The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1896-04-29
TIE HAMADRYAD SNAKE
AyTNTEREsTTNG SIGHT TO TOUR
lists IN INDIA.
A Snake House in Madras Maintained by
the Government and Contains Rep
resentatives of Every Ma
tive Reptile.
Erom the PhiIadelphia Times.

from the L nlldUGipHld 4IuSSs
One of the m st interesting sights to
the tourists in India is the snake house
in Madras. 1t is maintained by the gov
eminent and contains representatives of
every native reptile. The venomous
class are kept separate, and the terrible
hamadryad has den to himself. f)r he
is snake eater and would soon depopu-
late all the other cages. OF all the pois-
onous species he is the most aggressive
and deadly with an average length of
twelve feet and fangs three inches long.
1t is January and the heat is damp and
sitting. The cobras are all active and en-
ploye1 in running along tie glass fronts
of the houses, pressing their heads
against the glass and leaving behind a
green, glutinous streak. This is their
poison, with which their fangs is over
charged. The keeper will show you a
pint in glass cup that has been scraped
off. 1t looks like dried mucilage.
There is rock python in the snake
house that is thirty-four feet long. One
crush of his steel muscles would end a
mans life as effertually as cannon ball.
But he hangs inert from tree branch
and his native attendant cleans his quar-
ters without molestatIon. Not so inert
is the hamadryad AS soon as your
shadow falls on the glass he makes a
dart and races up and down the cage fol-
lowing your movements. Nothing but
the quarter-inch glass saves one from
death. Capt. Kew, of the Madras In
fantry, saw one pursue native along
the high road. The man dropped his
urban. The snake bounced on it, coil
ed and bit it and then resumed its pUr.
suit of the man, who had sprung into
the river and boarded native boat
The snake was at his heels and was kill
ed by strokes of an oar.
The hamadryad has about the same
range as the cobra, but its best known
habitat is the country of the Ghonds in
Central India, in the Vindhya noun
tains. Here the land is covered by dense
thickets of wild fig trees and on these
the snakes lie coiled. The people were
all robbers fifty years ago and no native
force would invade their cOverts until
Sir James Outram took things in hand
He captured some of their chiefs, made
friends with them a1d organized corps
of Ghonds, who brought the district into
submission, but the snakes remained,
and in 1910 regiment of Sepoys passing
through the district had five men killed
from snake bite.
In 1894 Capt. Sellig, of the First Con
las regiment, stationed at Indur, deter
mined to have snake battle. With
three companies and two Ghorkas-
these men from the mountains of Ma
paul are utterly fearless of wild animals,
and unlike the Hindoos, stick to their
officers till death-they started
A coil of wire netting five feet high
and two hundred feet long was loaded
on camel and the party started. The
Ghorkas were armed with korbashes or
six feet whips made of buffalo hide and
tough as wire.
The wild fig tree grows low, but is
enormously broad; the limbs are thick
as mans body, full Of cavities and in
these the snakes coil. A site was found
on a bare hillside, the netting was set in
a circle and was staked fast. In front
was the high road, and fifty yards away
dense fig thicket. Through the woods
ran nullah or ravine filled with high
reeds, and this it was proposed to fire.
One of the men threw stones at huge
trunk near the road, and in an instant a
long black and yellow band slid to the
ground The man stood firm, holding
his Jucket IN front of him. In an instant
Ine hamadryad struck it, dashing his
head against the mans body and yearly
knocking him down. The reptiles
langs caught in the cloth, and the Choir
K" Piled his whip, and, flashing the
ground like stroke of the fail, the
snake died. He was. eleven feet long.
Inc men were now cautioned not to be-
Ieck ess, and the dried grass in the null
i@n was fired. Under the hot sun it
" ckly spread to the grass In the for
0S', and every one got inside the netting
aou waited. Soon the long grass began
" move sinuously and loud Kissing
was heard The smoke lay dense under
we trees, and the serpents made for the
Open IN leisurely fashion. their long.