The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1906-06-27

was as far as it ever got so far as the
completion of it was concerned, for its
untimely end was not long in coming.
The road was being built directly
through dense forest, such as is COM
mon in the land of the equator. Those
who nave seen the Everglades or the
delta of the Mississippi or the great
woods in parts of Canada can never
imagine the growth one witnesses thre.
Great giant trees seem to pierce the
sky, SO high do they go and spread
over all branches and leaves, which
make all dark and mysterious beneath.
These rank, luxuriant grasses, bushes,
flowers, water growth and vegetation
of every kind make mass almost inn
|penetrable. When the great rains of
the tropics swept over it one could al
most see the growth going on.
''WelI, it was through this mass that
we were going to build our railroad and
it was through this mass that we made
slow work. We moved the camp, the
rude camp Of the road builder, from
place to place as we moved along. Birds
and animals of almost every description
were In abundance and wild fruits of
every kind were in plenty, yet most diff
ffcult to conquer for the uses Of man.
But we had provisions supplied from
\ the rear at headquarters and with am
pie material of construction we pro-
| ceedeG.
| ''But suddenly, like one of the great
storms, there came a time of trouble
and despair, from which narrowly es-
capped with my life. l think we had
been leading the kind of life have des-
cribed for some two weeks when we
! reached a place called Itapuco We
\ had started to work in the morning as
| usual, and all Of the fifteen hundred
\ men were engaged in BATTLE against
| wilderness.
1T had rained during the night, and
the sun had not been up long enough
to dry up the moisture which made
the humidity almost unbearable. The
place where we were working was
swampland. the black, rotting swamp
vegetation over black alluvial soil. 1t
was here that we met the anaconda,
4 " Ai4Nll was bAAb lIAliIell " LethoC VA lllG
breaking Of the camp.
probably most of the laborers had
4 seen anacondas before. Certainly /
had. They could be seen coiling around
| the branches of the trees at a distance
| On most occasions we did not come
within speaking distance of them, but
lat this time the great serpent was
lasleep, apparently despite the noise.
| Coiled around great black tree with
its spots visible and its appearance
making one shudder, it awaited Its vic
| time in the small animals of the forest
| Some men surrounded the tree, jabber.
ling among themselves and intensely in
lterested it.
One Of the men went very near to the
tree, actually from some mistaken idea
| OF bravery, and even thinking to entraI
the monster, which was wound severa
/ times around the tree. Perhaps thu
1 boa awoke just at that minute, Per.
| haps he had been only waiting, but ir
| an instant he partly uncoiled from The
| tree and caught the two men together
In his power.
1T must have been thirty feet long
and with its monster strength Il
crushed them SO that those at some
distance heard their bones crackle like
kindling. Then it buried its great fang.
deep in the body Of one of them, quick
lly sinking into the pool of water at one
side of the tree, for we had been work.
ing along the side of stream. 1t wa
a horrible sight, and the men were
frightened, some OF them superstitious
as never before.
THEY made it known that they
wished to go no further, and murmuret
among themselves like mutineers. IA
sea. 1t was in the afternoon Of thu
same day that we heard that the ms
terial had been stopped at headquar
ters, and SO there we were withou
means to go ahead. There was no foot
and no money to pay the men Agains
them there were but four engineers, in
GLIDING Captain Balfour and a man
named Averdick and myself. They de
manded our provisions, as on the fol
lowing day they grew hungry We haC
but little and could give them nont
and then came the deluge. The grum
bling grew to threats and the threat
1 to a wild riot the mon lp1,rninc tha on