Semi-weekly herald., 1913-05-05

ingenious plans of taking them cap
tive. One of these, When success
fully carried out. furni.ies perform
ance that is worth journey from
New York or London TO witness.
Found quite geners.!y through
large part of the Amazon jungle is
a little animal called locally the vac
CA 1t is not unlike d large guinea
pig in size and appearance and pro-
tects itself, after the manner of the
North American pole eat, by emitting
a most pungent ana disagreeable
odor. The yacca is much better arm
ed in this respect ti,.a the pole cat,
and the presence of q disturbed mem
ber of the species may be detected
a mile or more down to leeward. The
liquid which it secrets for this pur-
pose is of the most remarkable voia-
tile nature single drop of it evapo-
rating in few SECONDS to pungent
gas of considerable volume. The
glands which produce this liquid IN
d full-grown specimen of the .yacca
hold nearly an ounce in reserve at
all times which amount is more than
doubled under the stress of excite
ment.
Live Ammunition
The Indians have found that by
taking the young OF the yacca few
DAYS after birth--they are found III
htters of four or five IN nests IN the
gnarled roots of the forest trees
rearing them with pigs or puppies and
afterward keeping them in close con-
finement and away f-om all excite
ment, they may be brought to ma
turity upon the home premises and
even handled without unpleasant con-
sequences. This enables the resource
full aborignals to keep always on hand
good supply of their favorite bait,
or, more properly speaking, ammuni-
ton.
Through fortunate provision-for-
tunate for the Indian, not for the al
ligator or yacca-the yacca never ap-
pears of it's own accord near water,
for which celement, except for drink
ing, it seems to have the greatest
antpathy. For this reason the alli
gator has never learned, except in in
dividual instances, what nauseous
potion this tempting looking ball of
plumpness really is.
Invariably the alligator snaps it up
the moment he sees it struggling in
the water, where it has been thrown
by the benevolent-looking savage
waiting unobtrusively upon the bank.
The whole success of the plan
hinges upon the manner in which the
yacca is taken. If he is masticated
to any great extent before being swal-
lowed the alligator gets nothing more
than a severe stomach ache and per-
haps lesson in not being too hasty
in swapping up every wriggling ball
of fur that he sees. But as surely
as the greedy silurian bolts the yacca
whole he is slated for the roasting
pits,
Among the arctic whalers of today
there is a practice of shooting a cer-
tain species of whale, which has not
enough blubber to float itself, with
composition chemical bomb, the latter
releasing a sufficient amount of gas
to give the monster the required buoy
ancy. If it starts sinking after this
it is connected up with big COM
pressor on the whaler, from which its
stomach is pumped full of air. All
that the bomb and compressed air do
TO the dead whale the yacca does to
the live alligator. The arrival of the
yacca in the latter's stomach is the
signal for the turning of that organ
into an effective gas factory, the gen.
Grafton going on so quickly that in a
very few minutes the surprised ami
NAL finds itself unable to remain un-
der water. Vainly he tries to burrow
into the sticky mud of the bottom; a
mysterious force against which his
great strength is of no avail, tugs HIM
upward, and before long his bulging
| DdCk UeRiHS DODDiuS apoHS VIZ SNi
face. Higher and higher he bloats
above the water as the generation OF
the nauseous gas is accelerated by his
maddened struggle, his abdomen grad
ually initiating to the proportions OF
small balloon.
No Accounting for Tastes
The helpless monster is now easy
prey for the Indian at any time the
latter cares to dispatch him, but the
delighted savage, grinning in contem-
plative ecstacy from the bank, pre-
fers usually to tickle his artistic sense
| by letting nature take it's coure. Inc
| The distended ball grows bigger anu
bigger, and broad, wriggly lines oil
tensely drawn skin appear between
the ordinarily closely overlapping
joints of the bony armor. Suddenly
something seems to have exploded IN
side the wallowing mass, for inflam-
| ,raar t.utN I'll