Page:Dawson - Australian aborigines (1900).djvu/113

 crown of the head, and then waves its head to and fro. When irritated, or when calling to its mate, it emits a sound like 'kæ, kæ, kæ.' It is the only snake that makes any sound. Pundeet Puulotong said, that, when he was a little boy, a boa snake attacked a man at the Salt Creek, and squeezed his neck so severely that he died the same day. The boy saw the reptile spring on its victim, but was afraid to go near it, and ran home to tell his friends, who came too late to assist the man. He was dead, and the snake was gone. Near Mount Rouse two men were attacked by a boa, which sprang on one of them and wound itself round his body; the other was too frightened to help his companion, and kept at a distance. The snake, on reaching his head, 'whistled' and brought its mate, which also wound itself round the man. He, knowing the habits of the boa, remained quite still. The other man then ran for assistance. The friends came, but only to watch; knowing that the boas, if disturbed, would probably bite the man as well as squeeze him, and, if let alone, might leave their victim alone. After a while they did so, but the man had been nearly frightened to death.

At Kangatong, an aboriginal was attacked by a boa, which got up his leg, underneath his blue shirt as far as his belt, and began to squeeze him. He threw himself on the ground, and rolled backwards and forwards till it released him. When he came to the house at Kangatong and told the story, it was at first discredited; but on examining the dead snake and the marks of the struggle, and knowing the thoroughly reliable character of the man — who was blue with fright, and scarcely able to walk — there was no longer room to doubt of the truth of his statement. Long previous to this occurrence the natives had often pointed to a stony rise, and said that there a snake had seized and squeezed a man; but the story had been misbelieved. This later occurrence, coming more under the cognizance of the white people, obtained credit for the former statements, and showed that the boas of Victoria will attack human beings, and are dangerous.