The San Juan County index. (Aztec, N.M.) 1890-19??, 1901-06-21
A PAYING INDUS
TRY. y NOT AN
INVITING N >

haze floats above the swamp and it lies
like a silvery sea. Within It, the pines
are ghosts whose long boards sweep
the pools, diamond-back rattlers rear
their ugly heads. racers, moccasins,
and strange, pink water snakes glide
noiselessly. and %alligators keep up
their loId, uncanny believing. The
air y heavy with the musky odor Of
serpents.
In daylight the snake hunter Is
mounted on a mule usually and clad
in an armor Of heavy brown duck,
high top boots, and stout flexible
gloves. His weapons are a bamboo
stick with a running moose OF fine cop
per wire at the end, and a second cane
furnished with a wire net. He always
carries a revolver. too. II he is wise.
Across the mules neck is balanced a
short a n stick. and from zach end Of
the stick bangles a good-sized cotton
bag. These bags are for the snakes.
The mule sagaciously picks his way
through the swamp along deer paths
which wind in and out, where a single
misstep would tumble him and his
rider into a pool swarming with alliga-
tors and water snakes.
How Snakes Are Baagsd.
A snake stalker, Of course, attempts
to take only the more valuable and
strange specimens Of serpents. When
he catches the CLEAN Of the right sort
Of a coat through the rushes, or spies
a fine moccasin dangling from a limb
over his head, he halts and goes into
action with his copper-wire and
bamboo stick. If he can he slips the
over his snakeship's head and
draws it taut. Then he gets the putting,
%thrashing, splitting reptile 'twixt thumb
and fore-hnger around the neck and
drops him into the cotton bag. He
gives the bag a quick whirl so that
the fang that darts forth instantly is
embedded in a thick fold Of cloth. In
variably in a crisis the hunter throws
away copper wire and seizes a snake
with his hands, grasping him we'll to-
ward the head. so that he cannot twist
around and thrust his fangs into his
hands.
A rattlesnake is fairly easy to cap
ture because he is cOnsummately brave,
new runs from an enemy, and his
warning rattle is unmistakable. Skirt
the borders Of a palmetto thicket any
day and watch the wavering shadows
of the foliage on the ground. Present.
ly these shadows II you watch sharply
seem to dart ahead in a straight line,
with a brassy whirr coming from some
where around. The darting line is a
diamond-backed rattler whose curious
ly marked skin is in exact imitation
Of the palmetto shade. The diamond
back is the most deadly Of his tribe.
In the west the varieties Of rattlers
there found inhabit barren rocky
places and the tall grasses of the prai-
ries. Just now the rattlesnake is
hunted mercilessly, for he is valuable
to the medical man for his toxines and
to the naturalist because out Of ths
eleven varieties in the United States
the habits and looks of not more than
FIVE are well known.
In spite of their deadly poison, the
hunting Of venomous snakec is rot any
more dangerous thar TIC hunting Of
bears or tigers or lions in India. The
reason is that no snake except the
coral snake, is likely to attack without
provocation. The danger to students
Of snakes is all in the familiarity bred
by close acquaintance.