400 THE TRANSITION TO LAND 



"A coachwhip snake will wrap itself around a man and whip him to 

 death." There is a coachwhip snake; it is one of the racers and the color 

 of the long- slender body and the arrangement of the scales make it look 

 like a platted leather whip. If one were stepped on, it might thresh 

 around and strike a person's legs with its tail, but that is as far as the 

 truth of this superstition goes. They are entirely harmless, but are too 

 nervous to tame easily. 



"A hoop snake will puts its tail in its mouth and roll down a hill like 

 a hoop in pursuit of a man. When it nears the man it straightens out 

 and pierces him with a sting on the end of its tail that causes death." 

 There is a hoop snake, or more commonly called the indigo snake, which 

 grows to a length of nine feet and is our largest snake in the United 

 States. It is a beautiful shining blue-black color and seems to greatly 

 enjoy being handled by man. It is a favorite of the so-called "snake 

 charmers" of the circus side shows, because it is so large and yet so 

 gentle toward people. This snake never rolls like a hoop and no snake 

 has anything like a sting in its tail. 



"Some snakes will milk cows." Farmers sometimes accuse snakes of 

 stealing the milk when a cow does not give as much milk as he thinks it 

 should. No snakes are known that will take food in a liquid form and 

 none have ever been observed milking a cow. 



"Snakes can't bite under water." Snakes can and do bite under wa- 

 ter ; they do not strangle when they open their mouths under water. 

 They prefer to escape, however, and if a snake knows you are coming, 

 it will go the other direction. It is just as anxious to avoid contact with 

 a person as a person is to avoid contact with it. 



"Snakes are cold and slimy." Snakes are cold-blooded animals ; 

 which means that their body temperature is about the same as the tem- 

 perature of their surroundings. They feel cold only if they have been 

 on a cold surface. They are clean and dry unless they have just been in 

 the water and are never slimy. 



"If you are sleeping out on the plains put a grass rope around you, 

 for if a rattlesnake starts to cross the rope, it will tickle his belly and he 

 will turn back." Not true, they will readily cross any kind of rope. 



"If a poisonous snake bites you kill a chicken and press the flesh 

 against the bite. This will draw the poison out." Of all the snake su- 

 perstitions, those concerning treatment of snake bite are the most vicious, 

 for a person may rely on such tales and die as a result. This chicken 

 superstition is absolutely false as are many others concerning the use of 

 tobacco juice and whiskey. 



The generally accepted first-aid treatment of snake bite is as follows. 

 First, apply a moderately tight tourniquet about two inches above the 



