The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-01-17
AN AMAZON ADVENTURE
The Principal Characters Arr a D~umma.
and a Snake,

anu snake.
The drummer had fnish,d a NAIVE
paper snake story from Missouri which
he knew to be true, for he vas one of
the parties who had been here and
told it to the correspondent when a
man with bronzed face andtwo fin
gers gone from his left handbrew
cigar stub at the cuspidor and ,sumed
talking attitude.
Speaking of snakes" he saiG1uiat-
ly, reminds me of an experience had
down in the valley of the Aazon
about three years ago, when was
there for the firm l represent ttba
road to see about some enormousm-
Der tracts they own in that seen
Naturally my visit was to the wer
parts of the valley and with retie
of natives | penetrated those
est depths for hundreds of mil
In one of my explorations l BEGAN
detached from my forces, and after,
days wandering L lay down to SLEEP
expecting to find my men in the morn
ing without any trouble for by this
time | had become quite an expert in
Amazonian woodcraft. When the next
morning arrived, however, the sky was
overcast with heavy clouds and the
woods were so dark that | could
do little more than stumble along
and trust to luck. / did this all
day and when night came again l
was about as far from camp as ever;
perhaps further for all l knew, because
by this time | really did not know any
thing except that l was lost. Lost, too,
in forest that was practically endless.
| did not suffer though, that is, physi-
cally, for the weather was not cold and
there were wild fruits and berries in
abundance. The following day the sun
shone and | made better progress, but
progress was of no especial value, for 1
did not know where | was going. The
third day began to think was gone
for good, but late that evening | broke
through the woods and reached the
river bank. That, at least, was of some
comfort, for the river knew where 1T
was going, or at least it was going
somewhere, whether it knew it or not,
and that where was in the direction of
the Atlantic ocean and civilization
You might think at this point was
saved, and that | had no story to tell,
but you would be mistaken, for what
good was the river to me if l had no
means of transportation; and how could
| furnish it when the only tools l had
were a spoon and knife with a four
inch blade?
Timber was plenty, and l might have
made canoe, but how was l do it with
pocket knife? Besides, was afraid
to go into the forest unarmed, for
along the river banks the snakes were
numerous and big as all outdoors 1
saw any quantity of them from fifteen
to twenty feet long, and did my very
best to keep out of their way. | waited
on the river in little open place for
three days, hoping some sort of craft
might be coming by, but in that part
of the Amazon no boats of any kind
| ply. | don't know how long | would
have stayed there, but the last night
there was a terrific rumpus raised
around me between some sort of ami
mails, and l was scared so bad that 1
made up my mind to move as soon as
day broke. When it became light
enough to see slipped out of the hol-
lowy stump 1 had been barricaded in
and took look around. At first saw
nothing unusual, but as it grew lighter
l saw big log at least four feet
through and forty feet long lying
across the upper side of my open space.
l thought tree had fallen, and went
over to investigate and see if it had
fallen on some animal and crushed it,
thus accounting for the disturbances of
the night When | got close to it was
paralyzed, for as sure as you are born
it was snake. An anaconda, you
know, one of these fellows who never
knows when he is big enough. hustled
out of his way in hurry, but he never
moved, and after watching him half an
hour concluded he had swallowed his
prey and was dead asleep, as those
snakes do. AS / sat there looking at
the helpless monster a great idea came
to me, and l proceeded at once to put
it into execution. 1t necessitated the
death of the snake, but that was not q
serious job when he was in such a
stupor, and before he knew what had
hurt him l had driven my four-inch
blade into his brain and settled him
forever. He dashed around some, but
none to hurt, and after time he was
dead. Then l went to work to skin
him, which did very carefully, leav-
ing his head on. Inside of him found
panther he had swallowed during the
night, and which no doubt would have
had me if the snake hadn't got him. 1t
made me feel rather mean to think L
had returned the snakes kindness in
the way was doing, but it was no time
to consider fine points, and l didn't
worry, but went ahead with my snake
skinning. When | got the hide all off
hustled into the thicket and cut me a
lot of sticks an inch or so in diameter
and from foot to four feet long, and
these | stuck along the edges of the
skin where had cut it open, and fas-
tened long sappling down the inside
on the bottom. Then l dragged my
skin out into the sunshine and left it
to dry, but when it had dried had
just about as fine canoe as you ever
saw. 1t was hard job to get it to the
river, but managed it somehow, and
with paddle made out of twigs twist