GIANT SNAKES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17345, 27 September 1924, Page 25

GIANT SNAKES.

CAPTURING ANACONDA. f ' lil ' ri ">s wnli monster anaeomias in tin- Amazons wore Loid by .Mr Antonio Hermit, who canUirod the ‘ \-,i x teen-footer” recentK installed at the London Zoo. writes A.K.H. in the “Daily Chronicle.” Actln» ;,s collector in Brazil for .Mr G s Biuee C hapman. F.Z.S., it is the bu*ines- oi Mr Bergelt to secure specimens °* creatures as are likely to interest visitors to European menageries, in the Amazon his canoe was twice unset. and the party had to swim for the shore surrounded by the huge snakes, which, spend most of their time in the river. I had as companions on the expedition an .Englishman named .Morris and half a dozen Indians.” said Mr Beriieh. -and whilst passing MaVoyo land, on the Amazon, we noticed the. head <»} a large anaconda, protruding from the water. The Indians have a great, dread of these snakes, and. be coining panic-strikon. they upset the canoe, pitching ns all into the river. On reaching the. hank we watched the movements ot the anacondas, and found that they congregated j u the water under a tree trunk, spanning the creek like a bridge. Here they were quite still with, their head* above the surface, so wo iashinned a pole with a noose at the end. and. clambering along the fallen tree, caught one round the neck and hauled it to shore, where we tied it to a tree until we had constructed a box to put it in. Ihe snake, which, is the one now at the Zoo. was sixteen feet long, and as an anaconda is, 1 should say. twice, as strong as a boa constrictor of equal length, the packing of our captive was as difficult as it was dangerous. (The anaconda, though not venomous, can indict a severe bite, whilst, being a constrictor, it is capable of crushing a man with ease.) •■\\o captured a second anaconda at the same spot, and this gave birth to twenty-four young ones on the way to the coast. The largest anaconda we enc-ountered was fully thirty-two feet long, hut, as we had no means of dealing with a live snake of this .size*, wekilled it. We came across this one. with several others, whilst crossing the river with a cargo of pigs. The anacondas. in their eagerness to make & meal of the pigs, came alongside the canoe and craned their necks over the side. Once more we were upset, but no one was harmed.” Air Bergelt explained that anacondas rarely attack man unless interfered with, but he recorded an exception. ‘ A mounted messenger conveying * large amount of money from one town ti another had been missing for some days,” he said. “A search party found Ins horse grazing in a clearing of the forest. Near by a huge anaconda was basking in the sun. The party killed the snake, and upon opening it they discovered the body of the unfortunate messenger, with boots, clothing and equipment intact. The skin of the actual specimen is now in the Bara Alu seuin,”