CURIOUS BELIEFS REGARDING 

 SNAKES. 



A COMMUNICATION to me upon the above subject, 

 and signed " Baralong " a deservedly honoured 

 name in South Africa, a record of courage and 

 devotion is full of interest to many, more espe- 

 cially to those that are affected with a passion for 

 mysterious subjects. 



In that charmingly- written work, " Elsie Venner," 

 by Oliver Wendell Holmes, the author of the justly 

 popular " Autocrat of the Breakfast Table," will be 

 found a strange story, in which rattlesnakes take a 

 dominant part. To condense it I will endeavour : 

 In the suburbs of a western town in the New 

 England States a beautiful girl lived with her father 

 and an old coloured nurse. She had been motherless 

 since infancy, her maternal parent having died im- 

 mediately after her birth. Before the lady's con- 

 finement she had been frightened by a rattlesnake, 

 the result of which was that the child had around 

 her neck a distinct mark, faithfully representing this 

 reptile. As the heroine Elsie Venner grew up, 

 care was taken to hide this unsightly disfigurement 

 by covering it with a massive gold necklace. The 

 young lady increased in attractiveness with age, but 

 she was found to possess two distinct characters, one 

 treacherous, vindictive, and spiteful, the other gentle, 

 loving, and womanly. In summer, when snakes 

 are most numerous, she was imbued with the former ; 

 in the cold season the latter qualities dominated. 



