The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-03-23
SNAKE STORIES FROM BRAZIL.
The Obliging Dealer and the Frozen
Cargo.


The Obliging Dealer and the Frozen
Cargo.
Psychologically snake stories are of
only two kinds-true and untrue. Pro-
portionately they are about one to a
thousand, and theoretically they are all
enerally supposed to escape the sem
blance of fact This is a Brazilian
snake story, and true one, but before
going further it might be we'll to re-
member that this country has:
The biggest river In the world
The biggest coffee plantations in the
world.
The biggest bamboos in the world.
The biggest palms in the world.
The biggest manganese mines in the
world
The rarest orchids In the world.
The biggest iron mountain in the
world
| The largest rubber trees in the world.
! Not long ago a hunter on the San
Francisco river, that mighty stream
running across the state of Bahia and
draining Goyas. shot a monster boa
constructor which measured-actual
measurement-one hundred and five
feet long. Colonel Bryan, the Ameri-
can minister in Rio, has a decoration In
hos residence the skin Of one of these
reptiles from the same river, which
measures seventy nine feet from tip to
tip, as can be sworn to by scores of
American naval officers and American
visitors. He also has a section of the
skin of a snake which as it lived was
trifn nyar eioIfu-fua Foot In,n
But imagine the king of all. probably
the largest of its kind ever seen, which
could stand on its head and brush its
tail third of the way up the Wash
ington monument 1t could hang by it's
tall from the Brooklyn bridge and touch
the deck of a passing steamer Let
loose In the streets of New York It
would be taken for a section of the
Broadway cable-four feet through AT
the thickest point The tidbit of this
monster for an infrequent feast il an
OK, swallowed whole, and taken through
the jaws by g kind provision of nature
which permits them to be unlocked at
the base during the operation. II is a
six months feast. This monster was
caught In its sluggish moments after
the huge meal, and dispatched by a
bullet from a rifle
This is another true story. IT Is tho
custom for mates and seamen on cargo
boats bound for the United States
which touch at Pernambuco to buv mar
rots, lovebfrds, monkeys, etc, by the
dozen, to take home for sale. They paw
Tor instance, one dollar for a very good |
parrot-wild, to be sure, but considera-
hly tanned before reaching New York
and usually possessing a wild vocabu
larry. Provided the bird weathers the
climate 1t is sold to fancier, regular
dealers who watch for these ships. for
from five to ten dollars. The mate Of
one of these boats once drove bargain
with a Pernambuco snake dealer for a
half dozen reptiles of various sizes. He |
had them in cage on deck, and |
sailor with the duty of wash
Ing 1t out with sea water every even
ing All went well so long as the
weather was mild, but on the night be-
fore the Gulf stream was crossed. about
thirty hours from port, the sailor left q
lot of water In the cage. A blizzard
struck the ship and the snakes were for
gotten, while all hands were busy with
ne storm When the mate thought of
lis chattels and went to investigate
heir condition all were frozen stiff.
Ihe dealer came on board the next day.
great disappointment that he
lad lost his intended purchase, but Of
cred to take the snakes away as a.
indness to the mate. He gathered
hem in his arms like f1rewood and car
led them home. A rival dealer told the
fficer afterward that good, warm wa
er had resuscitated their snakeships
nd that they had been sold to various
unaffected by the freezing
Rio Janeiro Correspondence of the Chi
ago Record.