190 WANDERINGS IN 



THIRD n i s p aw . whereas, if you had not come upon him 



JOURNEY. l 



too suddenly, it is ten to one but that he had 



retired, in lieu of disputing the path with you. The 

 labarri snake is very poisonous, and I have often 

 approached within two yards of him without fear. 

 I took care to move very softly and gently without 

 moving my arms, and he always allowed me to 

 have a fine view of him, without showing the 

 least inclination to make a spring at me. He 

 would appear to keep his eye fixed on me, as 

 though suspicious, but that was all. Sometimes 

 I have taken a stick ten feet long, and placed it 

 on the labarri's back. He would then glide away 

 without offering resistance. But when I put the 

 end of the stick abruptly to his head, he imme- 

 diately opened his mouth, flew at it, and bit it. 



catches a One day, wishful to see how the poison comes 



live Labarri 



snake. out of the fang of the snake, I caught a labarri 

 alive. He was about eight feet long. I held him 

 by the neck, and my hand was so near his jaw, 

 that he had not room to move his head to bite it. 

 This was the only position I could have held him in 

 with safety and effect. To do so, it only required 

 a little resolution and coolness. I then took a 

 small piece of stick in the other hand, and pressed 

 it against the fang, which is invariably in the 

 upper jaw. Towards the point of the fang, there 

 is a little oblong aperture on the convex side of it. 

 Through this, there is a communication down the 

 fang to the root, at which lies a little bag contain- 



