Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-02-08
soAcoNsTRcToRnuNre
Men I'm south America who Hunt the
Snake For = Livelihood

Men I'm south America who Hunt the
Snake For = Livelihood.
'The boa constructor Is fairly com.
mon In the forests OF western Nicara-
qua aud Costa Rica," said one OF the
canal engineers who was in the city
recently, and there are natives in that
section who hunt them exclusively for
livelihood. While we were engaged
In the survey work we heard a good
deal of these big snakes, and all the
white men in the party stood in the
greatest dread OF them, although they
are not half as dangerous as the small
poisonous variety. During two and a
half years spent in the country l saw
only one live boa. but the experience
Is pretty firmly stamped on my men,
DRY, aud l have no yearning for an
other.
Il had gone out, with couple of
native assistants, from a town called
Japan, on the south side of the lower
lake, to shoot some plumage birds, and
while we We're crossing rather open
piece of forest l noticed what | sun
posed to be peculiarly malformcd
iimb on a large spicewood tree. 1t
sagged down from the trunk of the
tree and seemed to be attached to an
other growth nearer the ground. 1
started toward il to investigate. and.
when ony few yards away, the thing
l had taken to be limb suddenly
raised Itself in the air, and l saw that
1t was a gigantic snake, hanging head
down from an upper Dough.
Il had often heard the expression
-paraiyzed by fear but ! never knew
what II meant until then. | was SO
badly scared that couldn't have NOV
ed IL the fate of the universe had de-
pended upon It, and l simply stood
there, stock still and staring. while the
boa swayed back and forth n few times
ana finally glided into the upper foliage.
1t seemed 90 feet long and as big
around as a barrel think II was
really about -.
AT that juncture my natives came
up, and when they heard what had
happened they at once insisted upon
catching the monster. They made n
moose which they attached to n poe.
and while | retired to n safe distance
one of them climbed the tree ana seized
the snake by the tail, while the other
tried to slip the loop over its neck as
II lowered its head. 1t was too agile
for them, however, and ESCAPED into
another tree, where II went too high
for pursuit.
The Central American boas are
orownish red in color with black
splotches on the sides and back. and
the native hunters tan the skin by
stretching IL over log. A good skin
with no bullet marks aud including the
head sells for SO. Mexican. down
there, and to avoid holes and mutila-
ton the hunters always catch the
snakes in moose and kill them by
stab under the jaw. They make all
Kinds of leather articles out OF the
hide, belts, pouches, leggings. slipDers
ana even necktieS. made many In.
quirics during our stay, but | could
never hear of case i'm which n boa
mad attacked human being. The
snake saw was undoubtedly lying i'm
wait for some small animal and. II one
had passed under the tree. would have
dropped on its back. The Indians of
the region call the boa 'cbula.' which Is
the same word they use for coward: SO
you see, they have no great opinion OF
It's lighting qualities. New Orleans
Times-Democrat