SNAKE STORIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 154, 2 July 1927, Page 3 (Supplement)

SNAKE STORIES.

A BRAVE LITTLE TERRIER. ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA

Correspondents in South Africa have sent as two stories of terrible struggles with snakes, one of them, alas! ending with the death of a brave little terrier fighting for the life of its five-year-old master. Mr. Van der Merwe, a farmer on the tfatal border, was out shooting when he saw a python 15 feet long basking in the sun. He fired, but only wounded it, and it came at him. He was transfixed with horror, but managed to strike at it with his gun. He missed, and the snake seized his hand with its teeth. Wrenching himself free the farmer dealt the snake a blow, but it came on again. The bite of a python is not poisonous, and its aim was to get its body round the man and squeeze him to death. But he managed to dodge behind a tree, and, taking aim again, was at last able to I kill the snake. The other story concerns a little boy named Guy Farmer, on a visit with his j mother to a farm in the Zoutpansberg district of the Transvaal. He was playing with his terrier when the dog was heard barking furiously. Guy's mother ran out and saw a black snake, called a ma'mba, six feet long, swaying from side to side as it approached. The child stood fascinated, and the dog ran up and down between them, evidently anxious that the child should run away while there was time. Then the terrier sprang at the snake, and a sharp but short struggle began. The mother snatched up her boy and was running to get a revolver when the barking ceased, the dog staggered a few paces and fell, and the snake came on again. Putting the boy down, the mother was fortunately able to pin down the snake with a heavy boulder while she fetched the revolver to shoot it. Then she turned to where the terrier lay helpless. It was still alive, but died in half an hour. Its small master was inconsolable with grief. A stone has been put over its grave recording how the gallant little creature give its life.