Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1896-11-14


Indians. To see the savage
prepare the poisons and try their of.
ticiency on himself is enough to dis.
tress even frontiersman's dreams.
The b'oated rattlesnnke of the hot al.
kali desert OF Arizona or tho Pan.
handle of Texas makes the most pow.
erful poison. There is no more hide.
GUS and deadly serpent in America than
the bloater rattler.
the rattlesnake of the Arizona
desert grows to length OF six feet,
and attMns girth of five inches Mt
the thickest part They have tremen.
dous sets OF rattles. saw one once
that was over five feet long and had
twenty three rattles in it, and ] heard
of snake being kil'e that had a
string of twenty-seven rattles. The
head of the desert rattler is an enor.
nous triangular thing, often five inches
long from the thin neck to the blunt
nose, and three inches wide, measur.
ing at the base of the jawbone. This
snake has fangs an inch long, and is
frequently fitted with two sets. The
poison sacs at the base of these fangs
are as big as hazelnut. The snake Is
q bright yellow in color.
The desert rattiesnake is dreadful
enough customer any day in the year,
but during August takes on the full.
ness of it's frightfulness, both in ap.
pearance and in conduct. About the
middle of August when the weather is
insufferably hot, this snake becomes
bloated from some cause until it is a
third larger than its normal size. Its
appearance is as if the snake had been
blown up like bladder or charged
with gas like balloon. This rattler
is always sluggish and slow in its
and, like all of its kind,
usually makes an effort to get out of
the way of intruders. but in August it
simply lies still in bloated repulsive-
ness and will not move for anything,
being ready at all times to strike at
everything that comes near it. At
that time Of year it is simply swol.
len reservoir Of venom, and it's bite
will then send even an Apache Indian
to the happy hunting grounds, and
quickly at that.
A Piute Indian who wants to lay in
a stock of poison for his arrows kills
at this time of year enough OF these
rattlesnakes for his purpose. He cuts
off their heads and takes them to his
lodge. He places in one Of the rude
earthen vessels that are among the
Piute household effects, ten or dozen
of these snake heads. To them he
adds perhaps pint OF tarantula kill
ers, as the big hairy Texan or Mexi.
eau spider is called; or, rather, he
puts the abdomen OF the spider in
with the snake heads. This spider has
u sting that injeots a poison powerful
enough to kill almost instantly ia
rantula, which is itself about as poison
Gus a member of the animal kingdom
as one would care to meet. The poi
son sac of the tarantula killer is in the
lower abdomen of the insect, and it is
this that the Piute brave mixes
with his rattlesnake heads. He then
pours in pint OF water, seals the lid
of the vessel on with moist clay, and
places the vessel in a pit, where he
has made bed of red hot Goals. He
buries the vessel in these Goals, and,
besides that, builds blazing fire on
top of it. This fire is kept burning
fiercely for several hours, when it is
swept away, and the Indian digs his
vessel out Of the coals. With q long
pole he knocks the lid off, and does
not venture near the pot until the
steam that arises from it has entirely
ceased to appear.
The Piutes say that to inhale the
smallest quantity OF that steam would
be instant death. Whether that is
true or not l am not able to say, as I
never saw it put to the test. Alter
the fiery ordeal to which the snake
heads are put, a brownish residum is
found at the bottom OF the kettle.
That is certainly the double quines-
sence of poison, if its action on human
blood, or, at least, Indian blood, is
any indication. The Piute always
tests this poison before trusting his
arrows to it. He cuts cash in tho
aeshy part of his leg and draws the
blood, which he allows to trickle down
his leg. When the red stream has run
down six or seven inches he dips O
stick into the poison and touches it to
the lower end OF the bloody streak.
If the poison is all right it actually
burns the blood almost like hot iron
touched to water, and rapidly runs
up the trickling stream. The Indian
has his knife ready and scrapes the
poisoned blood off dry. If it was per
mitteu to reach the wound it would be
all up with the Piute. The arrows are
dipped into the poison, and the Indian
feels that whatever such an arrow hits
had much better not have been born
The Apache collects his poison in a
much simpler way. Dreading the
Staked Plains rattlesnakes rs he does
he nevertheless makes it his busines
to go among them at the very time
they are most deadly. He places th'
liver or heart of deer, freshly tori
from victim sometimes not yet dead
in front of a snake, within easy stril
ing distance. The snake protests
against the presence of the object AM
quickly sinks it's fangs into it again
In few seconds the heart or liver viii
take on a purplish black hue, so quick
ly does this poison affect it. Wher
the Indian thinks the receptacle ha
drawn all the venom from the snake
head it is removed and hung up in tn,
sun. 1t is left there until it is almos
ready to drop to pieces from putrid
ity. If the Apache feels like testin!
its deadly qualities he runs sticl
into the poisoned heart, calls hi
squaw, and makes her cash her leg o
arm as the Piute does his leg. As tn
blood runs from the wound the poi
soned stick is touched to it. IT the
venom is active the blood will coagu
late and turn black and change to
dry powder. The squaw has to loo
out for her own safety, and wipe ava.
the poison before it reaches tn
wound, for the brave walks away t
steep his arrows in the poisone