SNAKES AND CROCODILES 117 



constrictor that had fallen out of the palm 

 thatch, still stupefied by the sulphur. 



I should not feel as untroubled as John English 

 did about sharing my roof with a snake. But 

 I must confess that when I made up my mind 

 that it must be a snake that was carrying off 

 crocodile eggs night after night from the table 

 beside my bed, instead of the rat that I first 

 believed it to be, the idea did not disturb me 

 any more than if it had really been a rat. 



I do not think that one needs to fear the snakes 

 on our jungle island. Probably coral snakes and 

 even bushmasters are there, but in two months I 

 found none, although my men and I turned over 

 logs, as well as every loose stone in the stream 

 bed near by. I crawled through underbrush on 

 hands and knees, lay flat on the ground watching 

 animals, cHmbed my tree regularly, and tramped 

 about as freely as I have ever done in my native 

 Indiana woods. In all that exploring I managed 

 to see twelve living snakes in the jungle. The 

 two that were slightly poisonous were not half so 

 dangerous as the copperheads I found and killed 

 when a boy. 



Personally, I was much more bothered by the 

 crocodiles in Gatun Lake than by any snake. 

 The island inlet was a pleasant shady stretch of 

 clean water (Fig. 50). No spot could have been 

 more inviting for a swim and a bath in the late 

 afternoon of a hot jungle day, except for one 



