ENCOUNTER WITH A SNAKE.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2777, 8 January 1878, Page 3

ENCOUNTER WITH A SNAKE.

The following particulars of a thrilling ■nake story have been furnished to the Murrurundi Times, New South Wales, by Mr GK A. Martin, of the Oaks :—" A man. in my employ has had a narrow escape of befog bitten by a snake. The man, whose name is John Orb, a German, is fencing for me, and is living alone iv «. tent. One night last week he was awoke about midnight by a little terrier dog jumping on his face, and barking very loudly. He was sleeping on a kind of stretcher, made with bagging fastened on to poles. Without moving much he lit a candle which he had beside him, when the little dog rushed back* warks and forwards through the tent, barking furiously, and then jumped towards him. He looked down, and then law the head and neck of a large diamond snake resting on his chest. The snake was evidently watching the movements of the dog, as each time the dog ran towards the door of the tent, the snake turned his head towards him with his mouth open, and darting his tongue out. Orb sayi that although dreadfully frightened he did not lose his presence . of mind, and he considered what he should do. l)jiring the whole of this time he had not moved. There was a butcher's knife on the small table beside the light, so he put his hand cautiously out and got it, the snake still watching the dog, which continued running to and fro, and moving its head on the bar which supported the bagging.. „ Orb waited till its head was turned from him, and then chopped it with the knife, succeeding in almost cutting the head off". He says he thought his legs would then have .been i broken, as the snake was coiled round the stretcher and over his legs* and by its violent struggles it almost brought the two sides of the stretcher together, making the wood crack again, and pressing his legs as if they were in a vice, 'ibis lasted for some time, until he could get tip and draw the reptile out. It measured 6ft 6in long." .