108 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



for a spring, aud head erect, darted its forked tongue 

 towards me. To seize a faggot of wood, the end of 

 which was on fire, and knock the reptile over, was 

 the work of a moment. I went immediately to 

 examine the rest of the leaves, to see if this were a 

 solitary specimen, when, to my horror and disgust, 

 I discovered half a dozen young snakes coiled up 

 together. Finding themselves disturbed by my 

 stick, they darted off in all directions ; and although 

 my companions, awakened by my cries, lost no time 

 in joining me, the agility with which the little 

 vermin made their escape was such that we only 

 killed two of them. This incident very naturally 

 kept us awake during the whole of the night. In 

 the morning, a strange spectacle was presented to 

 our eyes. Looking over the brow of the hill we 

 perceived more than a thousand of the marmots, 

 and a large number of owls and rattle-snakes 

 sporting together with great agility.* Directly we 

 showed ourselves all disappeared, with the exception 

 of the serpents, who glided about from hole to hole 

 raising their heads every now and then. An hour 

 afterwards we were on the banks of the Mississippi, 

 and not long after that, under the regis of American 

 civilisation. 



* If M. Revoil saio tins, well and good. The testimony is, however, 

 against the experience of some of the most reliable American observers. 



—Trans. 



