SOME SUMMER DAYS IN MARTINIQUE, 293 



thirty miles in width, arc free from this scourge. Nay, 

 more ; it is recorded that, during the wars between 

 the English and Caribs, in the last century, the Lance- 

 head was carried to the islands just named, but could 

 not be made to live. 



Annually, during the crop season, many laborers 

 are killed in each island, for this snake has its hiding- 

 places in the canes as well as in the forests. It has 

 been so abundant in this garden that the pleasant 

 walks and shady drives are nearly always deserted. 

 A serpent over seven feet in length, killed in the gar- 

 den, is shown in the Museum. There is, it is said, 

 no antidote for its bite ; though the ever-traditional 

 old negro, living in some secluded spot, with herbs 

 and antidotes, likewise exists here. He is never found 

 when needed, however. The poison is quickly fatal, 

 and decomposition rapidly follows. A gentleman, 

 whose father was once a wealthy planter in St. Lucia, 

 and had many slaves, told me that an antidote that 

 generally proved efficacious if used immediately, was 

 forty grains of quinine in the juice of two lemons ; in 

 extreme cases he administered a glass of olive oil and 

 rum, and used the vapor bath. The remedy used in 

 the South, when bitten by the rattlesnake — whiskey, 

 all that the patient can drink — seems useless here. 

 The dread of this serpent is universal. It seems to 

 possess a hatred for man ; and it is seriously avowed 

 by the natives that it will lie in wait for an oppor- 

 tunity to inflict death. The country people live in 

 continual trepidation, and very few of them will ven- 

 ture from their houses after dark, even in the suburbs 

 of the city. 



Martinique is the largest of the Lesser Antilles, 



