The Portland daily press., 1898-04-28

within could "niv keep their heads out
| Yet the ants never let 90. then took
out snake after snake and helo III unuer
| the water tap, but not even Ghl7 01s-
| lodged these little demon lhsects, ana
| didn't get the snakes cleared CT tnem
until I held each reptile by the head with
ono hand and with the other rubbed off
| the ants while holding the strug Cling
snake under tho gushing water. AS one
nv one 7 rot the snakes relieved | de-
posited them in u large bag. Leaving
the empty cages, l then went back to the
snake room, and found that in the mean
time the fire ants had got into the other
Der, so that had to remove every snake
ard put them all in bags. 1 had there
also live very large specimens of the hairy
ayicularia or rd-catching spiders. COM
monty called tarantulas. Alas for the
poor tarantulasl They were.able to span
four inches across the legs, and could
master, kill and devour hummingbirds,
insect kind, but before the Lilinutian
hordes of the fire ants they were no
more account than CULVER among the
Brobdignagians. Yet these d gigantic
spiders were covered with an armor of
spiny hair growing so thickly over
thorax, body and legs, that they seemed as
if covered with blush velvet, with pile
mora than an eighth of an inch long.
But the little tire ants knew where to
attack the spider giants. They would
crawl over the bodies and legs of great
arachnian, and as he struggled to shake
them OH, the ants one by one would get
a grip under the joints of his legs, where
the skin was bare and soft. Soon four,
five or more would get into the joint,
and all that the big, powerfuland veno-
nous creature could do was to draw his
legs close together and try to keep more
from getting in. But their stings would
make him move in spite of himself, and
more would get in until their united
efforts at last stretched him dead
Three OF my avicularia were already
dead, and the other two died the next day
from the stings they received. OF the
snakes attacked, one, as has been said,
was dead when found, another. five
feet long, died in an hour, and two more
before the day dawned. After this I
kept my snake cages on tables, the legs
of which stood in tin saucers filed with
kerosene, which prevented further rava-
ges by ants.
'From snakes in Cuba there may be
amusing surprises, but no danger, for
not one OF the many species Is venomous.
As even an innocent snake may make
trouble and cause confusion, it is well to
know beforehand some of the occurrences
that may be looked for. Among the fire
wood, in punches Of bananas, among
tents and camp baggage left unused for
with; and some of the Cuban snakes are
large and swift and some Of them fight
fiercely if cornered. In the palm -thatched
roofs OF country houses, too, the snakes
will pursue the rats at night in manner
| startling to the newcomers. was once
sleeping in a hut covered with such O
palm thatcheds. roof. My hammock was
he tC job i
it. All through the night we left lamp
burning to keep off the vampires For
an hour or more after retiring we talked,
but when the conversation died away, as
one by one we fell asleep, the rats began
to caper among the rafters. This is moth
ing unusual in West Indian country
houses and was certainly nothing to be
alarmed at. But as I was doing off the
noise increased and the loud squeaking
of one rat caused me to sit up to see what
was the matter. AS moved the rotten
palm leaves cracked above my head and
down came fairly.sized boa with a
rat in his coils. 1t was simply ball of
snake with the rat in the middle, and as
the couple fell on the table the noise
view of the whole operation of swallowing
the rat, for tine lamp shung to post
above thu table and gave the snake light
to dine and us light to see him. When
he had finished he began to ascend the
post toward the roof to get another rat
For my part l would have been glad to
see him do SO, but my companions pro-
tested, SO ! secured him and tied him up
in a bag till morning.
a few days afterward we were out
in I the woods in place where there vas
no hut. We put up shelter uf palm
leaves and had everything arranged az
comfortably as possible. The mosquitoes
were troublesome, however, and all the
| more SO as it was threatening to rain
We had quite quantity of great dried
logs, some of them half rotten, drawn
under our roof and we had great fire
gong upon which our meat was roast
ing. The coffee, already made, was
poured out and we sat in a circle near the
fire. each man with drinking cup in hand.
Some sat or reclined on the ground while
one. WAS comfortably enthroned on a
great hollow log, one end of which lay
over another log in the fire. burning
slowly. Before we were half through eat
ing rhe support gave way and the log
seat fell into the fire, sending big sparks
in every direction. The smoke began to
pour through it's hollow interior and
come out between the fest of the sitter.
And almost at the same-instant out
glided long black and yellow seven
foot snake so suddenly that every one of
us tumbled backward to get out of his
| way. After this we were more careful
about hollow logs and preferred smaller
| wood which offered less opportunity for
Cnaka'a slpAninv u,1a rto,,o