240 CRUISE OF THE BARRERA 



ter of fact in most instances prowess in battle must 

 be accorded the non-poisonous species, notably well 

 shown in the case of the king snake of southeastern 

 United States. One can easily fancy what a per- 

 fect animal of offense and defense would be a 

 serpent possessing both the agility of the colubers 

 and the poison equipment of the vipers. Such a 

 creature, unless handicapped by some weak spot in 

 his armor, such as defective sight, smell, or hearing, 

 would rule over all the other dwellers of the forest. 

 A number of smaller species of snakes were cap- 

 tured this day by the intrepid Rodriguez, our 

 enthusiast in that line of study, who employed 

 the simple method of seizing them in his hands 

 and taking the consequences. Courage and 

 cowardice, when analyzed, become largely a mat- 

 ter of knowledge and experience. He knew to 

 just what extent any particular snake could harm 

 him and hence he could overcome the instinctive 

 fear we all have for bodies that glide and coil. 

 To see Rodriguez hurl himself upon a vicious 

 snake and transfer the writhing creature to a bag 

 at first transfixed us with horror, and yet a per- 

 fectly harmless hermit crab lumbering about the 

 schooner deck would keep Rodriguez nervously 



