8 INTRODUCTION, 



About a foot of it was visible, and might have been 

 taken for a sh'ght stem or stick standing perpendicularly 

 out of the swampy herbage bordering the narrow path. 

 The fixed eyes and darting 'sting' — which I then thought 

 the tongue to be — seemed to endorse the character my 

 young friend had given it. Yet I lingered, ' fascinated,' no 

 doubt, by its gaze, the fascination in my case partaking of 

 curiosity chiefly. The reptile remained so rigid that I 

 was inclined to venture nearer ; nor did I welcome the 

 idea of having to retrace our steps and risk the open field 

 under that Virginia sun. But Ella would not hear of 

 passing the deadly snake. There were others, she was sure, 

 in that swampy part. 



Well, we reached home at last, more dead than alive, 

 having discarded our treasured specimens and substituted 

 sprays of enormous leaves with which to shield cur heads 

 from the sun. And I have ever reflected, that of the 

 two dangers — snakes and sunstroke — we risked the greater 

 in traversing that cornfield at such an hour. 



Besides that 'deadly moccasin' and frequent 'black 

 snakes,' there were 'whip snakes,' 'milk snakes,' and many 

 others which the negroes would bring home as trophies of 

 their courageous slaughter ; but by no scientific names were 

 they known there. Except this name moccasin or mokesoji, 

 which probably conveyed some especial meaning to the 

 aborigines, few of the Indian vernaculars have been 

 preserved in the United States, as we find them in other 

 parts of America, which latter are treated of in chapters 

 xxii. and xxiii. of this work ; but common English 

 names prevail. 



