The Savannah morning news., 1902-05-16
DEADLY BITE OF FER-DE-LANCE.
Danger in Martinique With Which
Relief Parties Will Have to Cope.
From the New York Sun.

From the New YORK sun
Former residents of Martinique say
that the perils of any expedition max
ing exploration or carrying succor to
the country about ST. Pierre will be
gravely increased by the presence of
the fer-de-lance.
This serpent, which is the curse of
the island. is said to be the deadliest
of snakes outside of India. The inhab-
itants of the regions infested by II say
that not even the terrible hooded cobra
inficts death more swiftly or surely. A
traveller writes:
THE gulches around st. Pierre fair
ly swarm with the VenomouS reptiles.
1t is principally because of their pres
ence that ascents of Mount Pelee, 9TH
erwise not particularly difficult or
hazardous, have been so infrequent.
1T is a curious fact that in cases of
seismic disturbance snakes make for
the low land. l have heard that when
Mount Pelee was disturbed in the mid
die of the last century the fer defiance
overran the streets of St. Pierre, al
though they are naturally a grassland
snake,
Suppose, now, that the shore beyond
the district where all life has been
blotted out has become the refuge of
the men who land there, particularly
if they are ignorant of the danger? 1t
is not pleasant to think of. The fer
defiance does not wait to be attacked.
He is a born murderer When he has
once set his venomous mind on man
he will follow until one or the other is
slain. Add to this natural leaning the
fear and fury of the, snakes at being
driven forth from their own places,
and think 9nnrppiatR that
their presence will not be the least of
the dangers following the catastrophe"
The history of the fer-de-lance in the
Island of Martinique is a peculiar one.
1t is said that originally this island
was entirely free from poisonous
snakes, as Cuba is now. 1t was, how
ever, overrun with a particularly active
and voracious species of rats. Some
enterprising inhabitant hearing that
the fer-de-lance was extremely rough
on rats sent to Trinidad and had some
imported. The visitors did their work.
In few years it was said in Marti-
nique that the only surviving rats were
those that had learned to climb trees
and turned into flying squirrels.
However that may be, the commu
nifty soon found itself confronted by
the Massachusetts cutworm and Eng
lish sparrow proposition, but in a far
more serious form-the remedial agents
proved to be worse than the original
| pest. So many persons were bitten that
| work in the fields came to a standstill
| Roadmaking ceased. 1t was said that
| no bitten person recovered except in
| the case of woodchoppers. Having
their axes handy they would, if the
| bite were on the arm or leg, chop off
the member instantly and thus save
their lives. 1t became a sort of caste
mark for the woodsman to have only
| three out of his four original limbs.
| Then the French government got up
| statistics and discovered that in pro-
portion to the population the death rate
| from snakebite was the highest in the
world--worse, even, than in the center
| of India. A bounty was offered. Bands
| of snake hunters went forth to hunt.
Some few of them came back.
| At this time there was living in ST.
| Pierre a former South African. He
had seen the great snake-eating sec
rotary bird of that continent, and at
a considerable expense had several of
the birds sent to him. His neighbors
said he was crazy They prophesied
| that the quickest witted of the birds
would be flying swiftly southeast Is
| seconds after they had first seen a fer
| defiance. The secretary birds were
| turned loose in the infested districts.
| Within a month they had grown all
most too fat to work. There was a
corresponding diminution of viperine
| activity.
1t wasn't long before the people of st.
| Pierre could till their fields again AS
| brood after brood of the 'feathered Afri-
| cans spread abroad the area of safety
| widened.
Unfortunately, the secretary bird is
striking object. and he has a crest
| of much beauty, not to mention his pic
| turesque tail feathers. The young la
| dies of Martinique desired those feath-
| ers as millinery. Therefore the youth
| of the island set forth to get them. AS
| the secretary bird is some four feet
long and a fighter by nature, it is not
| practicable to catch him and pull out
| his crest and tail. The Martinique
| sports went after him with guns, and
soon the places that had known him
| knew him no more. Most of the birds
were soon killed, as they are not shy,
| regarding themselves as immune by
| virtue of their profession.
OF course, the fer-de-lance came
back. They had been living the life of
| terrified mice in hooks and crannes for
years, but enough of them survived to
rehabilitate the snake community as
soon as the enemy disappeared. Now
| they lord it over the island outside of
the cities. and man and beast alike
walk in constant terror of their fangs.