GIANT SERPENTS

Evening Post, Volume CCXV, Issue 13, 17 January 1938, Page 8

GIANT SERPENTS

HUNTING PYTHONS

VALUED FOR THEIR SKINS

Few women of fashion, who wear python-skin shoes, or men who wear python-skin belts, realise what monstrous reptiles' these snakes really are. They are by far the largest snakes in Australia, and are amongst the largest in the world. Frequently monsters up to 30 feet in length and three feet in circumference have been killed. The reptiles are non-venomous, unlike the great 60ft pythons of the South American jungles, but they are by no means entirely harmless to man. They could strike the biggest man with ease by constriction, while the breaking of an arm or a leg would be a very simple matter. The reptiles are quick to attack any man or animal that disturbs them. Despite their size, they are remarkably quick in action, and can move along the ground at an astonishing speed.

These pythons are Australia's most valuable reptiles, from a commercial point of view. Their skins bring a price ranging up to two shillings per twelve inches in length. The skins are exported to all parts of the world being used chiefly in the manufacture of shoes, handbags, and belts, although reports from London' indicate that women's overcoats made from python skins are becoming fashionable.

Although- profitable, hunting these snakes is by no means child's play. Consider, for example, what it means to have your rifle knocked from your hands by an angry, 30-feet-long python you have wounded; and then see the great reptile rear itself up to wrap its loathsome coils around your body! That was the unenviable experience of one far northern hunter, who escaped a terrible death by the prompt action of his dog. Seeing its master threatened, the animal bravely attacked the reptile. But it had no chance and was crushed to a pulp before the hunter could recover his rifle and send a bullet smashing through the reptile's head.

The pythons swallow their victims whole, and the food lies in their stomach and digests very slowly. Thus, for considerable periods, the reptiles will not be hungry, and will spend most of their time in sleeping, curled up in some hidden lair.

Amongst most white people, of course, the thought of eating snakes is repugnant, but few people are aware of the fact that in the early days the reptiles were even eaten by Royalty. In London at a recent meeting of the Wine and Food Society, a copy of the menu of a dinner served when Mary Queen of Scots visited the French Royal House in 1552 was displayed. On the menu were vipers and adders, both exceedingly venomous snakes.

The preparation of pythons' skins for the market is a simple matterl After the reptile is killed the skin is immediately removed by being slit down the under part of the body. On the inside of the skin is a pecular gluey substance, and by means of this the skin is stuck and pressed down on a flat board. It is then left to dry. The skin is never exposed to the sun, nor is it ever stretched, and when thoroughly dry it peels off easily. It is then rolled and forwarded to the markets.

Pythons are plentiful in both Northern Queensland and the Northern Territory, and in these regions are other snakes, the skins of which have a ready sale. These include the carpet snakes and the green treesnakes. The latter are undoubtedly the most beautiful of all Australian snakes, being of a striking olive green colour tinged with bright blue and pink. They grow to an average length of about eleven feet, and are quite harmless to man. All other treeshakes known are night prowlers, but these green tree-snakes are day-loving creatures, and are often seen sunning themselves entwined around the branches of dead, trees. They are very difficult to capture, however, for they glide off at incredible speed at the slightest alarm.