Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1897-04-09
A fAsuLous SNAKE OF CHINA,
fiarco Poio's Report Concernihg the
Province OF Nunnah.

Marco Poio's Report Concernfng the
Province OF Nuhnsh.
In this country gold dust is found in
great quantities.; that Is to say, In the
rivers and lakes. while in the noun tains
gold is also found in pieces of larger
size. Gold is indeed SO abundant that
they give one saggio of gold for only six
OF the same weight in silver. And for
small change, they use the porcelain
SHELLS, us mentioned before. These are
not found in the country, however, but
are brought from India.
In this province are found snakes
and great serpents of such vast size as
10 strike fear into those who see them;
and so hidcous that the very account of
them must excite the wonder of those
who hear it. will tell you how long
and big they are.
You may he assured that some of them
are ten PAGES in length; some are more
and some less. And IN bulk they are
equal to a great cask, for the bigger
ones are about ten palms in girth. The
head is very big. The mouth is large
enough to swallow n man whole, and is
garnished with great pointed teeth.
And in short they are SO fierce looking
and so hideously ugly that every man
and beast must stand in fear and trem-
bling of them. There are also smaller
ones. such as of eight PAGES long, and Of
FIVE, and of one pace only.
The way i'm which they are caught is
this. You must know that by day they
live underground because of the great
heat. and in the night they go out to
feed. and devour every animal they can
catch. They 60 also to drink at the
rivers and lakes and springs. Aud their
weight is SO great that when they
travel in search of food or drink, us they
do by night. the tail makes a great
furrow i'm the soil. as if n full tun of
liquor had been dragged along. Now,
the huntsmen who go after them take
them by a certain gin (trap) which they
set in the track over which the serpent
has passed. knowing that the beast will
come back in the same way. They plant
stake deep in the ground and fix or the
head of this sharp blade Of steel made
like razor or lance point, and then
they cover the whole with sand so that
the serpent cannot see il. Indeed, the
huntsman plants several such stakes
and blades on the track. On coming to
the spot the beast strikes against the
iron blade with such force that II
enters his breast and rives (cuts) him
so that he dies on the spot, and the
crows on seeing the brute dead begin 70
cav. and then the huntsmen know that
, the serpent is dead, and come in search
OF him.
This, then, is the way these beasts are
taken. Those who take them proceed
to extract the gall from the inside, anC
this sells nj II great price; for you must
know II furnishes the material for
most precious medicine. Thus IL per
son is bitten by n mad dog, and they
give him but n small pennyweight of thi!
medicine to drink. he is cured in a mo
ment. Again. il one has any disease
of the skin and applies small quantity
OF this gall he shall speedily be cured
SO you see why il sells at such higl
price.
They also sell the flesh of this serpent
for it is excellent eating, and the people
are very fond of il. And when thes'
serpcnts are very hungry, sometime
they will seek out the lairs of lions o
bears or other large wild beasts, and de
YOUR their cubs. without the sire o
dam being able to prevent it. Indeed
if they catch the big ones themselvc
they devour them, too; they can max
no resistance.-Noah Brooks, in 81
Nicholas.