St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1901-09-28
PARADISE FOR SNAKES.
Islands in the Bay OF Bengai Ah~s
Are Overrun with Dead
ly Reptiles.

Y.1.nds in the Ray OF BengaA Ahss
Are Oyerrun with Dead
~ Reptiles.
The Borongo islands about hal1 way
between Calcutta and Rangoon. When
the snakes die they go to the Borongos'
That is their paradise. There they
hold high carnival. spent three years
among them. and know of these things,
writes WA. Fraser, in Canadian Mag
azine. From the giant python down
to the deadly KARAT they are all there,
all the ophidians. Eve.l the saltwater
snakes, that are all poisonous-'ney,
too. are there. Two Europeans had
me ON the Borongos, SO
there was considerable natural history
ON tap when arrived, and we rapidly
acquired more. One can't live among
snakes without studying them; they
insist upon it.
Each evening I killed an hour or so
of the monotony by walking up anu
down the path in front OF the Dunga-
low. A big cat was my usual compan-
ion. His method Of introducing him.
self to my notice was generally orup1'
He would lie in wait, and, as came
along, spring out upon me, alightlne
against one of my legs. At other times
he would lie on his back in the path
and claw at my feet as passed. one
evening, just after turning into the
path from the bungalow, I felt some
thing soft and yielding against my
foot. Thinking it was BILLY" l gave
the mass gentle push. AS l shifted
the something I saw twisting CLEAN
of white, not at all like the gray OF
Billy's fur. OF course knew what that
meant. Jumping back, ! brought my
walking stick down on the twisting
thing, and yelled for light. The serv-
ants came running from the COOK
house with lantern, and I saw that
I had laid out most villainous daboia.
One touch from the catlike fangs on
my cotton hosed instep, and within an
hour would have been dead.
One of our party had occasion TO
visit Mr.. Savage, half-caste land
owner on the other side OF the island.
He went in boat, and while the coolies
were bringing up his traps went up
to the bungalow. He was sitting IN
q big chair on the veranda. talking
to Savage, when he felt something drop
from the leaf roof onto his shoulder.
Leisurely he started to rise to see
what had fallen, when the other man
cried out: "For Gods sake. don't
move-keep perfectly still!" Dunlop
knew what that meant. Stealthily the
old man took Burmese dab (sword)
from the wall, and, catlike, crept to-
ward the white man with the thing
on his shoulder. Within striking dis
lance he paused, and, raising the dab
high in the air, cut the thing in two
with one swift downward stroke. Then
his nerve, ratified and tugged at for 60
years until it was weak, failed him,
and the sword clattered from his
numbed fingers to the floor. my God!
I can't do it," he whined in broken
voice, and reeled back against the wall,
where he stood staring with weak eyes
at the sahib and his burden.
Dunlop neither moved nor spoke; his
only safety lay in keeping perfectly
still-motionless. It might be minutes,
or thousand years; they would have
to wait until the boa tmen came. What
would happen then he could not say
He could feel the clinging. pulling
thing on his right shoulder. There
was an undulating pressure that told
him the head Of the snake was sway
ing back and forth just above his neck
Then the song of the Madrassi boat
men as they came swinging along with
his luggage broke upon his ear. Those
gid-thickened voices, caroling the
coarse refrain to the time of the meas
ured trot, were angel voices. What
would the muddle-brained coolies do?
he wondered. If Emir Ally, his trust
ed servant, saw the thing, it might be
well; he had nerve and Judgment even
close to that Of sahib. Emir Ally
was in the lead. When he came to the
steps Savage ierked out an expression
that called his attention to the tab
leau. Gathering his loongy tight about
his loins, he slipped along the veranda
like shadow, grasped the fallen dab.
and, posing his black, 1.-THE body for
a swift. strong stroke, brought the
sword through the air with swish
ing cut that laid full-grown cobra
in two neat pieces almost at the feet
Of the man who had waited.
Couldn't Surprise "Ma.'
"Ma" had been imported from Mich-