94 BOOK OP NATURE LAID OPEN. 



ken the bones by its voluminous twistings, it was 

 seen to lick the body all over, which covered it with 

 its mucus, and make it slip more glibly down its 

 throat. 



But the assistance which some of these creatures 

 receive from their poison in the seizing of their prey, 

 is not the o?.!y benefit they derive from it; it is also 

 their most sure and effectual defence ; and from the 

 dread and horror which such an instrument as the 

 sting of .a Serpent inspires, (although only found in 

 the possession of a few,) it serves, as it were, for a 

 safeguard to the whole species. 



Mankind, indeed, cannot tr-erd with too cautious 

 steps the paths frequented by these creatures ; for 

 although none of the most venomous kinds will at- 

 tack man, except on the defensive, yet, without the 

 power of discriminating, when accidently trod upon, 

 they will make the intruder feel the power of their 

 vengeance. What a merciful provision, therefore, 

 has Providence made, for the safety of the American, 

 in the tail of the Rattle-snake, than which there is 

 not one of the serpent tribe more to be dreaded: yet 

 the rattle in his tail, on the smallest motion, must 

 give notice of his approach, or warn the trareller of 

 the impending danger that lies concealed in his 

 haunts. It is a melancholy truth, that the direful 

 effects of the Serpent's poison is not confined to the 

 wounds they themselves inflict, but, as a celebrated 

 naturalist observes, by men more mischievous even 

 than Serpents, who prepare their veuom to destroy 

 each other; with this the savages poison their arrows, 



