THE SERPENTS OF JAVA

Bruce Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 2955, 26 April 1898, Page 3

THE SERPENTS OF JAVA

The following story is told by a resident of Java. He s*ys : — The imho eugar estated in Java comprises over 12,000 acres, about one-third of which is in cane. This is one of the most densely woo ied parts of Java, and the bush is like a wall, impervious even to many wild animals, but snakes flourish, and there are no less than ten varieties that are deadly poisonous. Eight of the coolies employed on this estate have died inside of four months from snake bites. The chain viper is most dreaded, as it will not get out of one's way, and when trodden on by the barefooted natives strikes fatally. Twelve miles away is the ruined city of Choru, a wilderness of temples built of stone, cut in designs as fine as lacework. On the north side of these buildings are long arched passages^ and here I wild animals resort to get out of the intolerable heat. Leading from these avenues are hundreds of small chambers having no windows. In these lurk more snakes than can be found anywhere else on the island. It is not surprising ' that the eastern nations look upon Englishmen- as lunatics, they do so many foolhardy things from no apparent motives save to risk their lives. Two years ago an English naval lieutenant was visiting a neighbouring planter at Java, and bis peculiar craze was making a collection of Javan reptiles. His only attendant was an English sailor lad about sixteen, and these two, against all warning, went roaming around the forests without a guide. In Choiu, the ruined city, the lieutenant found a rich harvest, and killed a magnificent black jaguar, but an adventure with a snake ended his sport. One day he and the boy were under one of the long archways of the big temple, and, looking through the doorway of one of the dark chambers, saw something yellow in the far corner. Without a moment's thought he entered and gave the mass a punch with his cane. A tremendous hiss that fairly shook the walls was followed by an assault swift as the leap of a tiger, and the man found himself seized by a huge Dari snake, the most aggressive aud danger ous of the Java constrictors. His left shoulder was crushed in the brute's teeth, and quick as a flash a coil was around his body, and he felt the 9teellike compression. But the grit of the boy saved his master's life. He had a heavy, sharp wood knife, and he struck the reptile two heavy blows just back of the head, the most vulnerable part of its body, because the thinnest. Its backbone was divided. The;coil relaxed, but the powerful tail lashed cfut; br-eaking the boy's leg. It was two hours' befotethey were found and brought up in h cart. The lieutenant's shoulder was crashed beyond surgery, and the arm was U9eless f Both master and boy recovered after a spell of fever. I saw the: B'hake, a hideous object, black and yellow, and fifteen feet long. Such a brute would crush a horse. Gunning one day near the Wasli River in the interior of the island, I watched a number of wild hogs coming to:the water to drink. Suddenly the head ofc a snake rose above the grass and the. hog squealed. A pjthon had seized a full-grown one, easily three feet high at the shoulder, and thrown two coils around the body. Under the tremendous pressure... the- hog:, seemed to lengthen, and when? the snake uncoiled I saw onlyna strip of meaty nothing distinguishable but the head. I. shot 'the snake. It was 12ft. long and over -Tin; ; thfbugh, and yet its - coils had crushed the bones of ita prey like chips. There is -no doubt that hidden away in vast swamps of the interior are many anacondas of enormous size. In the museum at Batavia is the skin of a serpent that musf have been fifty feet long when living. Such a brute would kill a man as easily aa it prould a rabbit* ' •■'.<•