The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-04-21

at their homes they cry aloud. but do
not wall EaWaiians- 4 very short SER
vice is conducted At the church by the
priest. who does not attend the burial.
All of the friends and relatives have TO
pay very high for the prayers TO get the
soul OF the departed out of purgatory.
This is their religion, and until some
thing better is substituted it should not
be taken away.
In the reptilian line we have crocodiles.
snakes. iguanas, chameleons. lizards and
turtles. We have not seen or heard Of
crocodiles near Zamboanga, but on the
island of Basilian. about II miles away,
there is quite colony of crocodiies,
which live ia the river and swim out
into the strait at night had the pleas
ure-if such it can be called, of placing
my hand the back of L. crocodile
over seven feet long 1t was dead, of
course, having been shot by Captain
the day before. 1t was an ugly looking
reptile and not pleasant one to encoun-
ter when alive. While we were waiting
for the little steam launch TO get under
way at night, a large crocodile lazily
swan quite near. Bathing in the sea
and river in that vicinity is quite dan
gerous. And yet that very day / stepped
out of the little banca, in which We were
rowing over coral banks. into shallow
water and gathered coral No thought of
crocodiles entered my head when 1 saw
the magnificent banks of coral right UNI
der us, and the temptation to get into
the water was too great to be resisted,
and out L went. 1 filed the spare room
in the banca with coral and reluctantly
climbed back, wet to the waist. but we'll
pleased with that mornings outing. Some
day we propose going well prepared to
gather coral and get as many varieties
as possible. Such specimens l have never
seen inside or out of museums. Our col !
lection of corals and shells is growing !
IL
when there are any extra little "caballos"
We will send you one.
Snakes are not often seen around town.
we are occasionally reminded of
their proximity. / discovered a small one. /
about a foot long. near our front door, !
and assisted the Muchaco in killing it !
that is. 1 stood at a distance and directed
the exciting pastime. Once, while trav-
cling on the Aeolus-a small transport
Harry was informed that a snake IS feet
long was killed his door When
killed the snake was found to be knotted
or punched out in a great many places.
and each knot represented a rat which
he snake had swallowed for breakfast.
This was a water snake which had prob
ably boarded the steamer some time in
he night, and the first suspicion that the |
sailors had that he was aboard was the |
scarcity of rats. 1t is said that snakes
re used as rat-catchers in some houses.
have not heard that statement corrobo-
'ated by any one who owns such pet.
tive me ratSi
The iguanas are quite large, scaly rep
lies, not pleasant to have around. We
lave seen several. David caught one and
brought it into the house. much to the
of roomful of teachers. Yes
erday were very fortunate in hav-
ng a chance to see chameleon, which
assembled an iguana in many respects;
,ut it was beautifully notified and had
brilliant coioring The doctor who had
he creature alive told US that when put
IN a scarlet cloth its color changed very
The specimen is a rare one
# it's kind and very large. 1t is to be
skinned and stuffed.
Lizards of all kinds are very numerous.
The little house lizard is much at
home here as in Hawaii. The larger va :
ieties many of them beautifully nlottled,
arely come into the house. Some ore
aid to be ''mucho malo''-very bad-and
AVE long jaws. armed with teetb.s VIII
continue this later. Y