SNAKE ADVENTURES.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 87, 4 September 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

SNAKE ADVENTURES.

(From All the Year Hound.) I had been but a short time in Australia before I first became cognisant that snakes, in great numbers, contribute their quota of society towards the grand total of living inhabitants of that much lauded land. " Guides to Emigrants" to Australia are silent on that point, but then they also ignore the presence of mosquitoes and other disagreeables. Would that unfortunate emigrants could do the same ! My first encounter with snakes took place in the district of Moreton Bay I was travelling in the bush, and had camped for the night at a lonely shepherd's hut. Feeling rather chilly, and as it is the custom of the bush always to make one's self at home, 1 Set about replenishing the fire. Selecting a huge log of wood from the heap of fuel outside the hut, I threw it on the hearth. Ere it had fairly reached the fire, a snake sprang from the interior of the hollow log, and all but attained its aim at my face. I say. almost — my preservation from, perhaps, a mortal bite, I owed- to the sexagenarian shepherd who stood by my side. Quick as. had been the reptile's spring, his eye had been quicker, and withv-the paddle-shaped piece of wood with which bushmen build up their wood fires, t'lat providentially he held in his hand, he struck my assailant to the ground and destroyed him. Bushmen, both white and black, invariably declare that the bite of most of the snakes of the country is fatal. Shepherds following their flocks are always exposed to dangers from this source. The •' run '' is often strewed with fallen trunks of trees, the abiding places of snakes. To tread upon such a log is almost to ensure the bite of a snake. Still, I cannot say of my own experience that many instances of deaths of white men by snake-bites occur in Australia ; but the aborigines frequently succumb to them. More than once, during. my residence in Moreton Bay, on asking a : native wliat had .become of his companion, I was answered in the colonial jargon of " A snake tacka that fellQW, him bong!" which, being interpreted, means, " A snakeW'hini, he "isf dead."' This .is not to be wondered at, wjben one considers that the natiyeSM-are always prowling 6 about' the i- bush, with legs and feet entirely- u'ndefehded — in fact, ■their eAtire perspns.generally in a state of nudity, and . that they do not possess any remedy f° r snake bites. In revenge,; however, the aborigine, always kills the snake when he ;sees one. It

As, the same 1 to him as. a poor, hungry man in London finding a leg of mutton —he has a dinner. Several times when I have slain a large snake, I have presented it to my black friends, who would cut off its head, coil it up like a

rope, and-cover it carefully up in the embers of their wood fire. When sufficiently baked, the skin, by. that time being converted into a hard crust, is peeled off, and I must confess that the white, firm, and delicate flesh was a sore temptation to a man who had lived' like myself for the last three months on the inevitable bush fare of mutton and damper. One particular the natives, however, carefully inquired into when they received a snake from my hands, and that was, if I had slain it in their own fashion, namely, by striking it over the head, otherwise they would reject it. The reason of this is that snakes, when wounded in any other place but the head, invariably turn round and bite the wounded part, thus diffusing the virus through the whole system, and, of course, rendering the flesh unfit for food.

More than once in California I had narrow escapes from rattlesnakes. At one time, in conjunction with a friend, I was camped in a valley of the Shasty Plains, working a claim. The temperature of the valley, always hot, resembled sometimes that of the torrid zone, while the ground was of a peculiarly dry, rocky, and slaty nature, — a state of things, I need hardly remark, highly favorable to the development of the reptile kingdom. Our tent was pitched some fifty yards distant from the scene of our mining operations ; it was just big enough to allow room for our bedding, with a small intervening space. We slept upon the ground on skins ; my pillow consisted sometimes of a heap of spare clothing, of en only my boots. One afternoon, while engaged on our claim, a hail from a stranger, who was passing the rear of our tent, caused us to throw down our tools, and hasten to ascertain what he wanted. A single glance explained matters. Half in and half out of the tent was a huge rattlesnake, his head buried amongst the heap of clothes that formed my pillow, underneath which he was rapidly coiling himself. Of course he was slain in an instant. My escape was most providential, for, on retiring to rest at night, the pressure of my head upon the pillow would have disturbed the snake, and brought upon me certain death. This snake measured about six feet in length, and possessed no less than eight rsttles, proviug it to be a full-grown one, as each rattle, as the story goes, represents a year of the reptile's existence.

Lately, I see, a question has arisen as to whether snakes will or will not bite cattle. All I can say is that 1 undoubtedly lost a valuable mule in California by the bite of a rattlesnake, and was very glad to compound in that way for my own life. I was travel ling with a pack-mule train to one of the northern mines. One day it was my duty to head the train aloug the trail, which, we traversed in the usual manner in Indian file. Riding slowly along, and keeping a bright look out for '' Indian sign"^-for wejwere traversing a hostile district — I noticed that the prairie, which had been hitherto perfectly level, dipped a little, aud the trail led through a marshy spot, on which coarse grass and reeds grew luxuriantly — so luxuriantly, indeed, that my riding mule, a fine animal of the Andalusian-Mexiean breed, nearly fifteen hands high, was buried to her croup, and parted with some little effort the bushy herbage that completely overhung the trail on both sides. In a moment I heard a hissing sound close to me. I recognised a terrible danger, my mule also instinctively trembled, and tried to shy to the left. It was too late. The threatening, protruding head of a rattlesnake sitting erect on his coils, higher than my stirrups, and in fearful proximity, glared on us for a second, then struck once, twice, in the direction of my boot, and commenced to glide away. Now, as I have remarked before, we were in hostile Indian country, and as that day I occupied the post of danger as advanced guard, my revolver was not in its usual patent leather case, which buttoned over with a flap, but simply stuck in a handkerchief tied round my waist, so that I was luckily enabled, without a moment delay, to grasp the weapon and empty the five barrels in the direction ot the small portion of the reptile I could see retreating through the " chapparal.'' With success too, for as my comrades rode up in haste from the rear, my explanation caused a search to be instituted, and the dead body of an immense rattlesnake was dragged to light. I wore a pair of miner's heavy boots, which reached to my thigh, and were quite impervious to the bite of a snake, and, believing the reptile had directed his attack entirely against myself, I gave the signal to " make tracks/ 1 and we proceeded on our journey. But I soon discovered that something ailed my riding mule ; restive and uneasy, it was with some difficulty I could get her along. At length she came to a dead stand, her back hunched up, head down, her legs drawn together as if with pain, her beautiful black velvet hide ruffled, and teeming with perspiration, her eye-ball starting, and her protruding tongue covered with foam. " Lookee h' yar !" said one of our natives, after a cursory examination of my mule, " You may jest send*a ball through her head. See here, boys !'' and he pointed to a swelling on the. right, side of the belly of _tbe mule, "That's whar yon cussed rip.tile stung her." It was all too true. A shot from a revolver put an end to one of- the stanchest, handsomest, and besVtempered mules in all California.

■A Legislator's Apology. — Mr Merry, M.P. for the Falkirlc burghs, of sporting celebrity, has intimated that he will not address his constituents this season, as there was no business of importance transacted during last session, and no prospect of any for some time to come.