On pinning him to the ground with the lance, he gave a tremendous loud hiss, and the little dog ran away, howling as he went.  We had a sharp fray in the den, the rotten sticks flying on all sides, and each party struggling for superiority.  I called out to the second negro to throw himself upon me, as I found I was not heavy enough.  He did so, and the additional weight was of great service.  I had now got a firm hold of his tail, and after a violent struggle or two, he gave in, finding himself overpowered.  This was the moment to secure him.  So while the first negro continued to hold the lance firm to the ground, and the other was helping me, I contrived to unloosen my braces, and with them tied the snake’s mouth.

The snake now finding himself in an unpleasant predicament, tried to better himself, and set resolutely to work, but we overpowered him.  We contrived to make him twist himself round the shaft of the lance, and then prepared to convey him out of the forest.  I stood at his head, and held it firm under my arm, one negro supporting the belly and the other the tail.  In this order we began to move slowly toward home, and reached it after resting ten times; for the snake was too heavy for us to support, without stopping to recruit our strength.  As we proceeded onward with him, he fought hard for freedom, but it was all in vain.  We untied the mouth of the bag, kept him down by main force, and then cut his throat.

The week following, a curious conflict took place near the spot where I had captured the large snake.  In the morning I had been following a species of paroquet, and, the day being rainy, I had taken an umbrella to keep the gun dry, and had left it under a tree:  in the afternoon, I took Daddy Quashi (the negro) with me to look for it.  While he was searching about, curiosity led me toward the place of the late scene of action.  There was a path where timber had formerly been dragged along.  Here I observed a young coulacanara, ten feet long, slowly moving onward; and I saw he was thick enough to break my arm, in case he got twisted around it.  There was not a moment to be lost.  I laid hold of his tail with the left hand, one knee being on the ground; and, with the right hand, I took off my hat, and held it as I would hold a shield for defence.

The snake instantly turned, and came on at me with his head about a yard from the ground, as if to ask me what business I had to take such liberties with his tail.  I let him come, hissing and open-mouthed, within two feet of my face, and then, with all the force that I was master of, drove my fist, shielded by my hat, full in his jaws.  He was stunned and confounded by the blow, and, ere he could recover himself, I had seized his throat with both hands, in such a position that he could not bite me.  I then allowed him to coil himself around my body and marched off with him as my lawful prize.  He pressed me hard, but not alarmingly so.

ESTILL’S DEFEAT.