The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-06-22

Easy 20 Tame-The King Snake Is a King
IndeeeE-The Biggest Rather.
After a man has spent rs years of his
fffe catching snakes he knows what he
: talking about 81 Foman Is - wears
old He went into the business of catch
ing snakes when he was Is. He shows
evidence Of what the insurance men
would call "an extra hazardous voca-
zion II the shape Of IS or more scars.
the result OF wounds inflicted by the,
fanSs Of reptiles. These sears are all
over his body--on his legs, one on his
Jaw, under the eye. where arattler clip
ped him and hung one day, while the
back Of his hands look like crows nests
OF scars. He Is 4 colored man and has
the appearance Of having Indian blood
In his veins.
.sAu snakes, . said ST, like music.
and this banjo Is the thing L use TO catch
them with Suppose I'm IN the woods
and see a rattlesnake crawl down a GO
pher hole. go TO the mouth OF the hole
and play, and pretty soon here comes
the old fellow crawling forth. As soon
Is he gets outside [ pick him up and
mt him IN the bag. II he's IN the open.
eoiled under palmetto leaf. I'm more
cautious About 80 feet of sit down
and play. and the snake quickly uncoils
himself and rolls around over the ground
rs II he enjoyed 1t He rattles all the
time, bat not as loud as he does when
he means business and Is giving yoy
warning TO give him more room. [ grad
ually approach, playing softer and soft
Il. and finally pick him up about the
middle and slip him IN the bag and go
looking for another.
"A rattlesnake Is the most poisonous
az all the snakes IN Florida. His bite
Is sure death unless you have an anti
siote very handy. I've got an antidote,
though. and q bite never troubles me
now IN the least It Is so effcacious that
the wound hardly sweIls. I went down
and spent nearly two years among the
Seminoles IN the Everglades to get IT,
and then IL WIS good luck. Twas out IN
the woods one day with Knothole The
old fellow got bitten by . rattlesnake.
and he started at once for his antidote
I followed him, for knew what he was
looking for. He tried to conceal the plant
by crushing it down with his foot, but
picked It up and told him that was
the thing to cure snake bites He re-
marked that I was too much Of an In
dian and must stay always ID the In
dian camp The plant not only cures
snake bite, but the stings OF all kinds or
insects, and Ii is also said TO cure rabies
We'll to get back TO snakes. There
are two kinds OF rattlers IN Florida
One Is the swamp RATHER and the other
the highlander. The swamp snake has
= larger head and a thicker body and is
altogether heavier snake than his high
land brother. His coat, too, IS darker
and his diamonds brighter He Is more
vicious and gives mighty little time for
ron 70 move when he sounds the alarm
'Rattlesnakes are very easy to tame
Let me handle them for about four days,
and they know me and make no effort
whatever to bite. don't take the fangs
cut, for what's the use? In two weeks
they grow out again big enough TO kill
you and IN six weeks are as big as they
ever were have heard people say that |
. rattlesnake gets his poison from a
plant, but it ) all nonsense It's IN them, |
for find those a year In captivity are |
Just as deadly as when fresh from the |
woods
The biggest rattIesnalee ever saw I |
canght up here by PaIatka- He was 10 !
feet IL inches long, weighed So pounds |
and had IS rattIes had him IN pit |
there IN the yard for long time A /
heavy rain came once and filed the pit |
up with water, and he drowned made |
a vest out Of his skin. I'm afraid III |
never get another snake like that, I" and |
81 sighed TO think what he had lost.
''Si, how far does rattlesnake strike"
Some people say he strikes his
length, and others declare that ne can
jump more than his length, but I've
watched them closely. and know they
are wrong A rattleslake can't get far
ther than the length of two coils That's
about half his length
Where do you find most OF the rat
tlers?''
Fort George il q great place for |
them Pablo Is another good field, while |
all down the coast in the scrub there are
thousands Then IN the hunmocks and /
swamps you viii find plenty, and in the
pine woods, where there are gopher
holes A rattlesnake likes gopher hole
It's nice snug place, and he lives there /
with the coaehwhip the gopher and the |
gopher snake IN perfect harmony.
But the great snake, the smart snake, |
the snake yen can educate 70 perform /
tricks, IS the king snake, and he's the /
king and enemy Of them all, and ne /
Kills all he can and eats them, too, il /
they are not too large. The king snake
isn't afraid TO tackle anything that |
crawls. I've seen one kill a rattlesnake
almost twice az big az he was The
king snake crawls silently up TO where
the RATHER is DOING and grabs him with |
ms mouth by the jaws, so that the rat
tier can't possibly use his fangs. Then, |
In the twinkling Of an eye, he coils him
self around his enemy and tightens his
coils and stretches them until you can |
hear the bones crack. When he leaves, |
the rattler is like jelly. Florida