Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 July 1901 — SNAKES IN AUSTRALIA. [ARTICLE]

SNAKES IN AUSTRALIA.

Many Venomous Varieties in Souther* Part of Continent Of reptiles, says the Cornhill, Au> tralia has a wealth, that may come aa a surprise to those who quite erroneously, hut none the less positively, associate reptile prosperity with a damp climate. Fortunately, however, since the venomous snakes art considerably in the majority—. South Australia having, for instance, halt a dozen venomous snakes to one that is inocuous—these animals reciprocate man’s poor opinion withsuch unquestioning fervor as to make them extremely suspicious of his company. Only once was I divorced from th® saddle, my horse taking sudden fright at the sight of a small snake basking on the road just ahead, and som® boorish “jackasses” intervened from the branches of a gum tree, cackling their approval and goading my hors® to still more ambitious efforts to put as great a distance as possible bet ween himself and my recovering fonn. Even Australia’s seas harbor snakes, beautiful orange-handed creatures that curl sinuously about one's Host, yet exceeding venomous, and, King half-blinded by the more intense light out of water, possessed of a nasty trick of striking desperately right and left, an ugly speculation that has er® now cost a fisherman his hand. Th® country's insects have likewise their own eccentricities, as the new arrival soon realizes when, having been assured that the native bees have no sting (which is a fact), he unmittinglj| handles a straying honey bee (imported from Europe) and carries away so warm a token of it* affection a* t® give him for the future a firm, though unmerited, belief that King David must have spent tome time in Au» trth*. - •