MEMOIR ON AMPHIBIA. 371 



curious obfervations and difcoveiies. I fliall now proceed 

 to detail my own obfervations, and thofe which 1 have 

 made conjointly with Mr. Peale. 



First Observation. — Among the information which 

 I endeavoured to obtain in my travels with relped: to fer- 

 pents in general, there was one point which greatly excit- 

 ed my curiofity. Several perlbns.-and one among the 

 reft,* to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for civilities and 

 marks of friendfliip, which will forever reft engraven on 

 my heart, had informed me that the female rattlefnakc 

 concealed its young ones in its body. That whai they 

 were alarmed by any noifc, or by the approach of man, 

 they took refuge in the body of their mother, into which 

 they entered by her mouth. This fad: had been already 

 afcertained with refpect to the viper of Europe, but in 

 confequence of the unfavourable and repulfive difpoluions 

 inipired by this kind of reptile, and in order to render it 

 ftill more hideous, an abfurd interpretation Was given to 

 this fach It was pretended that this ferpent eats its little 

 ones after having given them birth. Curious to verify this 

 faft, related of the boiquira, I was conftantly occupied 

 with this idea, and began to defpair of ever making the 

 obfervation, when at a moment in which I thought the 

 leaft of it, accident furnilhed me the means. Having 

 3 G 2 fallen 



* This eftimable perfon is General Pickens. In a lamentable fituation, 

 and when my life was in danger among the Indians, I owed my fafe- 

 ty to the ftrong recommendation which he gave to the Indian guide and 

 interpreter, which he had procured for me, and to the letters which he had 

 given me for different chiefs. His modefty will be perhaps affefted by the 

 liberty I take of naming him without his knowledge, but he will ex- 

 cufe this tranfport of my gratitude. This honeft American, as much be- 

 loved by his fellow-citizens as by the Indians, whom he has frequently 

 engaged and defeated in battle, knows how to confer obligations without af- 

 feftation ; to do good is in him a natural movement, fo much the more to 

 be praifed, as among the greater part of men, it is the effeift of interefl, 

 pride, or vanity. 



