erious to the person around whom the creature has wound itself. One
traveler in Australia tells how he was visiting a cattle station in
Queensland, and when he went to bed the first night of his stay, he
found a carpet snake lying on the outside of his couch. He called loudly
for some one to come and kill the serpent.

"His call was heard by the proprietor, who shouted to him not to kill
the snake, as it was one of the family pets, and then the man came and
seized the creature by the neck and carried it to a barrel where he said
the snake belonged. I hope they won't have any pets of that sort around
any house that I visit during my stay in Australia.

"There are eighty-three distinct species of snakes peculiar to
Australia, of which sixty are venomous, and fifteen amphibious. The most
common of the deadly serpents are the death adder, black snake, brown
snake, tiger snake, and diamond snake. The latter is so called on
account of the color of his skin, which is laid out in lozenges of a
diamond shape, alternately brown and white. The death adder, so the
keeper told us, is the most dangerous of all the Australian snakes, as
it never tries to escape. It lies perfectly still when approached, but
the instant one touches it, it darts its head and delivers, if possible,
a fatal bite. The poison speedily accomplishes its purpose, and unless
an antidote can be had in a few minutes death is the inevitable result.

"People who go about much in the region where this snake abounds wear
high-top boots as a protection against these serpents. The black snake
and the brown snake are the most common of the deadly serpents. The
brown one is the largest of them, and frequently attains a length of
eight or nine feet. The tiger snake seems to be related to the
'_Cobra-di-Capello_,' of India, as it has the same power of flattening
and extending its neck when irritated.

"I asked what were the antidotes used for snake bites in Australia?

"To this our host replied that there were various ways of counteracting
the effects of a snake bite. One was to cut out the wound and take away
the flesh from each side of it for half an inch or so. Another was to
swallow large quantities of brandy and whiskey, and the third and most
common way was to use a hypodermic injection of ammonia. The last-named
antidote is regarded as almost certain, and a great many people, such as
stockmen, wood-cutters, farmers, and the like, carry in their pockets a
hypoderm