SNAKES AND CROCODILES 113 



leggings over ordinary clothing will give complete 

 protection. My native helpers went about bare- 

 footed or wearing rope or leather sandals as they 

 pleased. Their ankles were always bare, but they 

 were not afraid of these snakes. 



One day while I was working up in my spike- 

 ladder tree, I had my men collecting ants and 

 whatever animals they could find near the tree 

 trunk. Cholo, an excitable little negro, who was 

 exploring in the center of wild pineapple plants 

 near by, ran over to the tree and called me to 

 come down and see the snake he had found. All 

 coiled up in the protected bud-center of the plant, 

 sheltered by the larger leaves, was a mildly 

 poisonous snake called the blunt-headed snake 

 (Fig. 48). I could see its body, glistening with 



After photograph by Ditmars 



Fig. 48. Blunl-headed snake 



moisture, but the broad head was hidden under 

 the body coils and the slender neck looked much 

 like the equally slender tail. 



8 



