Rock Island Argus., 1895-11-07
AN ASP AND DEADLY.
AMERICAS MOST DEADLY SNAKE IS
THE PICHu-CUATE.

1t Is Found In the Southwest-Even Snake
Charmess Are Afraid of It-A Tiny Thing,
but 1t Kilh Very OuickIy-A Writer Tells
Of His First Meeting With One.
The southwest is more literally sup.
piled with venomous things than any
other area in the Union. In the burn
ing deserts, in the inhabited but arid
expanses Of New Mexico and Arizona,
the rattlesnake abounds, and in several
varieties, including the strange and
deadly ''sidewinder, Crotolus cerastes.
The SO called tarantula-really only q
gigantic bush spider, but none the less
dangerous because of the misnomer-is
decidedly common. Scorpions are none
too rare in the southern portions of the
territories, and in all parts centipeds
Of Z to inches long are frequent and
neighborly. But the chief distinction
OF the region in this respect is the pres
ence of the pichu- cuate, the deadliest
snake in North America.
The pichu-cuate matches the worst
serpent Of India. Not only the most
highly venOmous, but the tiniest and
most treacherous, he would be also the
most dangerous-but, luckily, he is the
rarest. He is the only true asp on this
continent, and i'll the United States is
never found outside of New Mexico and
Arizona. That he was also known to
the ancient Mexicans is apparent from
his name-pichu-coatl, an Aztec word,
which was brought up to our territory
by the Spanish conquerors
My first meeting with one was in
Valencia county, N. NJ, in June, 1890,
ON the sandy fianks of the Cerro del
Aire. was out hunting jack rabbits, III
company with some Indian friends. and
had dismounted to stalk, leading my
pet horse by the bride. My eyes were
on small chapparo bush ahead, when
suddenly Alazan snorted and reared
backward so violently as almost to un-
hinge my arm. looked about in sur
prise, for Alazan was too good a horse
to mind trif1es. As there was nothing to
be seen, started to pull him forward.
Again he protested and with evident
terror, and CHANGING to look at my very
feet understood his fear and felt
very grateful that his senses were better
than mine, for in another step should
have walked upon my death.
The only thing visible was q tiny OBJ
ject, not nearly SO large as a good stag
beetle-merely . head and perhaps an
inch of neck. But it was the most
frightful object in its kind that I had
ever seen. The head, certainly neither
SO broad nor SO long as my thumb nail,
had shape and an air of condensed
malignity impossible to describe. 1t
seemed the very essence of wickedness
and hate, fairly bulging with deadly
spite, and growing upon one until it
looked several times its actual size
The ugly triangle (which is the distin-
gushing mark of all venomous snakes,
being formed by the poison gland back
OF each eye) told me at once that Ala
zan was keeping up his reputation
never did he shy at harmless snake
and the tiny horns, which added q De-
cullar and grotesque hideousness, left
no doubt that this was q pichu- -cuate.
He had buried himself most to the head
in the gray sand, against which his up-
per skin was barely distinguishable, and
thus III ambush was waiting for some
thing to turn up.
Turning Alazan loose, I knelt at the
safe distance of a yard to study the lit
tie creature, which fairly swelled with
murderous rage. 1t not only struck
madly at the chapparo switch 1 thrust
to 1t, but at last, evidently discerning
that the blame lay back of the switch,
actually followed it up, and with such
agility that had to jump up and back
without loss of time. The idea of re-
treat never seemed to enter that fat
head. Sometimes he would lie and puff
out with lmpotent rage, throwing his
mouth SO wide open that it seemed the
venom must start, and sometimes he
ghded toward me, his head an inch
above the ground, with an attitude
which seemed to say, ''Stand still there,
and We'll see who laughs. :"
At last killed him. He was neither
larger round nor longer than an ordi-
nary lead pencil; cold, leaden gray
on the back, but underneath rosy as the
mouth OF conch shell. The fangs were
tlny, not much more than an eighth of
an inch long, and as delicate as the tint
est needle. A wondrous mechanism. this
mouth, with its two automatic needles.
SO infinitesimal. yet so perfectly compe-
tent. opened the ugly little jaws wide,
pressing upon the sides of the head, and
when the recurring fangs had risen
from their grooves in the roof of the
mouth and stood tense stream so in
conceivably fine that the eve could bare.
~ note 1t spurted from each, and in the
space of two or three inches melted into
invisible spray. Yet that jet, finer than
cobweb strand, was enough to give
swift death to the largest and strongest
animal that walks.
When the hunt was over. I told nv
Indian chums of the pichu-cuate and
asked them many questions. They all
knew of the snake, though several had
never seen one, and all agreed that it is
extremely rare. The crotalus ranks
among the Pueblo divinities. and their
charmers have no Difficulty with tha,
steady going and respectable reptile.
But even among these people, with
whom the cult of the rattlesnake has
Snct aSfOnrIipty o,l