The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-03-06
SNAKES OF THE FERDIGRIS.
A Queer Meat Provided for n Score OF Razor.
back Hogs in Kansas.

- NeSS Ate " - oSobO Va =
back Hogs in Kansas.
Hes a mean snake. the water moccasin-
cottonmouths we call them in Kansas. because
the inside Of his mouth Is white like cotton, said
]. F. Hildreth. once of Lawrence. Kan. Hes
meaner than the rattlesnake, for he strikes
without warning; and IL he is not so deadly it is
because no Is smaller-can't load his poison
gland up with 30 much venom. He is bad
enough. lying round as he does In paths in tho
swamps; and in the Southern rivers wherever q
log lies partly in the water you are likely to find
a pair of moccasins summing themselves upon ii.
II got an idea of tho number of these reptiles
that can inhabit O stretch of river side by what
! saw once down in the Verdigris Valley, in
southeastern Kansas. 1t was thirty years ago,
before the country whereabouts was much set
tied by white people. 1t was in the early spring,
and 1 was there with n wagon taking up young
trees for transplanting. had a negro boy with
ME for helper, and one day as 1 logged my horses
along the river bank, looking out as 1 drove for
likely saplings. I sent the boy to dig up a young
tree that STOOD by a ledge jutting into the VAL
ley. about fifty yards from the water. He started
but stopped when he got, near the ledge.
"'Golly. boss! 1dassn't go dar,' he called to
me-. De place is plumb squirmin' wifi snakes.
negro breads a snake as much as a monkey
But / thought / would go up and see what the
boy had found. left the team and went to
whore he was, and-well, there wero snakes. as
seen or imagined. In the face Of the ledge was
a deep creyicc; ana, the day, being warm, the
cottonmouths that had denncd up there through
the winter were crawling out into tho
warmth OF the sun. Most Of them. on COM
fellows in a great ball OF snakes that had formed
on the ground a few PAGES from the crevice. 1t
was as large as n half-bushel basket. Others of
were hardly to be distinguished among the dead
leaves. The boy and picked up. sticks and
stones and for a full half hour pelted tho ball Of
snakes. They did not. try to get away, but as
often as ono OF our missiles struck among them
every head would dart out and the mouths open
white. Jess like a cottonfold at pickin' time
the boy said. and he expressed it precisely:
The young negro got a scare that spoiled his
fun for a bit. He picked up what no thought
it bent up toward his hand. opening up white
at the end as it did SO. Luckily he had taken it
by the right end. and the snake, being half
torpid. did not strike at once with ITS fangs. so
tho boy was able to let il go in time to save him.
self. We killed n considerable number of the
snakes, as we could tell by their being cast out
Of the ball by the others as fast as they were
disabled.
AT last VIC left off our snake killing and
went on. A half mile up the creek a score or
moro OF raZor-back hogs were roofing among
tho trees for last years mast. Seeing them tho
idea occurred to me of starting them down the
river bank to the ledge. for there is nothing that
a Southern hog likes better to eat than u snake
as for Its venom, hc pays no attention what
ever to 1t, being apparently polson-proof. The
boy and / left the wagon, and with some trouble
drove the hogs down to the ledge. After the
foremost cHme to where the snakes were they
did not need any driving. To mako the story
short. in q very few minutes they cleared the
ground of all the snakes in sight. and were nos
Ing about tho ledge for more. j reckon that the
crop of cottonmouths must have been thin the
next summer along the Verdigris."