The San Francisco call., 1897-12-19
OF
BIG SNAKES.

l once witnessed a fight between two
snakes which lasted three full hours,
through the whole of which reverend
friend and I, two grave and gray and
sober men, stood spellbound.
1t was in Australia and the fall of
the year. My friend and 1 were return
ing from a tour which had carried us
far into the bush" We were walking
through clearing when the unn1is-
taxable rattle of a snake arrested us,
and in few minutes we saw the be-
ginning of an encounter between two
deadly enemies-a black snake and a
rattler. War to the death is their un-
alterable law from generation to gem
Grafton. The black snake is Gas we
know it there) much smaller than the
rattle, but he is a terribly formidable
foe, and, as science is superior to
mere size and strength, he generally
comes out of the fray the victor.
On this occasion we did not see the
black snake until he had leaped on
the rattler's throat, nor could we make
out how he had got so near without
being seen. That power of stealthy,
rapid movement gives the black fellow
an immense advantage. He got his
grip on the throat, and there he held
on like grim death. With a fury that
was terrible the rattler wriggled, and
shook, and reared, and rolled, and
writhed. He leaped into the air.
twisted and tossed himself about,
threw his assailant heavily down on
the ground, rolled on him and over
him, but all in vain. Blacky simply
stuck. Thus for about an hour and a
half the life and death game was kept
up without a minutes intermission
and without much sign of weakening
on either side. Then the rattler's
strength began, or seemed, to give way,
and all of a sudden he coiled himself
up and lay still, as if to die.
Blacky was not to be tricked Down
he lay by the side of his PROSTATE
victim, but with MS teeth still firmly
set in the now torn AMI crlunpled
throat. Then, after q quiet interval,
the one-sided truce having come to an
end, or the ruse having failed, the rat
tier suddenly sprang up and resumed
the unequal struggle on which his life
depended; but all in vain. We began
to see in him new signs of failing, but,
Notwithstanding increasing weakness,
he struggled on, round after round,
until, nearly three hours after the be-
ginning of the fight the poor rattler
gave up the contest and lay quiet, and
in about ten minutes after the mute
surrender yielded UP the ghost But
even then blaclxy still hung on, and it
was not until the corpse began to stiff
en- that he for the first time withdrew
the nails which three hours before had
been driven into the gullet of the vic
tim. Then, with all possible staidness
and traightforwardness the hero pre-
pared for the celebration of his victory.
He began by stretching, and straight
ening out the lifeless body, smoothing
out very crease and. every wrin-
kle. He seemed to have assumed the
Office of undertaken. Next we saw that
he was licking the body from end to
end. This he continued for ten min
utes or more. Having done this blaeky
rose, shook himself, and he took up
his position at the head of his victim.
Imagine our surprise when we saw
him open his wide mouth to its ut
most capacity and take into it the
whole head of the defunct rattler.
Then he gulped and swallowed: then
another rest, another gulp, another
swallow, until the end of him was
reacned. II. D. ].