The Bamberg herald. (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, April 10, 1919, Page 3, Image 3
GREAT SNAKES OF THE AMAZON
h A Traveler in the Jungles of South
America Tells of Big Reptiles.
In an article on reptiles published
in the National Geographical Magazine,
Curator Ditmars, of the zoological
park, makes the following statement
regarding the length and size
of the boa constrictors or anacondas
of South America:
^ "Species of the genus boa inhabiting
tropical America attain a maximum
length of 12 to 14 feet."
Having recently explored a sec
tion of the upper Amazon valley, called
the Javary river region, situated
about 2,200 miles from the mouth of
this great river, I have published my
observations in a volume called "In
the Amazon Jungle" (Putnam's)
wherein I state that I have assisted
in the killing and skinning of a sucuruju
or anaconda having a total
length of 54 feet, eight inches when
dried.
This measurement was taken very
carefully and was witnessed by several
men. The statement made by
Dr. Ditniars would therefore seem
-f.*v
too conservative and possibly is the
result of a too limited knowledge of
the fauna of South America and the
upper Amazon in particular.
u may oe said in favor of my
v statement concerning the length of
this enornious boa, which to some
may appear exaggerated, that few
white men have ever penetrated this
remote part of equatorial South
j America, where the land is inundated
for the. better part
of the year. The entire
Amazon valley is then transform'
ed into a vast swampy forest steaming
under the equatorial sun and in
y it there is an astonishing development
Jh reptilian life.
Of the few white men that ever
penetrated into this region still fewer,
I d<? not hesitate to say, were interested
in looking for snakes. Their
^ object was merely a commercial one,
and it is thus easily explained how
these serpents escape observation. No
one has the right to deny their existence.
There are still several hundred
of species of fish and reptiles to
be discovered and classified by scientists.
> Evidence in suport of the contention
that there are larger serpents in
this region than Mr. Ditmars's statement
would lead one to suppose may
be found in the foliewf-n^ vninmao
M* *> v ' v: - ^
H. W. Bates's "A Naturalist on the
Amazon," A. R. Wallace's "Travels
m on the Amazon and Rio Negro," and
C. Waterton's "Wanderings in South
k- America." These authors aj;e among
the acknowledged authorities on the
fauna and flora of equatorial coun.
tries and their books are accepted as
^ standard works.
> In order to show that Mr. Ditmars's
statements need some modification I
.may quote what these authors have
to say on the subject of the anaconda
or boa constrictor.
4rCharles
Waterton in his volume,
"Wanderings in South America,"
says on page 250 that an associate of
his killed a boa 22 feet long. This
boa, he says, "had a pair of stag!
horns in its mouth. The boa had
swallowed a stag, but could not get
the horns down, so he had to wait '
in patience till his stomach had digested
the body and then the horns
dropped out."
The same author records on page
95 that "the Camoudi snake of the
Orinoco (the anaconda) has been
killed from 30 to 40 fee long;
though not venomous, his size renders
him destructive to passing animals
.... the Spaniards on the
Orinoco positively affirm that he
grows to a length of 70 to 80 feet,
and that he will destroy the strongest
and largest bull. His name seems to
confirm this; there he is called Matatoro,
which literally means bull killer."
A. W. Bates in his famous volume,
"A Naturalist on the Amazon," says
on page 156: "P was aroused a little
after midnight, as I lay in my little
cabin, by a heavy blow struck at the
side .of the canoe close at my head.
This was succeeded by the sound of
a weighty body plunging in the water.
"I got up, but all was again quiet,
except the cackling of the fowls in
jr hencoop, which hung over the
side of the vessel, about three feet
from the cabin door. I could find no
explanation of the circumstance, and,
my men being all ashore, I turned in
again and slept till the morning. I
then found my poultry loose about
the canoe and a large rent in the bottom
of thev hencoop, which was about
two feet above the surface of the water.
A couple of fowls were missing.
"Senor Antonio said the depredator
was a sucuruju (the Indian name
for the anaconda) which had for
months past beeh haunting this part
of the river and had carried off many
ducks and fowls from the houses. I
was inclined to doubt the fact of the
serpent striking at its prey from the
water, and thought an alligator more
likely to be the culprit, although we
had not yet met with alligators in
I
this river (River Tapajos.)
"Some days afterward the young
men belonging to the different cities
agreed together to go in search of
the serpent. They began in a syste- !
matic manner, forming two parties
each embarked in two or three ca-j
noes, and starting from points sev-1
eral miles apart, where they gradually
approximated, searching all the,
inlets on both sides of the river. The j
.
reptile was found at last, sunning it-}
self on a log at the mouth of a muddy 1
rivulet and was finally dispatched,
with harpoons.
"T cau- it tlip Hav nftpr it wnc Trill? i
^ " *V V"^ I
ed. It was not a very large speci-|
men, measuring only IS feet, nine
inches in length and 16 inches in cir-;
cumference at the widest part of the,
body. I measured several skins of
the anaconda 21 feet in length and
two feet in girth.
"The reptile has a most hideous j
appearance, owing to its being very
broad at both ends. It is very abundant
in parts of the country, no-!
where more so than the Lago Grande,;
near Santarem, where it is often seen j
coiled up in the corners of the farm j
yards and is detested for its habits \
of carrying off poultry and young j
calves or whatever animals it can j
get within reach of.
"At Ega or Teffe"?a small town
situated on the banks of the Ama-1
zon about 1,800 miles from its
mouth, where Mr. Bates spent several
years?"a large anaconda was once
near.making a meal of a young lad!
of bout 10 years of age belonging to i
one of my neighbors. The father and]
son went out. as was their custom.;
!
a few miles up the Teffe river to j
gather fruit. Landing on a sloping j
sandy shore, the boy was left to mind;
the canoe while the man entered the
forest.
"The beaches of the Teffe river [
form groves of the wild guava and j
myrtle tree, and during most months \
of the year are partly overflowed by j
the river. While the boy was play-J
I
ing in the water in the shade of these
trees, a huge reptile $>f this species j
stealthily wound its coils around him j
until it was too late to escape. The
boy's cries brought his father quick-1
ly to the rescue. He rushed forward ;
and seizing the anaconda boldly by
the head tore its jaws asunder."
H. W. Bates further says: "There
appears to be no doubt that this formidable
serpent grows to an enormous
bulk and lives to a great age.
I have heard of specimens having
been killed which measured 42 feet
in length.
"The natives of the Amazon universally
believe in a monster serpent
said to be many score of fathoms in
length, which appears successively in
different parts of the river. They
call it 'ae das aguas'" or Mother of
the Waters. This fable, which was>
aouoness suggested Dy tne appearance
of sucujurus or anacondas of
unusually large size, takes a great
variety of form and the wild legends
form the subject of conversation between
old and young over the wood
fires in lonely settlements."
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A. R. Wallace in his book "Travels
on the Amazon and Rio Negro,"
on page 33 says: "We received a
fresh inmate into our veranda in the
person of a fine young boa constrictor.
It was tightly tied around the
neck to a good sized stick, which
hemmed the freedom of its movements
and appeared nearly to stop |
respiration. It was only 10 feet long
and very large, being as thick as a |
man's thigh.
"We fitted out a box with bars at j
the top and got the Indian who sold
it to us to put it into the cage. It
immediately began to make up for
lost time by breathing most violently,
" the expirations sounding like
high pressure steam escaping from a
Great Western locomotive."
On page 322 he says: "I have had ;
several accounts of anacondas hav- i
ing ben killed and having measured
32 feet long. They have been seen j
very much larger, but, as may be
supposed, are then difficult to kill
and secure owing to their tenacity
of life and their aquatic habits. It
is an undisputable fact that they devour
cattle and horses, and the general
belief of the country is that
they are sometimes from 60 to 80
feet long."
On the same page he says: "As so
few whites have seen these large serpents
and the very existence of any
large enough to swallow a horse is
generally discredited, the following!
account by a competent scientific ob-'
server, the well known botanical,
traveler. Dr. Gardner, is given. In
his "Travels in Brazil," page 356, he
says:
"In the marshes of this valley in
the province of Goyaz near Arrayas,
the boa constrictor is often met with
of considerable size. It is not un-!
comon throughout the country, par-1
ticularly in the wooded margins of j
lakes, marshes and streams. Some- j
times they attain the enormous I
length of 40 feet.
"The favorite riding horse of Senor
Lagoriva, which had been put out
on pasture not far from the house,
could not be found one day, although
a strict search was instituted all over
the fazenda. Shortly after this, one
of his vaqueros (cattlemen) in going
through the woods by the side of
a small river, saw an enormous boa
suspended in the fork of a tree
T17 Vl inVl fllltior ATTAT* tlio TT'O +AT* Tf TIT O CI
?? ^javu liuu^ u*ci tiic natci. At rvao
dead/ but had evidently been floated
down alive by a recent flood, and being
in an inert state it had not been
able to extricate itself before the waters
fell.
^ It was dragged down to an open
place by two horses and was found
to measure 37 feet in length. On
opening it the bones of a horse in a
somewhat broken condition and the
flesh in a half digested state were
found within it, the bones of the
head being uninjured. From these
circumstances we concluded that it
had devoured the horse entirely."
In the volume called "O Amazona,"
published by the Brazilian government
in 1902, and intended to
give an accurate account of the bio
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rft' n j f ^ y
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"The ophidia form an interminable
collection; the sucuruju or ana-'
conda (Eunestes murinus) is the!
largest aq.uatic serpent in the coun-,
try; it measures sometimes 20 me-!
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