182 BEASTS AND MEN 
acertainty. But he defended himself vigorously, and I my- 
self and a keeper running to his aid, helped him with all our 
strength in his struggle against the monster. But it was some 
minutes before we finally succeeded in freeing him. The others 
we secured with some little difficulty by the aid of the usual 
woollen coverings and sacks ; but even this was accomplished 
only at the cost of much time and some danger. The largest 
of them, a savage monster weighing quite 200 Ib., took up his 
position on a rafter at the top of the cage and fixed himself 
there firmly with his tail-end, while with his head-end he made 
savage bites at his opponents. When once we had thrown 
the sack over his head our next proceeding was to unloosen 
the tail-end which was tightly fixed to the rafter. We had to 
secure further assistance to muster the strength necessary for 
this purpose. But even then the fight was not over. No 
sooner had we, with great effort, got the tail-end loose than 
the monster got it twisted round Heinrich’s right leg, and with 
irresistible force began to twine itself higher and higher up his 
body. It was indeed a life-and-death struggle which then en- 
sued, but by exerting all our might we at last succeeded in 
tearing away the reptile and forcing it into a sack. The work 
of overpowering these four monsters was one that I shall not 
easily forget. 
Skill in dealing with these dangerous animals can only be 
obtained by dint of many experiments, some of which are 
successful and others not. I remember one episode which 
helped me to acquire some experience of my own. In the 
early seventies a ship coming from Brazil brought to Ham- 
burg a couple of boa-constrictors. When I went on board 
for the purpose of looking at them, the steward told me that 
they were lying inanimate in their cage and were certainly 
dead. On inspecting the animals it appeared that the 
steward’s estimate was correct. They had been kept all night 
in an open cage in the captain’s cabin; and, although it was 
the middle of December, no sort of heating or shelter from 
the cold had been attempted. The snakes had in fact been 
