ASCRIBED TO THE RATTLE-SNAKE, Sec. 79 



the religious opinions, and with the innumerable fuper- 

 ftitious prejudices of the Indians, have informed me, that 

 they do not think thefe people believe in the notion in 

 queflion. My friend Mr. John Heckewelder, of \ieth- 

 lehem, writes to me, that be does not recoiled to have 

 heard the Indians fay that fnakes charm birds ; though 

 he has frequently heard them fpeak of the ingenuity of 

 thefe reptiles in catching birds, fquirrels, &c. Mr William 

 Bartram fays, that he never underftood that the nations 

 of Indians among whom he travelled had any idea of 

 the fafcinating power of fnakes*. On the other hand, 

 however, a Mohegan-Indian told me that the Indians are 

 of opinion that the rattle-fnake can charm, or bewitch, 

 fquirrels and birds, and that it does this with its i-attle, 

 which it fhakes, thereby inviting the animals to defcend 

 from the trees, after which they are eafily caught. Ac- 

 cording to this Indian, his countrymen do not think that 

 the fnake, in any manner, accomplifhes the bufinefs with 

 its eyes. A Choktah-Indian afTured me that the rattle- 

 fnake does charm birds, &c. but he was honeft enough 

 to confefs that he did not know in what manner it does 

 it. The interpreter, through whom I converfed with 

 this Indian, faid that the fnake charms by means of its 

 rattle. 



The veneration, or regard, which has been paid to 

 the rattle-fnake by certain North-American tribes feems, 

 at firft fight, to favour the opinion, that thefe tribes 

 attributed to this hideous reptile fome hidden power f, 

 perhaps that of fafcinating animals. Mr. William Bar- 

 tram informs me, that the fouthern Indians, with whom 

 he is acquainted, feem to hold the rattle-fnake in a degree 

 of veneration:}:. Mr. Heckewelder fays that, to his cer- 



* MS. note, communicated to me by this ingenious gentleman. 



f Vis abdita. Lucretius. 



'I MS. note communicated to me. 



L 2 tain 



