THE TAIL OF A SNAKE. 173 



from Catesby. The quaint descriptions of each of these 

 early travellers are amusing ; and from such accounts the 

 progress of science Is traced. 



'Of the Horn Snake,' says Lawson, *I never saw but two 

 that I remember. They are like the Rattlesnake In Colour, 

 but rather lighter. They hiss exactly like a Goose when any- 

 thing approaches them. They strike at their Enemy with 

 their Tail, and kill whatsoever they wound with It, which Is 

 armed at the End with a Horny Substance like a Cock's Spur. 

 This is their Weapon. I have heard It credibly reported by 

 those who said they were Eye-WItnesses, that a small Locust 

 Tree, about the Thickness of a Man's Arm, being struck by 

 one of these Snakes at Ten o'clock in the Morning, then ver- 

 dant and flourishing, at Four in the Afternoon was dead, and 

 the Leaves dead and withered.' (Probably the tree had 

 been struck by lightning during the interval, a very frequent 

 occurrence In those parts.) ' Doubtless, be It how It will, 

 they are very venomous. I think the Indians do not pre- 

 tend to cure their wound.' 



When Lawson travelled, setting out in December 1700, 

 as an appointed * Surveyor-General ' of the newly settled 

 colony of North Carolina, very little was known of the natural 

 history and productions of those parts, and he relied on the 

 native tribes for much of his Information. 



His work was dedicated ' To His Excellency, William 

 Lord Craven, Palatine ; The Most Noble Henry, Duke of 

 Beaufort ; The Right Hon. John Lord Carteret ; and the rest 

 of the True and Absolute Lords, Proprietors of the Province 

 of Carolina in America.' 



' As a Debt of Gratitude the Sheets were laid at their Lord- 



