The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1930-07-11

~ A~@
Being in no way hurt, he speed
lily recovered his feet, and de
clared he had given it its quietus
81 hope the terrible noise yol
made just now was the signal o
victory" said my wife, drawing
near. with the utmost circumspec
ton. and holding Franz tightly by
the hand. q was half afraid tc
come, | assure you"
See this dreadful creature
! dead at our feet; and let us thank
God that we have been able to
destroy such an enemy"
Whats to be done with him
now?" asked Jack.
Let us get him stuffed" said
Fritz, and set him up in the
museum among our shells and
/ corals."
Did anybody ever think of eat
ing serpents?" inquired Franz.
"Of course mott" said his moth
err. Why, child. serpents are
pofsonous-it would be very dan
gerous."
Excuse me, my dear wife"
said l. First Of all, the boa is
not poisonous; and then, besides
that. the flesh of even poisonous
snakes can be eaten without
danger; as, for instance, the rat
tlesnake, from which can be made
a strong and nourishing soup,
tasting very like good chicken
broth-of course, the cook must
throw away the head, containing
the deadly fangs.
at is remarkable that pigs do
not fear poisonous snakes, but
can kill and eat them without
injury. An instance of this occurs
to my memory. A vessel on Lake
Superior, in North America, was
wrecked on a small island abound
ing in rattlesnakes, and for that
reason uninhabited.
1.-The vessel had a cargo of live
pigs. The crew escaped to the
mainland in a boat, but the pigs
had to be left for sometime, till
the owner could return to fetch
them, but with the small hope of
finding many left alive.
ITO his surprise, the animals
we're not only alive, but remark
ably fat and flourishing, while not
a single ~rattlesnake remained on
the island. The pigs had clearly
eaten the ~serpents."
But might not some other
cause have been assigned for
their disappearance" asked Err
nest. Suppose, for example, that
a great flight of secretary birds
had arrived, they might have
cleared the island of rattlesnakes."
"Oh, what is a secretary bird?"
interrupted Franz. ~ thought a
secretary meant a man who
wrote letters?"
$50 it does, Franz, and the
bird Ernest spoke of has curious
long feathers projecting from
either side of its head, something
like pens stuck behind a mans
ear: hence its name.
1T is perfectly true that it
lives on snakes, lizards. toads,
and frogs, but, Ernest, I cannot
give up my pigs; for, in the first
place, the secretary bird is an
inhabitant of Southern Africa,
and is never seen in North Amer
lea, neither does it ever fly in
a flock; still, so is its
appetite, that, no doubt, even one
or two, had they by some miracle
found themselves on Lake Super
ior, would have been able to give
a very good account of the dead
ly reptiles, and at least shared
in the glory OF their extermin-
alton"
My wife having gone to pre-
pare dinner, we continued talking
as we rested in the shade of some
rocks, near the serpent, for a
considerable time. The open air
was welcome to as after our long
Imprisonment: and we were, be-
sides, DESTROYS to drive off any
birds of prey who might be at
tracted to the carcass, which we
wished to preserve entire.
My boys questioned me closely
on the subject Of serpents in
general; and I described to them
the action Of the poison fangs;
how they folded back on the
sides of the upper jaw; and how
the poison-secreting glands and
reservoir are found at the back
and sides Of the head, giving to
the venomous serpents that Pc
culiar width of head which is so
unfailingly a characteristic.
1.-THE fangs are hollow" said |,
and when the creature bites, the
pressure forces down a tiny drop
OF the liquid poison, which enters
the wound, and, through the
veins, quickly spreads over the
entire system. Sometimes, if tax
en- in time, cures are effected, but
in most cases the bite of a SER
pent is followed by speedy death"
The children were much inter
ested in my account of the snake
charmers of India, how they fear
iessly handle the most deadly of
the serpent tribe, the Cobra di