J 56 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



IlKCiiJIUKR JO. 1001. 



ON THE ROAD TO MANDALAY. 



"Say. Jimmy, in this mic n' vein pals?" 

 inquired Tommy, appiMliiiir 1" "n' tire- 

 man, a lone exile from t'liic.i^o. "Here's 

 a note in the paper about a farmer in 

 Illinois as has tame rattlesnakes to 

 keep rats away from liis chickens. Says 

 as he tamed the snakes so theyVl watch 

 out for rats and lie friendly witli the 

 famil} ." 



"Nothink strange about that," ob- 

 served .Jafjfjs, .jerkinp; o\it a broom straw 

 with whicii to clean a venerable pipe. 

 "Snakes is domestic anini;ils, if you only 

 look on 'em that way. Whose bloomin' 

 pipe is this, hanyway — " breaking otr 

 in the midst of his remarks. "It 'ud 

 take a yoke of oxen aiul a traction en- 

 gine on top o' that to make it draw." 



"Xever mind the pipe, old man," said 

 Jim, with a cheerful grin. "Drive ahead 

 with those domestic snakes you were 

 talkin' about." 



"It seems to me," pruniblcd Ja<rp;s, "as 

 you chaps is precious improvident with 

 your baccy. There ain't a grain in this 

 "ere bloomin' old vault." holding up a 

 tin canister marked "Best Ceylon Tea," 

 which served to contain a mutual benelit 

 store of the weed, "Ain't there nobody 

 as laid somcfhink by for a rainy day?" 



Tommy laughed and threw over a tin- 

 foil package whose contents difTused a 

 fragrance like the fumigating pot aftor 

 a hard winter's service. Jaggs tilled his 

 pipe an<l leaning against the dusty wall, 

 began to pull' out as much smoke as an 

 East Uiver tugboat. 



"T reckon 1 told you chaps about the 

 time I was up in Burmah tryin' to get 

 'old o' some big Nepenthes — " 



"Them Xcpenthes as broke loose and 

 eat a bull dog?'' inquired Tommy frivo- 

 lously. 



"There you go, misleadin' people as 

 usual," retorted -Taggs indignantly. "T 

 did collect some Nepenthes as eat bull- 

 frogs and liked raw beef when they 

 could get it. but it's chaps like you. 

 Tommy, as gives plant collectors a bad 

 name with them reckless exaggerations, 

 like deadly U])ns tree and all such rot. 

 Not but what I 'ave seen things in the 



plant line as would make any (dd upas 

 look like a bowl o' skim milk." 



"It was stuikes you were startin' in 

 to tell about," suggested the fireman. 



"That's so," said .laggs. "domesticated 

 snakes. Any quantity of 'cm through 

 Malaysia and thereabouts. They uses 

 'em instead o' cats — nobody's 'appy 'ome 

 is i'()m])Iete withovit a few galumphin' 

 around the eeilin's. Show him a rat 

 an<l a green boa'll catch it in two twos, 

 but he never makes a chap feel domestic, 

 like a nice, sociable tabby. It's sur- 

 |)risin', though, how nuich them snakes 

 knows. When 1 was stayin' at Jao 

 Jalu. after I come from Burmah — " 



"Say, old man,'' asked the Hreman, 

 anxiously, "is that down in Jersey ?" 



■"It's in the Sulu group,'' continued 

 Jaggs, "so I re<kon it's in the I'nitcd 

 States all right, if them bloomin' con- 

 gressmen didu'l forget to tie a string 

 to it when they was picnicking around 

 there. I was stayin' in one o' them 

 bainbno roof gardens as the Stilus build 

 and though there wasn't no rats, T kept 

 a snake as T was intendin' to take 'omc 

 to .Tamrach's. in Ijondon. Seemed as 

 though the snake 'ud got precious fond 

 o' me — I don't know why." 



"Seems 'ard to account for its taste. 

 <lon't. it?" remarked Tommv thought- 

 fully. 



"I give the snake free run o' the 

 premises," continued Jaggs, ignoring 

 Tommy's crmment. "and settled down 

 to s'ec]). First thing I know I was 

 waked up by a most tremendous racket; 

 sounded like an old fashioned shivaree. 

 I strikes a match and what <lo you sup- 

 pose I see?" 



Jaggs made a dramatic pause, broken 

 only by Tonuny. who was heard to mur- 

 mur that possibly the noise was caused 

 by Jaggs' tame snake in its efforts to 

 set the table for breakfast. Jaggs paid 

 no attention to the suggestion, but con- 

 tiiuicd his narrative. 



"The snake was a pretty si/.alile one; 

 T reckon he was a matter of 20 feet long. 

 What do you s'pose that sasacious rep- 

 tile was a doin'? He was 'oldin' a bur- 

 glar — a naked Sulu what had swarmed 

 up the bamboo pules the shack stood nii 



— with one coil around a beam and two 

 around the burglar, till the poor chap 

 was trussed like a chicken. Then the 

 snake picked up one o" my old boots — " 



"Picked it up?" inquired the fireman, 

 incredulously. * 



"Picked it up," responded Jaggs, firm- 

 ly, "by hitchin' its tail around it and 

 started a regular drum corps on a tin 

 pan. You see,- the snake knowed as I 

 ought to be woke up, as there wasn't 

 no policemen 'andy, so I bagged the 

 burglar and the snake seemed tickled to 

 death over it. Nobody can't tell me as 

 animals can't reason — that is, if snakes 

 is animals." 



"Surprisin' as Barnum never got on 

 to such a snake as that," observed Tom- 

 my after a brief pause. "What become 

 of 'im?" 



"Died afore I got back 'ome," said 

 Jaggs, sadly. "I reckon as intellectual 

 snakes, like intellectual people, is often 

 a bit shy on constitution. 1 lost some o' 

 my j)et orchids, too, the same trip. 

 There was one as seems lost to science, 

 too, I don't reckon as any other col- 

 lector ever 'ad it." 



"Somethink choice, I suppose," said 

 Tonuny. , 



"It was that," remarked Jaggs, firm- 

 ly. "I don't collect no trash. It was in 

 Celebes as I struck it; I s'pose none o' 

 yiui chumps know just where that is. but 

 it's there all right. I see a good many 

 things there as was a bit uncommon, 

 incliulin' tree toads the size o' dinner 

 plates, but I didn't see nothink to equal' 

 them orchids nowheres, nor nobody else; 

 they'd ought to be named somethink-or 

 other. Jaggsii by rights. But then, if 

 all the plants as I've had a hand in was 

 named after me, them botanical diction- 

 aries would be as full of jays as ii 

 county fair." 



"W'cll, as I was sayin', we hiked along, 

 .sometimes goin' iip rivers in them bloom- 

 in' prahs with a lot o' sulky Sulus (at 

 least they wasn't exactly Sulus — some 

 kinil o' cotTee-colorcd citizens as wore 

 prei-io\is little except their complexions) 

 and sometimes tram|iin' through the 

 woods, as looked like the tropical stove 

 'ouses at Kew let lf)Ose out o' doors. 

 What with dodgin' snakes and shakin' 

 tree leeches out o' my trousers, I didn't 

 take no interest in the scenery, though 

 it did make my mouth water to see 

 Vandas and sucli like by the acre, like 

 daisies at 'ome." 



"It's a wonder you didn't bring a few 

 tons of 'em home," remarked the fire- 

 man, thoughtfully. 



"P'raps it didn't occur to me," re- 

 spontled .Taggs, with dignified sarcasm. 

 "()' course, it's dead easy to carry a 

 lot o' truck when you're skatin' down 

 rocks, and slidin' over cataracts, and 

 dodgin' volcanoes and man-eatin' leop- 

 ards. However, when I see that orchid 

 I made >ip my mind as I'd have it, no 

 matter what happened. We was pad- 

 dlin' along the river when I see it first 

 settin' on the branches of a big tree. 

 There was big spikes o' dark blue flow- 

 ers, shaped somethink like Vanda San- 

 deriana, and as soon as I see it I says 

 Maggs, old man, this is the biggest thing 

 you ever striick.' I wanted to go close 

 up to it, but the chap as was rowin' 

 began to jabber like one o'clock, and 

 wouldn't stir, so 1 had to fetch him 

 a wipe with the paddle afore he'd listen 

 to reason. 0' course, T only done it for 

 his own good. I couldn't get as close 

 as I wanted to. because there was a 

 nasty current there, and bein' spilled 

 into the drink along o' the crockvdiles 



