Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-01-27
MAN AGAINST SNAKE.
Duel Between a Twenty Eight T oot
Reptile and a Giant kaffir.

Reptile and a Giant kaffir.
1t happened at a cafe table, no mat
ter where. They were telling snake
stories. when a traveller of renown
broke in:
"Rattlesnakes! Those helpless little
trchnae you have in this country?
Why. the idea of any one trying to
surround them with blood-curdling
accounts is enough to make a mule
laugh his harness off.
"But I'll tell you live snake story
If you care to hear it-and by
snake I don't mean those little things
that your sparrows feed their young
upon: I mean the real thing-snakes
from 5 to 80 and even 40 feet long.
IT saw this with my own eyes, as
they say. and it happened in South
Africa in 1892. when was down there
on my first trip. I was on my way
through Natal on a road leading to
the interior-a road, by the way, ly-
ing in the neighborhood Of the one
Rider Haggard describes in his king
Solomon's Mines" and If you read
that book you will get a good Idea OF
the country and natives in that vicini-
ty-when saw fight between man
and a snake that made my blood cur
die in reality.
Near a quarry on that road /
stopped and joined the company of
some officers Of the Cape mounted
police and we stood there talking and
watching a crew of Zulus working In
the pit. when the biggest and hand
soonest black man I ever saw came
along the road and stopped near US.
HE was a Kaffir fully seven feet
tall, finely proportioned man, but he
was black as the hinges Of hades. His
eyes were wonderful-bright and
piercing-and Of a hue different from
any I have ever seen in man, woman
or baby, and have met types of near
ly every race. color, creed or religion
on the globe.
and his teeth! They were the fin
est and most perfect ever saw IN
the mouth of man. beast or In a den-
tai office, II you please.
IT was watching him as he stood
there. and with the others commenting
on his fine physique and handsome
proportions, when I noticed that he
was intently gazing at something near
the roadside, and presently l saw the
cause of his rapt attention.
Across the road a huge snake be-
gan to crawl, and when its head was
about half way over the giant kafhr
sprang toward 1t, making pass with
a stout stick he carried.
"The snake, which proved later 10
be % feet long, rose up and struck
at the Kaffir repeatedly, but every time
It struck the man parried the blow
with his stick in the same manner that
a parry Is made with a cutlass In
parrying a blow for the head.
quicker than you can blink your
eve the snake had coiled itself around
the black giant, around his body. his
arms and legs; and I could plainly
see his muscles swell out in resistance
against the awful bone-breaking
pressure Of the snake.
But while the snake was coiltng
around the black man he was forcing
its head toward his mouth, and In
twinkling was fiercely biting and tear
ing at its neck, sinking his teeth deep
into the soft flesh. and splitting mouth
fuls of 1t to the side, while blood
spurted from the veins and arteries.
"The snake continued to coil and
squeeze. and it looked to me as II II
would be but few seconds until the
Kafir would be a dead one. But ne
was losing no time. for he bit and tore
If the snakes neck in the most hid
nous and horrible manner. maintain
ing at the same time all the resistance
Of which he was capable against the
snakes coils. Blood covered his race
orms and chest. and ran down MS
legs in streams to the ground
"In the meanwhile one Of the off,
oers had drawn his revolver. and an
other drew his knife. and both were
hurrvirg TO the Kaffir's aid. when one
of the Zulus came out OF the quarry
md rushed between them and the
strueglers. crying:
stop. sir, stop! Ee's all right:
him kill the snake-that's fun; yes
sir. only fun
IT must interpolate that it was the
awfulest fun 7 had ever witnessed.
"All this happened in less time than
you could think 1t did, and In the
couple of minutes the fight lasted,
though IL seemed a week to me, the
great Kaffir had actually chewed the
reptile's head off-clear off from the
body-and then. and not till then. did
il begin to relax its coils. But 1t was
far from being either loose or limp
and no sooner had he severed the
head from the snakes body than he
began the herculean task Of breaking
its stiffening coils from his body.
Having accomplished this. the
Kafir. without any further ceremony
and without paying the slightest at
tention to the compliments paid him
by the onlookers. walked down to the
little stream and washed the blood
from his body.
when he returned to pick up his
stick and the little bundle he had lett
by the roadside we could see no marx
or scratch upon him as evidence OF
the encounter. With his stick IN one
hand and his bundle in the other ne
resumed his journey without speaking
a word to any one.
ct asked one Of the Zulus who the
great Kaffir was. and he answered:
"'Oh, him Kaffir from way back
behind mountains. Him know moth
ing. him never go to Sunday school,
him no go to any school
Maybe he never did. / thought to
myself. but he must have heard IN
some manner the story of st. Patrick
driving the snakes out Of Ireland.
Yes continued the Zulu, him
thinks that when him kill snakes like
that. If a snake ever bite him when ne
sleeps and no can watch him coming,
the snake bite will not poison him.
All him people believe that
And that is all the information
the Zulu would give me.
"The snake was a Natal rock snake
or Port Natal python. as 1t is some
times called. and it was a beauty. The
Zulus rolled its body off the road and
had full opportunity to inspect 1t. It's
coloring was especially noticeable, the
entire skin possessing rich bloom not
unlike the color Of the plum or grape
It's teeth were rather large for a snake,
but it had no venom fangs. l was
told that this particular specimen was
one Of the largest ever found in that
county."-Detroit Free Press.