274. 



It does not ap- 

 pear to have 

 originated nor 

 to be much, if 

 at ail, admitted 

 among the In- 

 dians* 



ON THE FASCINATING FACULfY 



of this notion in Greek and Roman authors, unread by me. 

 On this fubjed, I have not puHied my inquiries as far as I 

 wifhed to have done. It is not unhkely that I may examine 

 the queftion more curioufly, at feme future period. 



It is probable that in the mythology of Afia and of Africaf, 

 we (hall difcover fome traces of this notion, fo intimately 

 connected with the fuperftitious credulity of a people, and 

 even fo naturally arifing out of an imperfed view of the 

 manners of ferpents. 



If we believe the Reverend Dr. Cotton Mather *, Mr. Dud- 

 ley f , and other perfofts, who had refided in North-America, 

 we are to look for the beginning of this ridiculous notion 

 among our Indians. How far, however, this is really the 

 cafe may, I think, be doubled. F^is certain that, at prefent, 

 the opinion is by no means univerfal among the Indians. 

 Several intelligent gentlemen, who are well acquainted with 

 the manners, with the religious opinions, and with the in- 

 numerable fuperftitious prejudices of the Indians, have in- 

 formed me, that they do not think thefe people believe in the 

 notion in queflion. My friend Mr. John Heckewelder, of 

 Bethlehem, writes to me, that he does not recolle6t to have 

 heard the Indians fay that fnakes charm birds; though he has 

 4>requently heard them fpeak of the ingenuity of thefe reptiles 

 in catching birds, fquirrels, &c. Mr. William Bartram fays, 

 that he never underftood that the nations of Indians among 

 whom he travelled had any idea of the fafcinating power of 

 fnikes j. On the othet hand, however, a Mohegan-Indian 

 told me that the Indians are of opinion that the rattle-fnake 

 can charm, or bewitch, fquirrels and birds, and that it does 

 this with its rattle, which it (hakes, thereby inviting the animals 

 to defcend from the trees, after which they are eafily caught. 

 According to this Indian, his countrymen do not think that 

 the fnake, in any manner, accomplithes the butinefs with its 

 eyes. A Choktah. Indian alTured me that the rattle-fnake does 

 eharm birds, &c. but he was honeft enough to confefs that he 



• The Philofophical Tranfaftions, abridged, vol. v. part ii.;| 

 BO. 339. p. 162. 

 •J* Ibid; vol. vi* part iii. no. 376. p. 45. 

 X MS* note> communicated to me by this ingenious gentleman. 



di<i 



