Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-08
Dutch negro dialect the boat drlfted

Dutch negro dialect the boat drlfted
backward. There, stretched across the top
f the bushes summing himself as If moth
ng had happened. lay a long snake with a
black, shiny back and an Orange-colored
belly. The fellow seemed all Of twelve to
fourteen feet long. He langudly raised his
head for look at the intruders, but that
same instant there was a shot. The head
dropped and the snake lay still. We left
'him there intending to pick him up on the
way home to get his skin.
About two miles away there was speck
of vuture soaring in circles high in the
air. We went our way. Ten minutes later
there were five specks about one mile away
soaring high in the air. We had not bucked
another half mile before we had given up
hopes of the snake skin. The buzZardS had
increased to a dozen in number and were
darting directly over the dead snake as If
to make sure that his life was extinct.
Then, amid screeches. there was cctn-
bined descent. In a minute they rose, their
beaks fastened into the long, limp carcass.
Higher and higher they carried their grue-
some load till high up in the blue sky
tug Of war began. The snake was torn into
sections. One Of these fell. Before it had
gone a hundred feet one of the birds shot
after it. He caught his morsel before it had
fallen another hundred feet. Then he re-
tired among the tangle of the forest, as
did the other vultures, and a scene of jun
gle life had been acted.
''One of the most harmless and one of the
prettiest snakes in Dutch Guiana is the
rangement, grass green. pink eyed and,
among snakes, probably the most knowing.
These little chaps are often found in camps.
Their only objection is that they wriggle
when you lie down on them. They become
very tame If encouraged and take readily
to civilization and sugar. In return for their
board they keep the camps clear of mice
and spiders.
But for each variety of harmless snake
in Dutch Guiana there are five of the most
venomous type. These are known by their
fiat, triangular heads, and by their slug
gishness. poisonous snake rarely moves
out Of the way Of an intruder He waits to
strike, and if he strikes, recovery depends
on what antidotes may be at hand. For
this reason every white miner and every
foreman over a gang of men carries in his
hunting bag a bottle Of concentrated am
monia and a tourniquet. The precauton
taken by white men in that jungle against
snake bites is to wear thick wooden socks
and high laced boots. Others, in preference
to wearing heavy boots use leggings made
Of canvas lined with strips of whalebone
Through these projections 1t is impossible
for a snake to strike deep enough into the
flesh to insert venom. Many old pair OF
boots Scared with snake bites is treas
ured as a memento by its owner. But 1t is
when men grow careless and discard their
projections that they are dangerously bit
ten.
when man has been struck no time is
taken to suck the poison out of the wound.
Nine times out of ten the wound Is In the
leg below the knee. The tourniquet is slung
about the leg above the wound and, after
being drawn tight, without waiting to suck
the poison from the wound, ammonia is
applied. From time to time the tourniquet
is loosened to allow part of the poison to
work into the system, but no more than the
system can take care of at one time In
this way the entire poison is gradually worn
out by the system instead of getting in its
full deadly force at once