SOME-SNAKE ANECDOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 3757, 16 March 1926, Page 10

SOME-SNAKE ANECDOTES

By Katrine J. Mackay. (For thk Witness.) One bom and bred in the Australian bush early learns to entertain a wholesome dread oi snakes. In warm weather it becomes a ere matter of habit to turn back the bedclothes previous to retiring, to look under the bed, chest of drawers, or anywhere likely to afford a place of concealment to one of these unwelcome visitors. The New Zealander, immune from danger, would regard this nightly vigilance as irksome, and after many years’ residence in this favoured land of “palmy foliage and mountain waters’ I am disposed to agree with him.

Jn my own case I think the fear of snakes was hereditary, my father (who metaphorically “sniffed” at mounting a “buck-jumper” or facing a yard of furious, pawing cattle) having so intense an antipathy to the reptiles that it amounted to positive mania. I ha\ known an encounter with a snake leave him pale and nerveless for hours; yet a stern sense of duty forbade his ever allowing one of the reptiles, once seen, to escape the death penalty when it was possible to inflict it. For one of us to announce that we had seen a snake, no matter how far out on the run; that it had disappeared into a hollow log, a stump, the crevice of a rock, the bank of a creek, a clump of rushes, or elsewhere, was the signal for him to start off bent upon that snake's destruction, ana armed with *lie weapons necessary to the carrying out of his d sign. We children usually accompanied him on these occasions, as blood-thirst.ly eager for the fray us our sire, who would con sidcr a day well spent in the pursuit of one of the reptiles if success eventually crowned his efforts.

Many and ingenious were the devices resorted to by him to effect this consummation. On one occasion a large black snake—a most deadly varietyhad been seen by one of my brothers to enter a crevice in the stone foundation of the homestead. Not long was my father in arriving at a solution of the difficulty as to how the invade was to be dislodged. A fishing rod and line, the latter of extra stout cord, was brought i o requisition, the hook baited with a small live mouse procured from tin hayloft, and the bait dangled before the aperture where the snake had been seen to enter. (ThL apparently cruel action was necessary to the plan of capture. Snakes pre\ only upon live animals, birds, etc.) All the members of the household stood round breathlessly watching tin proceedings, but nobody was prepared for the almost instantaneous succc of the stratagem. Attra by tli pitiful squt king of the poor little ouse, the snake* appeared, and after preliminarily licking the bait all ove*. quietly swallowed it. A yell of triumph ent up from us all as the huge black, balefuleyed reptile was next instant hauled forth writhing to the light oi uay, and dispatched by a blow from a spade. The sequel to this anecdote quite disposes of the idea that snakes lay eggs from which their young are hatched. It was my father’s never-failing custom to have every snake carcase burned. There is nothing horses will shy at more readily than at a dead su. r aside the fact that a nervous human being is apt to get just as severe a fright on coining suddenly upon a dead as a live one. Then, again, there is the possibility of the flies which so readily settle on the defunct reptile becoming contaminated with the deadly venom. It is not pleasant to speculate on such a possibility when one remembers how often the übiquitous fly is found in the milk, etc. A bite from such an insect might indeed entail fatal consequences—in fact, it is best in the interests of common humanity that the dead snake should be cremated. In this instance the reptile, measuring nearly fift in length, and of quite uncommon thickness, was placed on a fire hastily kindled in the open. A call to luncheon ensuing we then left the spot Returning at the conclusion of the meal we found the fire almost extinguished, and the snake’s body barely charred. But to our surprise from the gaping wound inflicted by the spade there w'ere issuing scores of young snakes, about 3in in length, which, falling into the hot ashes either perished or struggled out to be captured. We collected about CO of these young fry, and in all probability many more had escaped or been reduced to ashes. Imagine such a brood let loose under one’s habitation, as had evidently been the parent snake’s design! Amongst the most deadly of Australian snakes is the tiger, scarcely distinguishable from the carpet snake—an innocuous variety, which in Borne parts attains an immense size, as much as 20ft long and of corresponding thickness. The tiger snake makes up in venom what he lacks in size. I have seen a large mastiff dog succumb in 20 minutes after being bitten by a tiger snake a little over 3ft in length. The bite was on the jugular vein, and this may have accelerated the flow of the poison. One of my brothers has had the possibly unique distinction of being bitten by a tiger snake on two separate occa-

sions. On the first of these ins esca|>e from death approached the miraculous. Far in the bush, miles from home, and on foot, he was searching for a favourite hack which had strayed from the home paddock, when, relaxing his vigilance for a few momeuts to survey the distance, he trod upon a tiger snake. The reptile promptly retaliated by fastening its fangs in his leg just above the ankle. ,To despatch it by a blow from the bridle he carried was the work of an instant. To turn down his sock and with bis pocket knife cut out the piece of punctured flesh and suck the wound was the next suggestion. He was proceeding to do this when struck by a fearful thought —he had no pocket knife with him! He remembered having lent it to an elder brother that morning, w’ho hail not returned it. The situation was desperate. In 20 minutes at most, he realised, the deadly poison would have done its work, and a swollen distorted corpse alone remain to tell the tale. The thought spurred him to action. He sprang up only to remember tliat action in the case meant the shortening of his few’ minutes of existence. He was about sitting down again to await the inevitable when his despairing eyes lighted on something glistening in the sun a few yards away, it proved to be a “ dead marine ” —in other words, an empty whisky bottle providentially left by a swagman. Here was a means of escape. Breaking the bottle on the nearest tree he secured a lance-like fragment of the glass and soon had the punctured flesh bleeding, so profusely indeed as to create danger of bleeding to death. He bad barely time ti tie his neckerchief tightly above the wound when lie collapsed in a dead faint, and was thus found some hours later by a boundary rider. More dead than alive he was subsequently heljicd on to the boundary rider’s horse and led home. Beyond great weakness from loss of blood and shock no evil effects followed the adventure.

On the other occasion referred to my brother was bitten above the region of the heart. In company with a younger brother he was loading a waggon with wattle bark at the time. As lie was in the act of lifting one of the bundles a tiger snake, which had been concealed therein, darted inside the breast of his shirt, which, being a very liot day, he had left open. That the reptile only succeeded in effecting one sting before being dislodged was remarkable. The poison in this instance must have been exceptionally irulent, judging from the fact that the younger brother, who immediately cut out the piece of punctured flesh and sucked the wound, suffered evil effects for some subsequently. Doubtless the venom had been communicated to his system through the agency of a small sore on his lip. The brother who was bitten suffered greatly from nausea for soilie days, due perhaps to the “Three Star” with which we libeially dosed him. He himself attributed it to the “feel” of Mie snake’s scales on his body, which lie found it impossible to get rid of. We often remarked him clutching his bo.’.y sliudde: ingly during this period, and the act was invariably followed by a bout of vomiting. I have remarkeu tli is nausea following another case of snakebite. A friend, hose station adjoined ours, going into his bedroom in the dusk, saw what he imagined to be a new necktie lying upon liis dressing table. To pick it up for examination was natural, only the “necktie” turned out to be a black snake, which immediately coiled about bis arm and fastened its fangs in his wrist. Instant measures W'ere also taken in this case, and extreme nausea supervened for days. Our friend also attributed the nausea to the juxtaposition of the scaly one to his skin, coupled with the awful fright he r'-’eived. (It may be remarked that a snake on the defensive flat 4 ns itself, and as this particular reptile w r as black with pink sides our friend’s mistake was quite understandable.) Tliat snakes possess mesmeric power h unquestionable, and that small birds are mesmerised before being preyed upon is a fact of which I have on several occasions had ocular demonstration, but that the human being may be subjugated by the “glittering serpent eye” is specu lative. Still, I have known instances which go far to establish the theory and have heard Australian bushmen positively assert their belief in it. The wanner in which the reptiles vanish before one’s gaze is, to say the least, peculiar. One day iny father and I were riding round the run, when in tiie ground, perhaps a quarter of an acre in ext n, it, wc spied a very large snake oi the brown species basking in the sun. Had it been an ordinary sized reptile my father would have given it the liappj despatch with his stump leather, but the creature’s great size and well-known characteristic for springing at an assailant bade him pause Telling me to stay and “keep my eye on the brute,” he rode off some little distance to procure a long stick. I vow that I never once took my gaze off the creature, and yet on my father’s return there was no snake visible, and certainly I had not seen him go. “Where is he?” ho asked. “Why, there,” I replied, pointing to the spot where the snake had lain. “At least ” And I doubtless looked as foolish as I felt. For over an hour we searclied the vicinity, but without avail. How that snake eluded my vigilance is a mystery. i

A like experience, but rather more serious, befell my eldest brother. In company with another young fellow, lie was on a cattle-mus 1 mg expedition at the time. Calling a halt at midday to bo“. the billy my brother went off for water, while his chum threw himself down in the grateful shade, and was soon fast asleep. On my brother’s return, what was his horror to find a large tiger snake coiled upon the gently heaving chest of his companion, who, all unconscious of danger, slept peacefully on. My brother’s consternation knew no bounds. To arouse the sleeper and acquaint him of his jeopardy might result disastrously. To oust the reptile by force might have a like result. To adopt the policy of w’aiting, when at any moment the sleeper might stir and put the reptile on the defensive, was not to be thought of. Eventually he sat down on a fallen log some yarda away to think what was best to be done, never taking his eye off the snake meanwhile. He did not know how long he sat there—he thought about ten minutes, —wdien liis chum solved matters by jumping up suddenly. “The snake!” gasped my brother, white as death. “What snake?” replied the now fully awakened one, gazing aiound. “It was coiled on your chest when I came back and found you asleep. I never took my eyes off it. Where did it go?” “You’ve been asleep yourself and dreaming,” liis chum answered, “or the snake mesinermised you, if there was a snake. Yon look half-mesmerised anyhow’.”

This same brother was the victim of an unpleasant snake adventure some years later. Arriving home one hot evening at dusk after a long day’s sheepmustering, he went to a spring some few hundred yards distant from the house to obtain a drink. A hole some tea feet in depth had been dug out at the spot, and as the water only reached halfway up the sides it was necessary to low r er a bucket to which a rope was attached in order to get at the water. My brother, having hpuled up the bucket., was proceeding to quench his thirst in primitive fashion, kneeling down and re: ‘ing his hands on either side of the vessel. A sudden movement accompanied by a swish of the w'ater made him start back. He did not, however, relax bis hold of the bucket, until a sharp sting in bis left thumb made him realise that he had drawn a snake up in the bucket, and that it had bitten him.

In a frenzy of fear, with a mighty kick he sent bucket, snake, and all back into the well again, and rushed to the house, meanwhile making a tourniquet with his right thumb and forefinger about the punctured member, in order to stop the circulation, and sucking the puncture between breaths.

The scene of confusion that followed inv brother’s hasty explanation of the occurrence (w\* were a family of eleven' beggars description. With shaking hands my father, who was an excellent bush surgeon, began opening his case of strgieal instruments, intent on amputating the thumb, while my mother and the rest of us darted about for brandy, a ligature, etc., hindering each other in our well-meant efforts. My brother, who was of a highly-strung, nervous temperament, had thrown himself down on a sofa in a half-fainting condition, almost paralysed with fear; but on my father’s approach with the lancet he sprang up and with wild emphasis refused to have his thumb interfered with. Persuasion and argument were unavailing. He’d “rather die of snakebite than lockjaw any day,” he announced. “Anyhow, I’ll risk it!”

A ligature w’as applied, copious draughts of brandy administered, an.i the sucking of the punctured part continued for some time. Briefly, no evil resulted from the adventure, except a slight swelling of the hand and a “head” next morning—due to the brandy. The snake, benumbed from its long immersion, was hauled up from the w’ell next morning and given the coup de grace. Brandy, or indeed any alcohol, must be administered with judgment in cases ot snakebite, as the following anecdote—the last l shall inflict upon my readers—will show. A young girl, daughter oi a neighbouring station-holder, on putting her hand into a hen’s*nest for eggs, without taking the ordinary precaution of looking first, was bitten on the fleshy part of the hand by a tiger snake, which had established itself in the nest. Her brother was fortunately standing by at the time engaged in sharpening a pair of shears. With great presence of mind, he immediately clipped out the punctured part with the shears, causing the blood to flow copiously, and thereby averting any risk of fatal consequences. The child w r then so dosed with brandy as to render her is' de. Meanwhile messenger was despatched for the nearest doctor, who pronounced her to be suffering from alcoholic poisoning. Under medical skill the victim survived, but it w’as a case of “touch and go.” Only in extreme cases, where the poison ha 6 had time to penetrate the system, and the patient show’s signs of lethargy, i:etd brandy be freely administered. Then, on the principle that “one fire burns out another’s burning,” may the alcohol act as an antidote to the deadly snake venom.