SLEEPING AMONG RATTLESNAKES.

Western Star, Issue 2253, 4 November 1898, Page 5

SLEEPING AMONG RATTLESNAKES.

" When I was collecting specimens of plants and animals iu Ziicatecas," recently said Dr. Maximilhn Schumann to a reporter, " I hail an experience with rattlesnakes which came war being the death of me. I had gone a day's journey on horseback from the cily of Zacatecas to the south-east, to examine some old Tolrec ruins there. These are known as the Quemada Ruins. They are very extensive. 1 got there late at night. 1 had shot a couple of does on the way, and had thrown them across my pack animal. On my arrival within the ruins I lit a fire to get my supper, after which I spread my blankets and lay down. In the morning when 1 woke up I throw my hr.nd outside the blanket, and it almost touched a big poisonous rattlesnake. I escaped by the merest chance. Looking toward my fet t. what whs my astonishmennt to seerattlesakes all over the. blankets. There were no less than six of them, besides the one which had so narrowly missed my haDd. The reptiles were uot the crotalus horridus, or diamond crotalus known in California, but the crotalus milarius found ia the hot regions. They are very poisonous. When I lit my Ore in the evening 1 could not see the snakes, which, I presume, had crept along the wall. The altitude of the Zacatecas and the old ruins is between 7,000 and 8,000 feet.and it gets quite cold at night. My fire was what undoubtedly attracted them. When they got out towards it they found my bed, and, discerning the warm blankets, crawled upon them and went to sleep. I have always thought it was almost miraculous that I escaped being bitten As I did not want the snakes, having alrtadr all I wanted, 1 killed them, and u>iiled them all to the adobe wall, with my card on each. The lizards and other reptiles which I got there I salted away in casks and forwarded to Europe. "it is a general belief Ktnong the Indians, notably amoeg the Creeks, Chcrokees, and Choctaws in the Indian territory, where I was for a time, that if one is bitten by a rattlesnake all he has to do to prevent fatality is to eat the snake. But I never discovered any virtue iu this. The best remedy is to immediately bind a thong above the wound so that the poison eminot circulate higher. Then cut an incision below the wound and squeeze out as much blood as possible. Then, if to the wound is made au application of potash, or any alkali, there is almost no danger."