The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-26

MED by ignorance OF its moral reou,-s-
ments. Nor, We fear, is il very iil-si--
that the general college frafnfna- ~ 49,
DAY Will add largely 70 the young mer-s
young man ought 10 reach college a.. -
without pretty thorough acquainta-,ss
with both. ms
A Piute Indian who wishes to Law 8,
stock OF poison for his arrows kius -
THIS time Of year enough of the desc.
rattlesnakes for his purpose s9vs -
Chicago Tribune. He cuts OF their 49,
and takes them to his lodge. He pisces
ia one OF the rude earthen vessels Tbe9
are among the Piute household effects
ten or dozen OF these snake heads ~
mem ne adds perhaps pint of tarantr-is
Killer as the big hairy Texan or 1Fe-
lean spider Is called, or rather he -
the abdomen Of the spider in u-irb - -
snake heads. The spider has a sting tbst
lEJects a poison subtle enough almost a
xiii taraEtula instantly, which is i.so4s
about as pOisOnOus a member of the 80
ma hlnstom as one would care to met
me poison sac OF the tarantula kiIIsr );
in the lower abdomen OF the insect -
II is this that the Piute brave mikes v-i+Ls
the lattlcsnake heads. He then pour5
in q pint OF water, seals the lid Of -
vessel on with moist clay. ana Macs ne re
vessel in pit where he has made a ~ -
OF hot Goals He buries the vessel in 49,
Goals, and. besides that builds
blazing FIRE on top Of il. This 9
Kept burning fiercely for several hours
when 10 Is swept q way. and the Iniis1
NAen 4laS vessel 0ai OF the Goals With
long stick he knocks the lid of and dos
not venture near the pot until the s4esrS
that arises from il, as soon rs the III -
taken OF. entirely ceases 10 appear. The
liutes sa-- that to inhale the smaiiee4
quantity Of that steam would be insA,
death. Whether that is true or NOT 7 7r,S
not aole 10 say, Is i never saw it put 10
the test. After the fiery ordeal to yvbfcb
the snake heads are put is over hrov-n
ish residuum remains in the bottom of 10
kettle. That is certainly The double 0uir-
IS 10. n aDfG les
blood, OF, at least Indian blood. is any In
diCaIon- The P1ute always tests his
poison before trusting his arrows TO If
He cuts cash in the neshv PART Of bfs
leg and dra WIS the blood which he -
trickle down his leg. When the red streaT,
has run down six or seven inches he dins
The lower end Of the bloody streak II
the poison IS all right IL actually b1irps
the blood almost like hot iron touched IN
water and rapidly runs up the tricIzIine,
stream. The Indian has his knife reaJT,
and scrapes the poisoned blood off II
ii were permitted to reach the wound II
would be all up with the Piute The ar
rows are dipped in this poison and the
Indian feels that whatever such an an
row hits would much better not have been
born.
Any reference to the animals of Pata-
gonia that omitted the hairy arrnaJiIIo
would be notceably defective. 1t is an
animal with habits that must interest
an amateur naturalist greatly. There are
Two forms %, OF arm a4rma19lli L3, says John R.
speaking one is like a hairy guinea pig
with a pointed turtle shell over its back
and head. while the other is like a thick
turtle without any breastplate. The form
er is very rare even in its haunts I'm the
Andes. The latter is everywhere abund-
ant. As described by all who have seen
j, the latter VIII eat and get fat-yery
fat-on anything from grass roots to de-
cayed fish or cattle, from an ant to
poisonous serpent, from strawberries to
w dor
rooms about by day because the cats Of
the desert prosecute IL most a night
Near the settlements, where, by the way,
1t thriVes best, 1t is abroad at night be-
cause man persecutes il in the day Slow
moving, as il seems 10 be when the trav-
eler sees it at sunset, it overtakes the
serpents of the region in a fair race and
kills them by squatt.ng on them and
saving its body TO and fro so that the
edges of its protective shell cut the snake
to pieces. It captures mice by sneaking
on them cat fashion and throwing its
body over them like a trap 1t grubs for
worms, II robs nests of eggs and fledg-
lings.. Now although It eats a great
many things that are repulsve to civil
lied tastes, the armadillo is itself a most
delicious article OF 1000 Tor any human
taste civilized or uncivilzed The variety
in its bill of fare seems to add delicacy
to its flesh. In my journeys l have eaten
nearly every kind of fish, flesh and fowl
served between Ivigtut, Greenland, and
Ushuaia. Terra del Fuego. but found
nothing quite so much 10 my taste as an
afnauIlO Ddked IN the einDefS OF an OUT
door fire on the desert of Patagonia. Nor
WIS my judgment in the matter influenced
by hunger for my first armadillo was
served Unexpectedly after a plentiful re-
past of good beef roasted on a spit. All
travellers familiar with the desert regions
of the United States are at once struck
on reaching Patagonia with the remark
able similarity between the two countries.
1t is a pity, therefore, that some philan-
thrOpst or society could not exchange
a few of the North American jack-rabbits
for an equal number of the hairy arma-
dillo, in order that each country could
participate in the food supplies of the
other. Probably the shepherds of Pata-
gonia will not like this suggestion, be-
cause the spread of the rabbits would in
terfere with the increase of their fiocks.
Patagonia has now no rabbits. But no
one could object to the transplanting Of
armadillos to the prairies and deserts OF
the United States. They prefer animal
fOod-they are good scavengers. They do
no harm to crops, but on the contrary aid
materially in destroying insects and other
crop enemies. Indeed, they are so valu-
able in this respect that the agricultural
department, which imports bugs OF one
kind to destroy others that were running
California orange growers, might Wen
take this matter into consideration.
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