easy-going ma
tlves, the picturesque houses, the money
TO be made in banana and coffee planta
tlons-al these and many other attrac
tions make amends for little draw back,
like insects that burrow under the skin
and such unimportant details as snakes.
Bishop Lawrence Favors Cremation
From the Bostop HeraId