486 APPENDIX. 



If I hive ant forgotten, her name was Finney, of Lanfingburgh — fhe told 

 me about five years a^o, that not long before that time, as (he was walking 

 by the corner of a certain fence, not far from North River, fhe was fud- 

 dtniy sniuled with the chirping of a fnake, whether a black or ftriped one, 

 1 have forgotten. As fhe drew nigher to the fence, (he difcovered the fnakc, 

 pitching its head to and fro, through a heap of dead brufh ; deeply en- 

 gaged with its charms, fhe forgot her'elf, till a neighbor pafling by, broke 

 her attention : When fhe felt herfelf as though fhe had been among poi- 

 fonou* herbs, itching, &c. which iffucd in a long fit of licknefs, which hcf 

 phyfician afcribed to the fafcinatioa of the fnake, Isnd (he had not per- 

 feftly recovered when I faw her. 



I am, &c. I. WATKINS. 



Exirafi ef a letter from Samuel Beach, dated Whitings- 

 July 24, 1795. 



WHEM a lad, I Kwed with my father in the then province of New 

 Jerfey, where the black fnake, with a white throat, commonly called the 

 racer, as well as the rattle fnake, and other ferpents, are frequently met 

 with ; and 1 never remember to have heard any one difpafe the power of 

 charming belonging to fcveral fpecies of ferpents, but more common to the 

 black fnaks, called the racer, v/hich I have twice fecn in the operation. 



The foliowircg (lory, I have often heard related, and to which people in 



general gave credit, of a fnake's fafcinaiing a young lad : Two boys 



were lent into the woods to look for cattle, and coming to a piece of open 

 land, where fomc colliers had been a fhoit time before burning coal, they 

 ftopped to liften for th6 bells that were on the cattle they were in fearch. 

 of; and near where they (food, they obferved a very large fnake, of the 

 racer kind : One of the boys obferved to the other, that if he would watch 

 the motion of the fnake, he himfelf was determined lo fee if it would faf- 

 cinate or charm him ; and (aid, ' you have a ftick in your hand, and if 

 you lee me like to be too much injured by the fnake, you. may kill him, 

 and relieve me,' This the other agreed to do ; when the firff advanced ai 

 few fteps nearer the fnake and made a (land, looking fteadily on him ; 

 •A;hen the fnake obferved him in that fituation, he raifed his head with a 

 quirk motion, and the lad fays, that at that inHant there appeared fome- 

 thing to flalh in his eyes, which he couldcompare to nothing more fimilar, 

 than the rays of light thrown from a glafs or mirror when turned in the 

 fun fhine ; he- faid it da zzled his eyes, at the fame time the colours appeared 

 very beautiful, and were in large rings, circles, ot rolls, and it feemed to 

 be dark to him every where elle, and his head began to be dizzy, much 

 like being ever fwifi: running water. He then fays, he thought he would 

 go from the fnake ; and as it was dark every where but in the circle, he 

 was feaiful of treading any where elfe ; and as' ^hey flill grew in lels cir- 

 cuaifertnce, he could (fill fee where to ftcp ; but as the dizzinefs in his 

 head ftill increafed, and he tried to call to his comrade for help, but could 

 not fpoak, it then appeared to him as though he v/as in a vortex 6r whirl.^' 

 pool, and that every turn bir.iight him nearer the cfntre. 



His comrade, who had impatiently waited, obferving him rr^ove ob- 

 liquely forwards to the rig/it and left, and at every turn approaching nearer 

 the fnake. and making a (Irange groaning noile, not unlike a perfon in a fit 

 cf the night mare, he faid he could (land flill no longer, but immediately 

 Tan and killed the fnake, which was of the hrgcft iize. 



