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he recovered, but not without feeling the most various and dreadful symptoms, for several weeks together. After the swelling of the arm had ceased, he was attacked by fever, attended with great weakness; all these, however, he recovered from, though he tells us his hand and arm were covered with spots, which continued all the summer. From these painful effects attending the bite of this animal, it is no wonder that not only man, but beasts and birds, carry on an unceasing war against them. The Ichneumon of the Indians, and the Peccary of America, destroy them in great numbers. These animals have the art of seizing them near the head; and it is said, that they skin them with great dexterity. The Vulture and the Eagle, also prey upon them in great abundance; and often sousing down from the clouds, drop upon a long serpent, which they snatch up, struggling and writhing in the air. Dogs, also, are bred up to oppose them. A traveller, in the woods of Martinico, was once attacked by a large ser pent, which he could not easily avoid, when his dog immediately came to his relief, and seized the assailant with great courage. The serpent entwined him, and pressed him so violently, that the blood came out of his mouth, and yet, the dog never ceased till he had torn it to pieces. The dog was not sensible of his wounds during the fight; but soon after, his head swelled prodigiously, and he lay on the

ground as dead. But his master having found a Banana tree near the spot, he applied its juice, mixed with treacle, to the wounds, which recovered the dog, and quickly healed his sores.

The Indians sometimes succeed in slight cases, by sucking the wound; they consider this method as very successful; but they also carry in their pockets, a small root, a portion of which they chew, and having swallowed some of the juice, apply the rest to the wound. The effect, however, says Catesby, which they usually attributed to these remedies, was owing more to the strength of a good constitution, or the sligutness of the bite. "The person thus bitten," he adds, "I have known to survive without any assistance, for many hours; but when a Rattie-snake with full force pricks a vein or an artery, inevitable death ensues; and that, as I have afte:wards seen, in less than two minutes. The Indians know their danger the moment they are bitten; and when they perceive it mortal, apply no remedy, concluding all efforts vain,

If they are not provoked, these animals are perfectly inoffensive to mankind; although the account already given of the traveller, who was assailed by one of them, may seem an excep tion, the fact is, they are so much alarmed at the sight of men, as always, if possible, to avoid them. and never themselves commence an attack. Though the poison, therefore, be justly terrible to us when it has entered the blood

Nor

it has been given for very good purposes, for the animal's own proper support and defence. Without this, serpents, of all other animals, would be the most exposed and defenceless; without feet for escaping a pursuit; without teeth capable of inflicting a dangerous wound, or without strength for resistance; incapable, from their size, of finding security in very small retreats like the earth worm, and disgusting all from their deformity, nothing was left for them but a speedy extirpation. But fur.nished as they are with powerful poison, every rank of animals approaches them with dread, and never seizes them but at an advantage. is this all the advantage they derive from it. The malignity of a few serves for the protection of all. Though not above a tenth of their num ber are actually venemous, yet the similitude they all bear to each other, excites a general terror of the whole tribe; and the uncertainty of their enemies, in which of them the poison chiefly resides, makes even the most harmless formidable. Thus Providence has acted with double precaution; it has given some of them poison for the general defence of a tribe naturally feeble; but it has thinned the number of those which are venemous, lest they should become too powerful for the rest of animated nature.

In the cold season, the negroes seize the Rattle-snake by the head; and at that time, it has not sufficient strength either to defend itself, or

to endeavour to escape. The wild Hogs which are said to feed on it without inconvenience, probably seize it in such a manner as to evade its fangs. The moment one of these hogs smells a Rattle-snake, it erects its bristles and rushes upon it with cagerness. The hog besides the caution which it uses in laying hold of its enemy, is, probably, defended from the effects of the venom, at least, in certain parts of its body, by the thickness of its hair, the hardness of its skin, and the depth of its fat.

Mr. St. John once saw a tamed Rattle-snake, as gentle as it is possible to conceive a reptile to be. It went to the water and swam whenever it pleased; and when the boys, to whom it belonged, called it back, their summons was readily obeyed. It had been deprived of its fangs. They often stroked it with a soft brush; and this friction seemed to cause the most pleas ing sensations, for it would turn on its back to enjoy it, as a cat does before the fire.

Rattle-snakes are viviparous, producing their offspring, generally about twelve in number, in the month of June; and by September, these acquire the length of twelve inches. It has been well attested that they adopt the same mode of preserving their young ones from danger, as that attributed to the European viper, receiving them into their mouth and swallowing them.M. de Beauvois declares, that he was an eye. witness to the process. He saw a large Rattle

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