Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1901-03-22
REPTILES OF GUIANA
THEY ARE FOUND GALORE IN
THE DUTCH COLONY.
Abundance of Snakes Of Almost Every
Hue AMI Variety-Many Harmless
Ones, but Many More of Most Venom
ous Type Are Encountered.

Speaking Of snakes" said a mining
engineer, Il do not think there is
spot on the face Of this earth to equal
Dutch Guiana in that respect. There
they. have large snakes and small
snakes. red snakes and green snakes,
amber-colored snakes and golden
snakes. snakes harmless and snakes
deadly. round-headed snakes and fat
headed snakes, and snakes ranging
through the entire list Of colors from
mud gray to striped orange and red.
"lf you are tenderfoot in the coun-
try, before you leave Paramaribo for
the gold fields in the jungle the natives
will warn you against the snakes. On
the way to the fields, 400 miles up the
river in canoe, you can shoot dozen
or more water snakes If you are watch
full. Once in camp and accustomed to
precautions, before you get into your
hammock at night you turn it inside
out to oust possible parrot snake that
may have taken kindly to your bed.
During the night, if you are called upon
to leave camp you pick your way along
the jungle trail with lantern neld low
to light every inch your feet traverse.
In the morning when you come to the
embers of your camp fire you will find
bunch of snakes curled up around
one another to keep off the chill Of the
night In the warm ashes. And so it Is,
snakes, snakes, snakes. Throughout
10000 square miles of jungle 1t is one
continuous snake paradise.
Barring death by jungle fever, more
miners and prospectors are annually
taken off by snake bites than by any
other cause. Human life in that coun-
try means less than it does here, and
SO it is that mine owners do not compel
their negroes to wear shoes, and SO it
is also that In the brushwood surround
ing some OF the older camps there are
scattered mounds bearing neither name
nor inscription, but pointed out oc
casionally by veteran miners as the
place of so and So, poor devil, bitten
by snake
! Zone of the most harmless and one
of the prettiest snakes in Dutch Guiana
is the parrot snake. He is little three
eyed, and, among snakes, probably the
most knowing. These little chaps are
often found in camps. Their only OBJ
lection is that they wriggle when you
lie down on them. They become very
tame if encouraged. and take readily
/ Tn
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 fat, triangular heads,
and by their sluggishness. A poison
GUS snake rarely moves out of the way
of an intruder. He waits to strike, and,
If he strikes, recovery depends on what
antidote may be at hand. For this rea-
son every white miner and every fore
man over gang of men carries in his
hunting bag bottle of concentrated
ammonia and tourniquet. The pre-
caution taken by white men in that
jungle against snake bites Is to wear
thick woolen socks and high-laced
boots. Others, in preference to wear
ing heavy boots, use 1eggings made of
canvas lined with strips Of whalebone.
Through these projections it is impos-
sible for snake to strike deep enough
into the flesh to insert venom Many
an old pair of boots SCARED with snake
bites is treasured as memento by its
owner. But it is when men grow care
less and discard their projections that
they are dangerously bitten.
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 tourni.
quet 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"