Читать книгу From Monkey to Man, or, Society in the Tertiary Age онлайн

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Gaining confidence, however, with the restored silence of the swamp, she took a club with which she usually warded off reptiles when hunting berries, or killed them when requiring them for food; and, armed in this way, she waded into the swamp, still keeping, however, in sight of her child.

As the berries were plentiful, she had soon eaten all she wanted, making thereof her morning meal, when she was attracted by some luscious ones farther in the swamp, which she hurried to get for the child. Having filled her hands she was next startled by a huge snake of the Boa species, which swung suddenly down from a tree, like a great vine and sought to fasten its coils around her.

SOSEE’S MOTHER ENCOUNTERS THE SNAKE.

Dropping the berries and uttering a wild scream, she seized the serpent, and, sinking her nails and teeth in its flesh, began a fatal struggle with it. The snake, which had fastened one coil about her leg, swung round violently with the intention of encircling her waist. Her screams startled the child, which began crying, and the two noises attracted the attention of Koree, the lover of Sosee, who was sporting in a puddle near by.