Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-10-27

Charles f. Michaelis. after twelve
years residence in the PHILIPPINE
Islands, has returned to his native
city, says the Philadelphia Times.
He was an engineer on suga" plan
tation in Mindanoa, in II remote part
of the island, and had excellent OPP
portunities for studying the wild
animals and reptiles that inlest that
part of the world.
"The existence OF man-eating
snakes has been doubted by natural
lists, but / can prove the facts from
my own experience. In 1886 | was
living then at Ti-Rando. One of our
servants was short, broad-shoul-
dered Javanese named Picul He
was a cattle herder and frequently
in the woods. Several times he had
told us of the existence of monster
python fifty feet long, not a mile
from the plantation. / gave him a
gun and buckshot to kill it. but it
never materialized and we became
incredulous.
"One day Picul was missing. His
gun and hat were found in the woods
and brought in. One of the native
hunters examined the ground and
gave his opinion. Picul must have
been caught by snake, as no blood
had been shed. but there had evil
IDENTITY been struggle The next
Sunday, in company with an English
man named Mason and their native
tracKers, ] took TO the woods to look
for our lost servant. The natives
lead us to the edge of track Of sub
merged land, covered with long
grass. The water was about three
inches deep Here in the mud was
the track OF a big snake The de-
preston made by the body in tho
mud was quite eighteen inches wide
Suddenly one of the men called out1
{" Sock! SOCK Qook! lookD Three
hundred yards away the water was
agitated into waves and gliding to-
wards us was yellow snake that
looked 100 feet long. The head was
as large as a bucket 1t was a bright
yellow striped with black. To watch
it gliding towards us was trying on
the nerves, but we waited and at
forty yards gave it two loads OF buck
shot in the head. 1t reared ten feet
out of the water and dashed about,
but finally sank and the natives
hauled it on the bank with rope.
1t was just thirty-eight feet long
our fears had added the other sixty.
To keep it from the white ants it
was at once cut open and skinned.
Inside was the lower jaw of human
being and leg and thigh bone,
while loin cloth was rolled into a
perfect knot no bigger than mans
fist. and this Picul's sisters identified.
so the poor fellow had fallen a victim
20 this horrid reptile
"Of all the people under the sun
the tourist Englishmen are certainly
the most eccentric. a gentleman
named Howard has been exploring
the northern part of Mindanao for
! FIVE years, and his specially is snakes.
No matter how venomous. he will
take them up and they seem to be-
come inert and harmless in his hands.
One day he came into our warehouse,
and after some conversation put his
hand in his jacket pocket, and saying.
Il have here a curious snake. very
strangely marked, pulled out a chain
viper, a,5 fiat as ribbon-one of the
most venomous of the snakes of the
Archipelago. He handled it like a
piece of tape, although its curious
opalescent eyes fairly glared In two
seconds he had the place to himself
The Chinese were much afraid OF
him and always got out OF his way.
For two years he hal, with large
party OF native hunters. been looking
| for a huge serpent that was seen fre-
quently in a large tract OF wet land
about 100 miles north OF our planta-
tion. 1t was known TO have XII led
cattle and several hunters were miss
! ing. The track had been seen and
de cribed as large as that made by
dragging a hogshead through the
mud. After two months search, one
day the snake was seen gliding
through the water. Howard aud his
men were quickly on the trace, and
a ter days march through the pes
tilential swamps came to a place
where a number of palm trees had
been overthrow by the wind, and
under these the snake lay hidden.
After q careful search one of the
hunters discovered K. and pointing
out the head to MIR. seward, h, was
enabled to put a rifle pa in the
ght place. Shot through tn head
il was ten hours dying and one man
was badly injured by a lash OF its
tail. 1t measured forty-nine feet two
inches and the skin was so wide that
/ had no trouble in wrapping myself
in it.
Thanks TO Mr. Howard, the
crocodiles in our river were almost
exterminated They bad killed
twelve people IN the village. I saw
one twenty-five feet long. Mr..
Towards plan was to make a small
raft of cane and fasten duck on it,
and set it aaoat on the riv err rhe
bird would quack and suddenly
a huge head would emerge from the
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