CAPTURING A PYTHON. 63 



sat down and waited patiently until the Python had expended 

 its strength in blindly tumbhng and rolhng around. At last it 

 ceased to fight. It felt it was vanquished. I advanced and 

 carefully removed the bag which was blindfolding it. Opening 

 the mouth of it, I thrust in the snake's head. Instantly it 

 began to crawl forward, thus aiding me in bagging it. 



Slinging the bag over my shoulder, I staggered off witli nearly 

 a hundredweight of P5^thon. 



My pony was an old trusty friend and companion of countless 

 excursions, and was used to the sensation of various kinds of 

 wriggling things on his back, so he did not mind when I strapped 

 my load to the saddle and led him along to my Dutch friend's 

 farm, five miles distant. 



Pythons on the Watch. 



The favourite haunt of the Python is the rocky, wooded 

 valleys, in the vicinity of water. They love water, and delight 

 to wallow in it, often lying submerged for hours, with only the 

 nostrils above the surface. 



They are excellent climbers, twisting in and out amongst the 

 branches. The popular idea is that snakes climb by twisting 

 their bodies in spiral fashion round the branches after the manner 

 of a rope being twisted, strand above strand round the trunk of 

 a tree. This is not so. No snake ever climbs in this manner. 

 These huge Pythons often lie along the branches of trees with 

 their stony-looking, unwinking eyes fixed upon the ground below. 

 If something good to eat comes along, the snake merely drops 

 upon it, the end of the tail gripping tight to the branch, or to a 

 twig. When the animal is large and strong, the Python prefers 

 some leverage for its tail in the shape of a shrub, branch, tuft of 

 grass, or a projection of rock, to give its body muscles more 

 power to act. As a rule, however, these snakes just envelop 

 their prey with their folds, and then proceed to squeeze the life 

 out of it. 



Capturing a Python. 



Pythons are not venomous ; they are destitute of poison fangs 

 or poison glands. 



The teeth of Pythons are all quite solid, without any signs of 



