2 86 SNAKES. 



Any ' sagacity' displayed in this exhibition was on the 

 part of the keeper, who had discovered the exceeding timidity 

 of this reptile, and had observed that it used its rattle when- 

 ever alarmed or provoked. However, the timidity answered 

 very well for obedience, and no doubt drew many 

 spectators. 



A notable feature in the rattlesnake was its fecundity 

 and prevalence. 



This we gather from all who in the early days of American 

 history had anything to tell us of the country and its 

 inhabitants. Whether the subject of their pen were Topo- 

 graphy, Indians, or Productions, a rattlesnake crept in. 

 Collateral evidence of this kind, given with no motive for 

 exaggeration, nor even as ' natural history,' may therefore 

 be accredited. 



A slaughter of rattlesnakes was as much an annual custom 

 as the slaughter of hogs. Regularly as a crop of hay came 

 a crop of rattlesnakes. On account of the oil manufactured 

 from their fat, the slaughter partook also of a commercial 

 character ; but more commonly it was a war of extinction, 

 like the battles with the Indians. Usually an annual, 

 frequently a biennial, crusade was undertaken, the settlers 

 being well acquainted with their habits and retreats. It 

 was a well-known fact that, towards the close of summer, 

 and on the first indication of frost, the reptiles returned 

 simultaneously and in vast numbers to a favourite spot. 

 Not only hundreds but thousands make for this winter 

 rendezvous year after year. 



Catlin, the Indian historian, tells us that near Wilkesbarre, 

 in Pennsylvania, his birth-place, was a cavern in the moun- 



