Swiss Family Robinson(fiscle part-3 of 2) - Johann David Wyss (desktop ebook reader .TXT) 📗

Much Interested in my Account Of The Snake-Charmers

Of India,  How They Fearlessly Handle The Most Deadly Of The Serpent

Tribe,  The Cobra Di Capello-Or Hooded cobra-,  Cause Them To Move In

Time To Musical Sounds From A Small Pipe,  Twine The Reptile About Their

Arms And Bare Necks,  And Then,  To Prove That The Poison Fangs Have Not

Been Removed,  Make Them Bite A Fowl,  Which Soon Dies From The Effects.'

 

`How Is It Possible To Extract The Fangs,  Father?' Asked ernest.

 

`No Instrument Is Required,' Replied i; `I Have Read The Account

Written By A Gentleman In india,  Who Saw A Snake-Charmer Catch A Large

Cobra In the Jungle,  And For The Purpose Of Removing the Fangs,  Held Up

A Cloth At Which The Irritated snake Flew,  And The Fangs Being caught

In It,  The Man Seized the Reptile By The Throat,  Extracted them,  And

Then Squeezed out The Poison,  A Clear Oily Substance,  Upon A Leaf.'

 

`What Does The Rattle Of The Rattlesnake Look Like? And How Does It

Sound?'

 

`At The Tip Of The Tail Are A Number Of Curious,  Loose,  Horny

Structures Formed of The Same Substance As The Scales. A Very Good Idea

Of The Structure Of The Rattle May Be Formed by Slipping a Number Of

Thimbles Loosely Into Each Other.

 

`The Rattlesnake Lies Coiled with Its Head Flat,  And The Tip Of Its

Tail Elevated; When Alarmed or Irritated it Gives A Quivering movement

To The Tail Which Causes The Joints Of The Rattle To Shake Against Each

Other With A Peculiar Sound,  Not Easily Described; All Animals,  Even

Horses Newly Brought From Europe,  Tremble At This Noise,  And Try To

Escape.'

 

`What Is The Best Thing to Be Done For The Bite Of A Serpent?'

Inquired fritz.

 

`Remedies Are Very Various,  Very Uncertain,  And Differ With The

Species Inflicting the Bite.

 

`Suction,  Ammonia,  Oil,  The Use Of The Knife,  Application Of Fresh

Mold,  Lunar Caustic,  Leaves Of Certain Plants,  All These And More Are

Mentioned. There Is A Creeping plant,  Called aristolodochia Indica,  The

Leaves Of Which Have In repeated instances Done Wonders For Fearful

Bites. It Is Found In many Parts Of The World But Most Plentifully In

The Hotter Regions.

 

Part 3 Chapter 3 Pg 56

`A Mode Of Cure Adopted by The Natives Of India,  Ceylon,  And Parts Of

Africa,  Is By The Application Of A Remarkable Object Called

Snake-Stone. These Are Described as Flattish,  Something like Half An

Almond With Squared ends,  Rather Light,  Bearing a Very High Polish,  And

Of An Intense Jetty Black.

 

`On Being bitten By A Cobra,  The Sufferer Applies One Of These Stones

To Each Puncture,  Where They Adhere Strongly For A Time,  Five Or Six

Minutes Being about The Average. They Seem To Absorb The Blood As It

Flows From The Wound,  And,  At The Last Fall Off,  When The Danger Is

Considered to Be Over.

 

`But Now We Must Leave This Fertile Subject Of Discussion,  And I Can

Only Say I Sincerely Trust We May Never Have Cause To Resume It From

The Appearance Of Another Serpent Here Of Any Sort,  Size,  Or

Description.

 

`But Come,  Ernest,  Can You Not Give Us An Epitaph For Our Unfortunate

Friend The Donkey? We Must Afford Him More Honourable Sepulture Than He

Enjoys At Present,  When We Proceed,  As We Speedily Must,  To Disembowel

His Murderer.'

 

Ernest Took The Matter Quite Seriously,  And Planting his Elbows On His

Knees,  He Bent His Thoughtful Brow In his Hands,  And Remained wrapt In

Poetic Meditation For About Two Minutes.

 

`I Have It!' Cried he. `But Perhaps You Will All Laugh At Me?'

 

`No,  No,  Don'T Be Shy,  Old Fellow; Spit It Out!' And Thus Encouraged by

His Brother,  Ernest,  With The Blush Of A Modest Author,  Began:

 

    `Beneath This Stone Poor Grizzle'S Bones Are Laid,

    `A Faithful Ass He Was,  And Loved by All.

    `At Length,  His Master'S Voice He Disobeyed,

    `And Thereby Came His Melancholy Fall.

 

    `A Monstrous Serpent,  Springing from The Grass,

    `Seized,  Crushed,  And Swallowed him Before Our Eyes.

    `But We,  Though Yet We Mourn Our Honest Ass,

    `Are Grateful; For He Thereby Saved the Lives

    `Of All The Human Beings On This Shore--

    `A Father,  Mother,  And Their Children Four.'

 

`Hurrah For The Epitaph! Well Done,  Ernest!' Resounded on All Sides,

And Taking out A Large Red pencil I Used for Marking wood,  The Lines

Were Forthwith Inscribed on A Great Flat Stone,  Being,  As I Told The

Boy,  The Very Best Poetry That Had Ever Been Written On Our Coast.

 

We Then Had Dinner,  And Afterwards Went To Work With The Serpent. The

First Operation Was To Recover The Mangled remains Of The Ass,  Which

Being effected,  He Was Buried in the Soft Marshy Ground Close By,  And

The Hole Filled up With Fragments Of Rock.

Part 3 Chapter 3 Pg 57

 

Then We Yoked storm And Grumble To The Serpent,  And Dragged it To A

Convenient Distance From Rockburg,  Where The Process Of Skinning,

Stuffing,  And Sewing up Again Afforded occupation Of The Deepest

Interest To The Boys For Several Days.

 

We Took Great Pains To Coil It Round A Pole In the Museum,  Arranging

The Head With The Jaws Wide Open,  So As To Look As Alarming as

Possible,  And Contriving to Make Eyes And Tongue Which Were Quite

Sufficient To Represent Nature; In fact,  Our Dogs Never Passed the

Monster Without Growling,  And Must Have Wondered at Our Taste In

Keeping such A Pet.

 

Over The Entrance Leading to The Museum And Library Were Inscribed

These Words:

 

No Admittance For Asses

 

The Double Meaning of This Sentence Pleased us All Immensely.

 

 

 

Part 3 Chapter 4 Pg 58

The Greatest Danger To Which We Had Yet Been Exposed was Now Over,  But

There Remained much Anxiety In my Mind Lest Another Serpent Might,

Unseen By Us,  Have Entered the Swamp,  Or Might Appear,  As This Had

Done,  From The Country Beyond Falconhurst.

 

I Projected then Two Excursions,  The First To Make A Thorough

Examination Of The Thicket And Morass; The Next Right Away To The Gap,

Through Which Alone The Archenemy Could Have Entered our Territory.

 

On Summoning my Sons To Accompany Me To The Marsh,  I Found Neither

Ernest Nor Jack Very Eager To Do So,  The Latter Vowing he Had The Cold

Shivers Each Time He Thought How His Ribs Might Have Been Smashed by

The Last Flap Of The Snake'S Tail; But I Did Not Yield To Their

Reluctance,  And We Finally Set About Crossing the Marsh By Placing

Planks And Wicker Hurdles On The Ground,  And Changing their Places As

We Advanced.

 

Nothing was Discovered beyond Tracks In the Reeds And The Creature'S

Lair; Where The Rushes,  Grass,  And Bog-Plants Were Beaten Down.

 

Emerging beyond The Thicket We Found Ourselves On Firm Ground,  Near The

Precipitous Wall Of Rock,  And Perceived a Clear Sparkling brook Flowing

From An Opening,  Which Proved to Be A Cave Or Grotto Of Considerable

Size.

 

The Vaulted roof Was Covered with Stalactites,  While Many Formed

Stately Pillars,  Which Seemed as Though Supporting the Roof. The Floor

Part 3 Chapter 4 Pg 59

Was Strewn With Fine Snow-White Earth,  With A Smooth Soapy Feeling,

Which I Felt Convinced was Fuller'S Earth.

 

`Well,  This Is A Pleasant Discovery!' Said I. `This Is As Good As Soap

For Washing,  And Will Save Me The Trouble Of Turning soap-Boiler.'

 

Perceiving that The Streamlet Flowed from An Opening of Some Width In

The Inner Rock,  Fritz Passed through,  In order To Trace It To Its

Source,  Presently Shouting to Me That The Opening widened very Much,

And Begging me To Follow Him.

 

I Did So,  Leaving the Other Boys In the Outer Cave,  And Fired a

Pistol-Shot--The Reverberating echoes Of Which Testified to The Great

Extent Of The Place; And Lighting the Bit Of Candle I Always Carried

With Me,  We Advanced,  The Light Burning clear And Steadily,  Though

Shedding a Very Feeble Light In so Vast A Space.

 

Suddenly Fritz Exclaimed: `I Verily Believe This Is A Second Cave Of

Salt! See How The Walls Glance! And How The Light Is Reflected from The

Roof!'

 

`These Cannot Be Salt Crystals,' Said I,  `The Water Which Flows Over

Them Leaves No Track,  And Tastes Quite Sweet. I Am Rather Inclined to

Believe That We Have Penetrated into A Cave Of Rock Crystal!'

 

`Oh,  How Splendid! Then We Have Discovered a Great Treasure!'

 

`Certainly If We Could Make Any Use Of It; Otherwise,  In our

Situation,  It Is About As Valuable As The Lump Of Gold Found By Good

Old Robinson Crusoe.'

 

`Anyhow,  I Will Break Off A Piece For A Specimen. See,  Here Is A Fine

Bit,  Only Rather Dull,  And Not Transparent: What A Pity! I Must Knock

Off Another.'

 

`You Must Go More Carefully To Work,  Or It Will Look As Dull As The

First. You Destroyed its True Form,  Which Is That Of A Pyramid,  With

Six Sides Or Facets.'

 

We Remained some Time In this Interesting grotto,  But Our Light Burnt

Low After We Had Examined it In different Directions; And Fritz Having

Secured a Large Lump,  Which Exhibited several Crystals In perfection,

We Quitted the Place,  Fritz Discharging a Farewell Shot For The Sake Of

Hearing the Grand Echoes.

 

On Reaching the Open Air We Saw Poor Jack Sobbing bitterly,  But As Soon

As We Appeared he Ran Joyfully Towards Us,  And Threw Himself Into My

Arms.

 

`My Child,  What Is The Matter?' I Cried anxiously.

 

`Oh,  I Thought You Were Lost! I Heard A Noise Twice,  As If The Rocks

Had Shattered down; And I Thought You And Fritz Were Crushed in the

Ruins! It Was Horrible! How Glad I Am To See You!'