The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-11-26

JOCK Mcdowell was Scot. q free-
handed. whole souled. warm-hearsed
representative of the Land o. Cakes"
and we all sincerely liked him. Con-
sequently when he proposed to join our
hunting party into Zululand he was re-
ceived with open arms and was soon
busily engaged in arranging for our
I departure from Durham, Natal.
Jock was a bit of n botanist, compar-
alive anatomist, geologist. in fact. a bit
of everything, always forming the
most extravaganza theories in connec-
ton with his hobbies and laughing as
heartily as any of us when the absurd
/ ity of his conjectures was exposed by
any of our party.
If there was any hot water in our
neighborhood. Jock was bound to be in
it. but always managed to extricate
himself safely, with unimpaired good
humor- On one occasion, when we were
"outspanned'' near the Tugela river,
Jock started with one of our native ser
wants TO collect orchids in an adjoining
! forest. His vernacular being too broad
for the columns of a newspaper. the
adventures which befell him that day
will have to be reduced into English.
1t appears. then, that after having
gone some distance into the forest,
Jocks attention was attracted by an
orchid in the upper branches of a grand
old forest king, and he started climb
ing the tree to secure the prize; the
climbing was not difficult, as the limbs
of the tree We're close together and he
was soon within reaching distance or
the plant
| AS he stretched out his right hand
to grasp it he heard the servant yell in
unmitigated terror that a snake was In
the tree. CHANGING upwards he saw,
swinging to and fro level with his neao,
and slightly in front of him, large,
green snake, known throughout South
Africa as the boom slang (tree snake).
very venomous and greatly dreaded by
the wood-cutters of that country. The
reptiles Jaws were stretched to its ut
most capacity and it's forked tongue
was working nervously in and out its
mouth with the rapidity of a lightning
flash. Backwards and forwards 1e
swung. while Jock. dangerously at
tracted by the concentrated evil ex-
pressed in the bright glitter of its m
fernal eyes, felt no inclination for the
moment to stir. Its tail was entwined
around a thin branch about four feet
above him. and it's body undulated
gently as if moved by the zephyr
breeze which stirred the leaves of the
tree.
Breaking of the Spell.
manned thus when his snakeship made
rapid snap at Jocks uplifted hand3
which had not yet seized the orchid
he was after The spell was broken.
Jock instantaneously withdrew his
hand and as the fangS snapped VICIOUS
ly together he seized the snake tightly
by the neck. The reptile wriggled vio-
lently, nearly causing Jock to lose his
balance, but he contrived to retain his
hold for about half a minute, when the
snake loosened its tail from the bough
above and attempted to soil itself
around the Scotchman's body. Jocks
fear was that it would succeed in get
ting it's tail around his neck, in which
case he stood as great a chance or be-
ing strangled as he did of dying from
the effects of its bite, should il get out
of his hand He therefore extended his
arm as far as possible from him and
bent his body back. In this position he
began to descend the tree by dropping
from bough to bough with his left
hand. He had not dropped many feet
when, despite his strenuous efforts TO
prevent it, the snake managed TO throw
its body over the thick part of Jocks
arm and instantly coiled itself round
and round from wrist to bicep. The
pressure of its coils was so intense that
Jock feared he should be compelled to
break his grip on its neck. Apart from
the actual pain of the pressure and the
weight of the serpent. his arm was
twisted almost completely round. and
he fancied he could hear the bones
cracking.
1t was, therefore, with extreme diff
ficulty he descended until within eight
feet of the base of the tree, when, !
grasping a decayed branch, doUn ne
came head first to the ground, with his
friend still in his hand.
Fortunately the fall did not stun our /
hero and his clutch did not relax SUI /
ficiently to allow the extrication of the |
snakes head. The Zulu boy who had |
been an open-mouthed witness of the |
occurrence, now drew his knife and |
while Jock held the serpent against the |
trunk of the tree, severed its head from |
the body. The rest of the snake was
easily uncciled from the arm, which |
had become all shades, owing to the |
tight fit of its singular ornament !
Our Scotch friend had still another
snake episode during his rambleS that
day. He and the Zulu had retraced |
their steps and We're out of the thick |
part of the forest, when they observed !
a covey of small birds circling wildly !
above a tree and twittering excitedly- |
Looking closely TO ascertain the cause |
of the commotion, Jock saw a huge ]
snake rearing its head an inch or two |
above the topmost branches of the tree, |
around which the little songsters were
convulsively 1uttering. Their shrlll |
notes betrayed the great alarm they
were experiencing, and yet the brilliant |
magnetism of their enemy's eye |
seemed to draw them ever nearer TO |
him.
Suddenly the snakes head shot out /
and one poor little trembling warbler !
fell into the open jaws. The remaining 7
birds flew off at once
Scotched the Snake.
Jocks Scotch blood was UP, and he |
determined to have that snake or know |
the reason why, but did not feel much