A CORAL AND KITTEN. 187 



fore he could stand or walk ; however, an 

 Indian (one of the travellers) put a calabash 

 of something stronger than water to his 

 mouth, and after one or two hearty pulls he 

 was able to move on. This " Snake-trap," 

 as the Indian persisted in calling him, a year 

 afterwards evinced his gratitude to the same 

 party by introducing them, one scorching hot 

 day, to his wine-cellar in the forest, which 

 consisted of about a dozen felled palm-trees 

 in full wine-bearing, which pleased the Indian 

 very much, drinking his health, " Salud ! 

 Senor trampa culebra !" but it was taken as 

 meant, in much good nature. 



A British vice-consul, at a port in the 

 Pacific, had a little kitten about four months 

 old, which one day had a beautiful fight with 

 a coral : she had followed her master to the 

 custom-house, and on some dye-wood being 

 removed, a coral-snake was discovered, upon 

 which the kitten immediately gave it battle. 

 Every time the snake made a dart towards 

 her, a smart blow of her paw, sometimes right 

 and sometimes left, knocked it away, and at 

 last completely stunned it, but she still kept 

 hammering away at the head and neck, until 

 the coral was quite dead; the smallest scratch 

 from the fangs would have killed her instantly; 



