Evening star., 1926-11-21

ell and most were threadlike, but all
were so intertwined that they virtual
ly formed q solid mass. My helpers
looked doubtfully at this yellow
spongy mass of unknown depth.
who knows what strange under
ground poisonous creatures may be
hidden in this sickly mass of yellow
and brown" they asked.
A STOUT pole was laid across the
cavity and a rope tied to 1t SO
that 1t dangled down into the hole.
Finally two of my bravest workers
were persuaded to descend the rope,
each clinging to 1t and welding a dex.
ferrous hatchet with his free hand,
hacking away at the spongy mesh of
roots. Hardly. had they warmed to
the work when one of them, in heaN-
ing up a root mass, found himself
covered with large red scorpions
Angry at being so rudely elected
from their habitation, they crawled
over him with. upraised, menacing
tails, and several did sting him. Both
men came popping out of the hole In
record time. and at once admins
tered antidotes, from my medicine
and sent him hack to the plantation
Another man took his place and the
work proceeded. but more cautiously
We had just about finished getting
out the root masses when there came
from the cavity two terrified yells and
two even more terrified men. When
they had quieted down enough to talk
intelligently, they said that after cut
ting away a root mass, the last one on
the bottom, and tying II to the rope
so that those above might raise IL,
they had perched on a projecting
ledge and lighted cigarettes, waiting
for the rope to be lowered again.
AS 1t came down between them and
rested on what they supposed was the
bottom of the pit below them, they
saw the bottom heaye into writhing
mass and out Of 1t rose the head Of
big snake with shining eyes and Jaws
that yawned at them wickedly. As
one man. they climbed the rope and
scrambled into the open. / think
they would have rolled down the side
OF the mound and kept rolling right
up to the plantation house IL I had
not grabbed and held Them. Eventually
their fright subsidized and was re-
placed by curiosity, and they stayed
on willingly enough.
Nobody seemed particularly anx-
ious to 60 down into the pit, so
thought 1t might be Just az well to
make some long-range observations
before starting any hand:to-hand en-.
counter with whatever was down
there.
A rejecting mirror threw a shaft of
clear, strong sunlight into the well or
shaft. and my field binoculars. ad.
justed to a short distance focus. re-
vealed to me the coiled body of an
amazingly large snake. AS the shaft
OF light played about. the big fellow
raised his head, waved 1t uncertainty,
from the size OF the head and the
shape of the body, the snake evidently
was not a crotalid, or rattler, but
rather some species OF boa.
Boas are not very difiicult to han
die, especially Ii you would just as
soon have your boa dead. This par
ticular representative Of the boa fam
lily was. apparently. sleeping of q
hearty mean and was still rather tor
pid, and II was no trick at all to kill
him.
After disposing OF the snake, we re-
sumed operation In the shaft. Cleared
OF invading roots. the cavity was now
really; cavity. Descending hand
over hand by the rope a full IL feet
from the level floor OF the temple, I
found myself standing on what seemed
to be an accumulation OF little stones
and plaster.
MY steel stethoscope indicated that
below there was still deeper cavity.
with much careful effort. we pried
DIP the stone floor slabs, disclosing
another grave. Apparently this bur-
ial-vault had suffered but slightly
from the conclusions and disturbances
which had all but destroyed the two
upper graves. The walls and bottom
were lined with thin slaps of stone
covered with mortar. Much Of the