180 CENTRAL AMERICA. 



posite banks when I saw them. The little 

 stream was about a yard broad, with a good 

 sandy arena for the champions on either side, 

 and the black snake began by springing over 

 the stream, when they joined instantly in 

 conflict. They twined themselves together 

 like the caduceus of Mercury, but it was evi- 

 dent from the first that the rattlesnake had 

 not half the muscular power of the other, 

 and in less than half an hour's fight the first 

 was dead, when the black snake swallowed 

 him with the greatest ease, and was not long 

 about it ; it is true that the black snake was 

 much the largest, but I have been told the 

 result would have been the same had the 

 proportions been equal. The conqueror look- 

 ed nearly twice as thick as he glided slowly 

 into the thicket, and I determined never 

 again to kill such a very meritorious animal. 

 The rattlesnake is viviparous, and the 

 young are born about two or three inches 

 long, with only a single rattle under the tail. 

 The Indians assert, that the birth of the 

 young always costs the mother her life, 

 which they say is the reason that whenever 

 a large rattlesnake is killed it is always a 

 male, and that no female is ever killed of a 

 larger size than could be attained in a year's 



