. 6 INTR on UCTION. 



saw them ; and one or two ^ narrow escapes ' seasoned the 

 pages of my notebook. When In such rambles we caught 

 sight of one, we flew at our utmost speed, encountering the far 

 greater danger of treading on a venomous one in our 

 precipitous flight, than in shunning the probably innocent 

 one from which we were fleeing. 



My first startling adventure in Virginia was more ridiculous 

 than dangerous. We were about to cross a little rivulet that 

 ran rippling through a wood, in which there were many such 

 to ford. Often fallen boughs or drifting logs, dragged into 

 the shallow parts by the negroes, served as stepping-stones. 

 These becoming blackened in the water, and partially 

 covered with tangled drift-weed, were so familiar a sight that, 

 without pausing to observe, I was making a spring, w^hen 

 my companion caught hold of my dress, crying out, ' Don't 

 step on them ! They will bite you ! ' The supposed shining 

 and tans^led boug^hs were two larije black snakes commonlv 

 known as ' Racers,' enjoying a bath ; but until I had 

 hastily regained the top of the bank, alarmed at the 

 excitement of my young friend, I did not discover the 

 nature of our intended stepping-stones. The snakes were 

 not venomous, but very ' spiteful,' and might have 

 resented the interruption by sharp bites. In moving, they 

 probably would have caused me to fall upon them and 

 into the water, when they might have attacked me with 

 unpleasant results. Now, however, my chief vexation was 

 that they got away so quickly, I could learn nothing 

 about them. 



Another * escape' was on an intensely hot day, when 

 in early morning we had started for a botanical ramble. Our 



